Spanning the globe

YAKIMA -- As the Sunfair Invitational cross country meet extends well into its fourth decade, the reach of its 120-team field seems to grow further each year.

And now it's jumped halfway across an ocean.

Among Saturday's teams in the 35th annual high school run-fest will be Hilo, Hawaii, a 100-year-old school located on the east side of the Big Island.

Sounds completely random, but Hilo comes to Yakima via a strong connection in assistant coach Lory Hunter, a 1981 Eisenhower graduate who competed at Sunfair in her high school days.

As Lory Knapp, Hunter was a state qualifier for the Cadets in 1980 and competed in three Sunfair meets.

"I've always had great memories of Sunfair and have always wanted my kids to run in it," Hunter said earlier this week from Hilo. "Back when I ran in it there were like 50 teams, nothing like there is now. We don't have anything like it."

With both her kids running cross country at Hilo, Hunter decided to join head coach Bill McMahon as an assistant and the team has been fundraising for this trip for nearly a year.

"We're bringing seven girls and eight boys and combining it with college visits," Hunter explained. "We're squeezing a lot in but it should be a great experience."

The Hilo group is flying into Portland to check out a couple colleges, coming to Yakima for Sunfair, driving to Seattle for more college visits and then returning to Portland for its flight home.

Hunter said they will disperse their runners through the seven varsity flights because that's what makes the meet so attractive.

"Our kids haven't been in a meet where each one has their own race," she said. "Competitively it will be a big step up for us. It'll give them a chance to see what's out there."

In Hunter's senior year at Eisenhower, when Sunfair was in its seventh year, she turned in a highly respectable tour of Franklin Park of 19 minutes, 57 seconds on the three-mile course. It was the seventh-best time of the day and second-best locally.

Hunter graduated from Central Washington University and later worked in Seattle, where she met her husband, Stewart, who worked in the Navy. They moved to Hawaii and opened the Old Hawaiian Bed & Breakfast 7 1/2 years ago.

"In Hawaii you sort of have to create your own job, and we found a great spot two miles up the hill from town," she said. "Hilo's a real down-to-earth place and we love it."

Hunter often visits her parents in Yakima so this weekend will not be a rare homecoming. But for her runners it will be unique indeed.

"Sunfair is just a super neat event, a real running showcase," she said. "I'm excited to be a part of it again and I know our kids will love it."

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