Mid-Pacific senior Ben Creps added another Interscholastic League of Honolulu kayaking medal to his family's collection yesterday, taking first place in the 250-meter sprint race at the ILH championship meet at Ala Wai Canal.

Creps nosed out Punahou's Mark Towill by 0.73 seconds, finishing in 1 minute, 1.18 seconds. Punahou's Dustin Gaessner took third at 1:02.41.

"It was pretty close the whole race, and I just tried to hold on as best I could," said Creps, whose brothers Aaron and Ethan finished second and first in the 1996 and 2000 ILH championships, respectively. "I think I do better when I have someone else to chase."

That someone — defending champion Patrick Dolan of Maryknoll/Pac-Five — was not there yesterday because he was on Maui to attend the wedding of mentor Kai Bartlett. Dolan would have been the overwhelming favorite, Creps said.

"He's usually way ahead of the pack," Creps said. "Without him here, it was more of a level field."

Punahou took the boys team title with 36 points, followed by Mid-Pacific (77) and Kamehameha (96). In the girls team race, Iolani was first (43), followed by Punahou (40) and Kamehameha (64).

The girls sprint final was equally close and exciting, with Kamehameha senior Kilty Inafuku edging Iolani's Krista Speroni by less than half a second. Inafuku's time was 1:17.00, just 0.47 seconds ahead of Speroni and 0.98 seconds faster than Punahou's Shannon Tyau.

"This feels super, super awesome," said Inafuku, who took second in last year's ILH championships. "The competition really got better and I could feel them creeping up on me all the way to the end."

The 2,000-meter distance finals were not as suspenseful, with Punahou senior Eric Abbott repeating on the boys side and Iolani's Marisa Why winning the girls race, both by comfortable margins. Abbott's winning time was 9:08.50, well ahead of Kamehameha's Kaihe Chong (9:31.92) and Le Jardin's Kirk Muellar (9:34.97).

Why, a sophomore who took eighth in last year's finals, said offseason training with the Hawai'i Canoe and Kayak Team paid big dividends.

"It's a great club with so many incredible kayakers," Why said.

Rosie Scott of Punahou was second at 11:12.91, and Kathryn Huntsman of Pac-Five was third in 11:16.74.

INTERSCHOLASTIC LEAGUE OF HONOLULU CHAMPIONSHIPS

YESTERDAY

AT ALA WAI CANAL

BOYS

TEAM

1, Punahou 36. 2, Mid-Pacific 77. 3, Kamehameha 96. 4, Iolani 121. 5, Le Jardin 126. 6, Pac-Five 144.

DISTANCE—2,000 METERS

1, Eric Abbott (Puna) 9:08.50. 2, Kaihe Chong (KS) 9:31.92. 3, Kirk Mueller (LJ) 9:34.97. 4, Robbie Kelley (Puna) 9:38.73. 5, Drew Robb (Puna) 9:48.45. 6, Bobby-John Campbell (KS) 10:18.40. 7, Sean Murphy (LJ) 10:21.81. 8, Frances Kealoha 10:23.66.

SPRINT—250 METERS

1, Ben Creps (MPI) 1:01.18. 2, Mark Towill (Puna) 1:01.91. 3, Dustin Gaessner (Puna) 1:02.41. 4, Maverick Carey (Puna) 1:02.88. 5, Brockton Kodama (Iol) 1:03.55. 6, Christian Riegels (Puna) 1:05.24. 7, Woody Simpson (MPI) 1:05.45. 8, Taylor Rice (MPI) 1:09.89.

GIRLS

TEAM

1, Iolani 43. 2, Punahou 49. 3, Kamehameha 64.

DISTANCE—2000 METERS

1, Marisa Why (Iol) 10:54.24. 2, Rosie Scott (Puna) 11:12.91. 3, Kathryn Huntsman (P5) 11:16.74. 4, Allison Trecker (Iol) 11:18.33. 5, Kaiulani Neff (KS) 11:30.31. 6, Katinka Van LierRibink (Puna) 11:31.48. 7, Hannah Smith (Iol) 11:32.74. 8, Asha Allen (Iol) 11:36.31.

SPRINT—250 METERS

1, Kilty Inafuku (KS) 1:17.00. 2, Krista Speroni (Iol) 1:17.47. 3, Shannon Tyau (Puna) 1:17.98. 4, Kristen Johns (Puna) 1:18.56. 5, Hannah Thomas (KS) 1:19.21. 6, Julia Anderson (Iol) 1:21.02. 7, Kelly Aldinger (Puna) 1:22.61. 8, Britney Taamu-Miyashiro (Iol) 1:24.31.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.