KAILUA — Living up to its nickname, the Rough Riders made a push on the hill.

The end result was Roosevelt's boys squad pulling off a bit of an upset by edging Castle yesterday morning to win the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Eastern Division cross country championships at Kailua High School. Meanwhile, Roosevelt's girls squad brushed off recent illnesses to retain its team title.

Tomoyuki Miura of Roosevelt won the boys 3-mile race in 17 minutes, 14.48 seconds and Kaiser's Sarah Clapp won the girls 3-mile race in 19:52.21.

"Castle is tough," Roosevelt coach Gordon Ota said. "They (Roosevelt) ran really well today. They're peaking at the right time. It was a good battle between the both of us."

Roosevelt edged Castle, 39 points to 43 points, for the boys team title. Castle's squad has looked strong all season, but Ota told the Rough Riders to work on the hilly part of the course in the middle of the race. Kai Yoshioka finished fourth, Rowan Gragas was ninth, Perry Tsuruoka was 12th and Kevin Leong placed 17th to contribute to Roosevelt's winning total. Castle's five scoring runners placed second, third, sixth, 16th and 20th.

Running together most of the way, Miura pulled away from Castle's Eric Pak after the second mile, and was encouraged by the cheers of teammates and family members.

"I felt pretty relaxed," Miura said. "I was trying to see how Eric was. I felt good so I kicked it."

Pak finished second in 17:42.46 and teammate Dylan Lee was third in 18:10.31.

Ota said the Knights are still one of the teams to beat at the OIA Championships on Oct. 25.

"They're one of the favorites," Ota said. "I still think of us as the underdogs."

In the girls race, Clapp won her fifth event of the season in a run she described as sturdy and strong. She has been running alone in the front of races throughout the season, and has found a way to push herself.

"Usually I try and tell myself there's someone right behind me," Clapp said. "I make up footsteps in my head."

Kahuku's Darian Auna was second in 22:02.69, breaking away from Roosevelt's Crystal Fujimoto after the second mile.

Though most of the team has been ill in recent days, the Roosevelt girls retained the team title with a meet-low 22 points. Scoring points for Roosevelt were Fujimoto (third), Kelsie Sugahara (fourth), Jessica Otaguro (10th), Michelle Ly (13th) and Candise Larry (16th). Kalani finished second with 48 points.

Ly, a senior captain, said her team did as much as it could under the conditions.

"We rested up, worked hard at practice and that's all you can ask for," she said.

Kalani's Gavin Taketa and Moanalua's Sophie Curatilo won the boys and girls junior varsity races while Castle (boys) and Kalani (girls) won the team titles.

OIA EASTERN DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Kailua.

BOYS

Varsity—Team: 1, Roosevelt 39. 2, Castle 43. 3, McKinley 101. 4, Moanalua 106. 5, Kalani 139. 6, Farrington 145. 7, Kalaheo 164. 8, Kaimuki 178. Individual: 1, Tomoyuki Miura (Roos) 17:14.48. 2, Eric Pak (Cas) 17:42.46. 3, Dylan Lee (Cas) 18:10.31. 4, Kai Yoshioka (Roos) 18:15.26. 5, Kevin Do (McK) 18:39.84. 6, Devinn Zakahi (Cas) 18:50.73. 7, Matthew Alombro (Moa) 18:55.25. 8, Craig Kandler (Kais) 18:59.76. 9, Rowan Gragas (Roos) 19:00.20. 10, Devin Lonso (Kaln) 19:02.85. 11, Maxx Oishi (Kalh) 19:03.08. 12, Perry Tsuruoka (Roos) 19:08.45. 13, Joseph Dunham (Moa) 19:12.63. 14, Matthew Oishi (Kalh) 19:19.97. 15, Naoya Taylor (Kail) 19:23.37.

Junior varsity—Team: 1, Castle 15. Individual: 1, Gavin Taketa (Kaln) 19:03.15. 2, David Kim (McK) 19:27.49. 3, Keoni Williams (Roos) 19:32.90. 4, Eric Kiyabu (Cas) 19:34.93. 5, Nathan Underwood (Kail) 19:37.07.

GIRLS

Varsity—Team: 1, Roosevelt 22. 2, Kalani 48. 3, Kaimuki 58. Individual: 1, Sarah Clapp (Kais) 19:52.21. 2, Darian Auna (Kahu) 22:02.69. 3, Crystal Fujimoto (Roos) 22:21.04. 4, Kelsie Sugahara (Roos) 22:35.39. 5, Precious Arao (McK) 22:54.52. 6, Megan Akamine (Cas) 23:02.14. 7, Lindsey Matsunaga (Kaim) 23:32.63. 8, Sarah Ann Nagamine (Moa) 23:34.76. 9, Chelsy Okuma (Kais) 23:51.22. 10, Jessica Otaguro (Roos) 23:59.57. 11, Amanda Kobayashi (Kaln) 24:16.18. 12, Maile Nishimoto (Kais) 24:22.23. 13, Michelle Ly (Roos) 24:34.27. 14, Katy Chun (Kaln) 24:46.14. 15, Jamie Lee (Kaln) 25:22.04.

Junior varsity—Team: 1, Kalani 25. 2, Moanalua 47. 3, McKinley 60. Individual—1, Sophie Curatilo (Moa) 21:09.69. 2, Linnea Tokushige (Kaln) 22:05.19. 3, Jessica Yukawa (Roos) 22:19.15. 4, Tiffany Tang (McK) 22:29.90. 5, Yuna Martin (Kaln) 23:06.11.

LEILEHUA BOYS, MILILANI GIRLS WIN WEST CROWNS

Two-time state champion Bryce Jenkins finally made his O'ahu debut, winning the boys race and helping Leilehua capture the team title with 44 points at yesterday's OIA Western Division championships at Waialua.

Jenkins has been recovering from an injury for most of the season and had previously competed in only one race, finishing last at the Hawai'i Prep Invitational on Sept. 20 because he walked the Big Island race to maintain his eligibility.

Yesterday, he won in 16:34.79 and teammate Margarito Martinez was second in 16:59.24.

Mililani's Nicole Painter won the girls race in 19:48.89 and teammate and defending state champion Kristin Ali Keith was second in 20:16.19. The Trojans placed five girls in the top 12 to win with 22 points.

OIA WESTERN DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Waialua.

BOYS

Varsity—Team: 1, Leilehua 44. 2, Radford 62. 3, 'Aiea 77. 4, Kapolei, 116. 5, Pearl City 117. 6, Campbell 127. 7, Waipahu 154. 8, Wai'anae, 224. Individual: 1, Bryce Jenkins (Lei) 16:34.79. 2, Margarito Martinez (Lei) 16:59.24. 3, Christian Putegnat (Cam) 17:06.05. 4, Colin Honeker ('Aiea) 17:33.31. 5, William Wren (Kap) 17:38.04. 6, Brandon Mageary (Rad) 17:42.03. 7, Elmer Arceo (Waip) 17:49.33. 8, Tyler Beck (Rad) 17:52.70. 9, Shane Gamez (Mil) 17:53.15. 10, Danny Lawrence ('Aiea) 18:00.98. 11, Noel Cabato (Lei) 18:14.03. 12, Greg Sikes-Mitchell (Rad) 18:29.86. 13, Patrick Enriques (PC) 18:38.58. 14, Jayson Dumaoal (Lei) 18:49.17. 15, Ezra Kamoe, ('Aiea) 18:50.25.

Junior varsity—Team: 1, Mililani 51. 2, Waipahu 86. 3, Pearl City 88. 4, Wai'anae 98.5, Leilehua, 104. 6, 'Aiea, 110. 7, Radford, 114. Individual: 1, Casey Ryan (PC) 18:29.92. 2, Adam Weaver (Mil) 18:43.61. 3, Alex Uesugi (Wain) 18:57.03. 4, Jaymes Lonzanida (PC) 19:06.51. 5, Nathan Shirey (Kap) 19:13.43.

GIRLS

Varsity—Team: 1, Mililani 22. 2, Radford 44. 3, Kapolei 80. 4, Waipahu 84. Individual: 1, Nicole Painter (Mil) 19:48.89. 2, Kristin Ali Keith (Mil) 20:16.19. 3, Dayna Domingo (PC) 20:52.86. 4, Demetria Woods (Rad) 20:57.78. 5, Mariama Lane (Lei) 21:16.06. 6, Nicole Kahunahana (PC) 21:32.43. 7, Arielle Uejo (Mil) 21:40.35. 8, Rocio Sanchez (Kap) 21:40.56. 9, Rachel Morihara (Lei) 21:46.93. 10, Minna Smith (Rad) 21:56.77. 11, Tyler Yonemura (Mil) 22:00.99. 12, Jaclyn Knaus (Mil) 22:02.52. 13, Megan Commander (Rad) 22:10.87. 14, Juliana Powell (Waip) 22:32.24. 15, Lauren Mageary (Rad) 22:39.27.

Junior varsity—Team: 1, Mililani 28. 2, Radford 48. 3, Waipahu 74. 4, Kapolei 91. 5, Campbell 123. Individual: 1, Gabriella Jenkins (Mil) 20:22.67. 2, Deylynn White (Kap) 20:30.20. 3, Taylor Sinn (Mil) 20:47.24. 4, Rina Carrillo (Mil) 20:55.79. 5, Kayleigh Waters (Lei) 21:20.93.