A final burst of intensity lifted Matthew Nakamoto of Hawai'i Baptist.

The junior edged Punahou's Chris Burniske by 0.26 seconds to win yesterday's boys race at the Interscholastic League of Honolulu championships. The two ran alongside each other on the 3-mile course at Patsy T. Mink Central O'ahu Regional Park and Burniske closed in on Nakamoto's lead in the final stretch before Nakamoto crossed the finish line in 16 minutes, 50.70 seconds.

"I knew he was right behind me so I pushed it all I got," Nakamoto said. "When we came right there (finish line), I had some extra intensity left in me so I extended my strides a little bit to get in front of him."

Burniske said the two always race side-by-side in previous cross country and track meets.

"We always sprint in," said Burniske, who finished in 16:50.96. "It was only fair I gave him all I had and he gave me all he had. It's an adrenaline rush that keeps going."

Burniske was one of three Buffanblu who finished in the top 10 as Punahou won the boys team title with 42 points. 'Iolani was second with 51.

Junior Haley Abing led the entire way in winning the girls 3-mile race in 19:52.73. Abing, who attends La Pietra but competes for Maryknoll, helped Maryknoll win the team title with 49 points, edging Punahou by four.

Maryknoll competes in cross country as a team with runners from smaller ILH schools.

"I feel pretty good about it because I have never won champs before," Abing said. "It's always been one of my teammates."

Maryknoll coach Christopher Yee said other runners picked it up this year, filling in for defending ILH and state champion Julie Besenbruch, who opted not to run this season.

"We're a team of different character but that character transcends what we had last year," Yee said. "Rather than having someone who did so well and everyone did pretty well, we had everyone do well this year."

Island Pacific Academy, a Kapolei school that opened in 2004 and which added its second high school class this year, qualified one boy and one girl for Friday's state championships on Maui. The top 39 boys and 41 girls qualified.

INTERSCHOLASTIC LEAGUE OF HONOLULU

BOYS VARSITY

TEAM

1, Punahou 42 points. 2, 'Iolani 51. 3, Kamehameha 54. 4, Hawai'i Baptist 100. 5, Mid-Pacific 101. 6, Maryknoll 170.

INDIVIDUAL

1, Matthew Nakamoto (HBA) 16:50.70. 2, Chris Burniske (Pun) 16:50.96. 3, Nathan Nakatsuka (KS) 17:30.55. 4, Tyler Mulloy ('Iol) 17:35.01. 5, Scott Motobu (MPI) 17:53.56. 6, Collin Hoo (Pun) 17:55.86. 7, Reyn Fernandez (Pun) 17:59.45. 8, Kainoa Ho (KS) 18:01.79. 9, Trevor Leong ('Iol) 18:10.05. 10, Micah Gomes (KS) 18:13.62. 11, Sean Dudevoir ('Iol) 18:19.38. 12, Kevin Donahue (SL) 18:27.81. 13, Landon Nagata (Pun) 18:28.05. 14, Borys Pleskacz ('Iol) 18:35.72. 15, Clay Ozaki Tran ('Iol) 18:37.23. 16, Ben Strand (Pun) 18:38.11. 17, Grant Kaiama (KS) 18:41.90. 18, Glen Akiona (KS) 18:45.52. 19, Reese Fujimoto (HBA) 18:46.34. 20, Rentaro Matsukata (PUn) 18:46.69.

GIRLS

TEAM

1, Maryknoll 49 points. 2, Punahou 53. 3, 'Iolani 69. 4, Kamehameha 82. 5, Hawai'i Baptist 138. 6, St. Andrew's 149. 7, Sacred Hearts 209.

INDIVIDUAL

1, Haley Abing (MS) 19:52.73. 2, Amanda Tamanaha (SA) 20:09.14. 3, Jenna Wong ('Iol) 20:12.17. 4, Claire Hann (MS) 20:21.20. 5, Chaylene Guinto (MS) 20:30.90. 6, Kristi Torkildson (Pun) 20:36.97. 7, Maile Scarpino ('Iol) 20:45.42. 8, Amelia Linsky ('Iol) 20:51.72. 9, Emma Broderick (KS) 20:54.71. 10, Farrah Madanay (Pun) 20:59.32. 11, Brooke LaPorte (Pun) 21:05.22. 12, Chelsea Oda (Pun) 21:19.73. 13, Kelly Opedal (KS) 21:31.50. 14, Jasmine Daniel (Pun) 21:36.13. 15, Breehn Sasaki (Pun) 21:39.55. 16, Alexa Untermann (Pun) 21:47.41. 17, Alana Meditz (KS) 21:53.35. 18, Malia Kagawa (MS) 21:59.88. 19, Chelsea Chan (HBA) 22:13.48. 20, Cheyane Kamai (KS) 22:17.40.

Reach Stanley Lee at sktlee@honoluluadvertiser.com.