Friday, November 20, 1998
Jenkins’ girls have
had quite a run
Tomorrow's state cross-country
By Pat Bigold
meet will be the last for the long-
time Punahou girls' coach
Star-BulletinWhen Hugh Jenkins gets his seven girls ready for the start of tomorrow morning's Honolulu Marathon Association/HHSAA Cross Country Championships at Kauai Community College, he'll be ending one of Hawaii's most successful prep coaching careers.
In 27 years as head coach of the Buffanblu girls, Jenkins has led the school to 14 state titles.
''He's been a sincere and dedicated coach," said retired Punahou athletic director Ralph Martinson, who asked Jenkins to assume the brand new girls' program in 1971, a year before Title IX became federal law.
"Six turned out that year," said the 53-year-old Jenkins, who came to Punahou from Oberlin College in Ohio three decades ago with training in biology, chemistry and oceanography.
It was a chance to teach oceanography in summer school that lured Jenkins from the Midwest to Hawaii. But once here, Martinson made sure he expanded his horizons.
The rest is local prep history, as the Buffanblu girls' program expanded to 80 junior varsity and varsity runners by 1978.
But while Jenkins was developing the state's strongest girls' cross-country program, he was also nurturing a passion for the art of glass blowing. It will now consume most of his life after coaching.
It grew out of his permanent teaching assignment in the art department. He specialized in teaching jewelry and metal making and glass blowing until he retired from the classroom last year.
He and his companion, Stephanie Ross, another former school teacher, will be collaborating full-time on new concepts in the delicate craft.
Not many people are aware that Jenkins is widely respected as a glass blower and his achievements are on display at galleries in Kaimuki and Ward Center.For the past four seasons, he has had the state's top female cross-country competitor in Eri Macdonald, who is on the verge of winning an unprecedented fourth straight state title. Kaiser's Nina Liahjell (1983-85) was the only other girl to win three.
Macdonald is a nationally recognized competitor not only in cross country but also the 800 meters on the track.
But Jenkins, who has coached six different girls to individual state titles, said he derives the most satisfaction from convincing the average competitors to stretch their limits.
''The kids come out in the first week of September, and I'd tell them by the end of the season you're going to be running 25 to 30 miles a week, and you'll know what it's like to have a six- or seven-mile day," said Jenkins. ''They look at you like, 'Oh, you've got to be kidding.' But at the end of the season, they come to me and say, 'Wow, I did that.'
''It's the discovery that if somebody holds you to a standard and makes you be consistent in your progress, you can achieve things you never thought you could've done by yourself."
In fact, Jenkins said that meeting with the team each school day and on meet weekends bolstered his own sense of self discipline, and he's going to miss that.
Jenkins said what he has loved about being a cross-country runner and coaching the sport is its simplicity.
"It's just kids in shorts and shoes going out there to run," said Jenkins.
''Another thing I like about it is that you don't have to overcome anybody. When I played football and basketball, the challenge was to physically dominate somebody. In cross country, everybody is going the same direction and everybody's goal is the same. You don't have to whack or fake somebody out, you simply have to do the best job you can do that day. It's just a clean and pure physical achievement."
Even though Punahou is the defending state girls' champion and has the top two runners in the state in Macdonald and Victoria Chang, Jenkins knows that the critical points come from further down in the top 20. Having seven competitive runners to field at the state meet every year has been the critical goal Jenkins has set forth.
"Most of the time, someone would get in the top four or five and the rest of the kids would get into the top 20," he said.
''With the exception of the time we went 1-2-3 in 1982 with Michele Slipher at Hawaii Preparatory Academy, that's how we would win. That was really incredible in 1982."
STATE MEET NOTES: The Honolulu Marathon Association/HHSAA Cross Country Championships will get under way at 9 a.m. at Kauai Community College. It is the first time the meet has been held there since 1988. The girls will race first and then the boys.
If Punahou's Eri Macdonald wins a fourth girls' title, that will make six for the Macdonald family. Her father, Duncan Macdonald, won the first two boys' meets (1965, 1966) on a 2-mile Pali Golf Course route.
Macdonald's teammate, junior Victoria Chang, was state runner-up last year at Waiakea and finished only a second behind winner Macdonald in last week's ILH championships.
Iolani, which won its first ILH team title, will be a large favorite tomorrow for the girls' title. But the Buffanblu, Roosevelt, and Hawaii Preparatory Academy will give chase.
The defending boys' champion is Hilo's Josh Villanueva. He will receive strong competition from the runners who finished second through fifth behind him at Waiakea: Jacob Williams (Kamehameha), Robert Kessner (Iolani), Robby Phillip (Mililani) and Matt Chun (Punahou).
Add the unbeaten OIA champion, James Googe of Radford, to the pack, and it will be a battle for the boys' crown on a rather flat course.
Kamehameha is the defending boys' state champion, winning its third ILH title with the best score the school has ever achieved.
The Warriors will receive competition from OIA champion Radford, Seabury Hall, Punahou and Hawaii Preparatory Academy.
Hugh's highlights
State team championships: 14 (1973, 1974, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997)
