In her dress rehearsal before the big meet, Elli Brady had a perfect showing.

The Punahou sophomore and defending state champion ran with injuries earlier this season and wasn’t even her team’s top finisher at races. At yesterday afternoon’s Interscholastic League of Honolulu cross country championships, Brady led from the start to win the 3-mile race in 20 minutes, 2.04 seconds at Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park.

"The ILH championship is always the dress rehearsal for states to see where you are," said Brady, who also won the ILH title last year. "Today I wanted to just go out and do my best."

The state championship is Thursday at Central Oahu Regional Park.

Brady pulled away from Hawaii Baptist’s Heidi Nicholls around the second-mile mark. The heat and speed took a toll on Brady, who felt dehydrated after the race. But she showed the form of someone running much differently from earlier in the season.

"I’m feeling a lot stronger," Brady said. "In the beginning of the season I had my tendinitis problem. I’ve come back from that. I feel strong physically, and mentally I’ve gotten my mental state back to where I can compete with the top people in the state."

Breanne Ball of ‘Iolani was second in 20:12.15 and Nicholls was third in 20:16.99. The two are among the most improved runners in the state.

"It was kind of emotional because it was my last ILH race and I wanted to give it my all for my teammates because we’ve been working really hard this year," Nicholls said.

Punahou, the defending state champion, placed four runners in the top 10 to win the league title with a meet-low 38 points. Kyleigh Mann was fourth (20:26.67), Melissa Wong was sixth (21:02.11), Jaime Durso was seventh (21:05.79) and Kacie Won was 22nd (22:20.25).

HBA was second with 63 and Kamehameha had 68.

In the boys race, Jordan Thibodeau of Kamehameha won his second straight ILH title after finishing the 3-mile race in 16:35.44. Kamehameha also placed five runners in the top 10 to win the team title with 27 points.

"It was a team effort," said Thibodeau, whose team is the defending state champion. "We all went into the race going for the team (title). We all worked together this past week and season, too, all running together and pushing each other."

Thibodeau, a senior, led from start to finish on the hilly course. ‘Iolani’s Troy Esaki was second in 16:57.97 and Kamehameha’s Charles Akiona third in 17:04.63.

"It was hot, it was pretty rough, the course is difficult," Thibodeau said. "It was a challenge like every race. Winning is all the effort paying off towards the end of the season."

Kamehameha’s scoring five were Thibodeau, Akiona, Joshua Freitas (sixth, 17:36.97), Alexander Ortega (seventh, 17:38.50) and Caleb Acheula (10th, 17:50.74). ‘Iolani was second with 62 points and Punahou was third with 79.