You wake up in the morning and open your phone to look at the time, the date showing it’s November 1st, 2025. You get up and get ready for your race; the race being for the cross country state championship. You’re now at the central Oahu Regional Park in Waipahu, and it’s now mere seconds before your race starts. You hear people shouting, screaming, yelling. You begin to feel your adrenaline pumping throughout your body and–BANG!
The gun goes off, and you begin running your race to victory.
This is exactly what the Moanalua High School senior James Millare felt at the beginning of his race. “During the start, it was like the gun goes off. Everyone’s screaming, and you just get energy from that really; it’s off the adrenaline I guess you would say,” said Millare.
“During the middle, the race is probably the worst because you’re just holding the pace here running,” Millare continued. “And then [at] the end you just sprint, which also sucks because you might just be so out of energy.”
Millare crossed the finish line in 16 minutes flat, becoming a second time state champion in Hawaii. Millare reflects on how he felt after the race. “I just really had to go to the bathroom. I honestly wasn’t really that tired, I guess you would say. I mean I was a little tired, but I probably could have ran it faster. I was 22 seconds ahead of the second place. If there was people running with me, [I’d] probably want to run faster,” Millare shared.
Millare then begins to reflect on how he felt during his first time running at state championships. “Last year I stayed behind this one guy who was a senior at the time, Arry Smith [was] his name, and then I stayed behind him until about half of the race until we hit like, 2 Miles, and then the last mile I just broke off.”
“I was feeling tired, but I was feeling excited coming around the last curve; knowing that I was about to be state champ for the first year,” said Millare.
When reflecting on last year’s cross country state championships, sophomore Sadie Krueger also has a familiar history with running at the meet. “It was really fun. It was definitely really good team bonding,” said Krueger.
“We locked in, but since we were all going to go through the same things, it was just fun to have other people who are going through the same thing with you,” Krueger continued.
When reflecting on how she prepared for the state championship, she states she didn’t have a direct course of action. “I didn’t have a strategy; I was like, ‘That would be so cool’ [if I could beat] my friend [who] kept beating me the whole season,” Krueger said. Then at state championships, Krueger says she “went out, and did [her] best.” The results spoke for itself.
“It surprised me. I was like, ‘Did I really just do that?’.”
In terms of goals, Krueger shared a surprising ingredient in her success: strong friendships and supportive teammates. “This year, I was like, that would be really cool if I could do it again, and then me and my teammate, James, both did it again. It was super cool, and I couldn’t have done it without all the teammates and everyone else competing, because they’re so kind. They just push you to new limits,” said Krueger.
When reflecting on how she felt before the 2025 state championship, Krueger expressed she felt jittery excitement. “I love being nervous and excited because it shows myself that I care, and it just changes my mindset. It’s like a locked-in mode, but I definitely love getting that mindset. I just love those feelings,” she said.
Millare and Kruger emerged as Moanalua’s strongest runners this season, showing leadership and endurance on the course. Their growth was clear in their pacing, confidence, focus and race strategy earning them both #1 in the state.
Teammate senior Dominic Domingo said their success was the underlying and often overlooked challenges of the sport. “There’s people thinking that running is very simple, but there’s a lot to unpack when we go behind the scenes,” Domingo said. It all looks like casual striding at swift speeds. But what they don’t realize is that it’s hard to maintain breath control, keep your pace, and keep your stride in the correct position. It only takes one screw up–even small–and you’ll already end up lower on the leaderboard. Both of them got what it takes, and that’s what makes them the runners they are at this present moment.
Domingo also added that their win and dedication has motivated him and others on the team. “It inspires me to one day become a very agile runner like them. And although it’s kind of hard for me to adjust my senses and plan my tactics to match up to their standards, they’ve proven to me that with dedication and focus, the door is open- waiting for you to step foot inside your destiny and to your dreams and realities beyond.”
As the season wrapped up, James Millare’s and Sadie Krueger’s accomplishments stand as a testament to their hard work and resilience. Their journey is a reminder to every reader and every athlete that progress comes from commitment, and that ordinary days of practice can lead to extraordinary moments at the finish line.
