Humphreys' Joey Brown, the eventual API overall and Far East D-I relay race winner, navigates one of the course's straightaways. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

NAGARA, Chiba Prefecture, Japan – No Tyler Gaines? No Jane Williams? No problem for Xavier Mitchell, Hannah Jernigan and Matthew C. Perry’s relay teams.

The Samurai juniors followed in the footsteps of their graduated teammates, capturing the Division II title in the combined Far East and Asia-Pacific Invitational 9.4-kilometer team relay Tuesday at Risol no Mori athletic complex.

“Just run faster than the other people,” Mitchell said of finishing ahead of the pairs from five other DODEA-Pacific D-II teams. “I just kept looking in front of me to see if they weren’t there.”

Runners from 20 schools in Japan, Okinawa, South Korea, Guam, Northern Marianas and the Philippines sent pairs of boys and girls to do three circuits, each doing three laps, six laps per pair, around a little over 800 meters of wood trail, 630 of soccer pitch and 70 of pavement.

The pair and team scoring were then tallied based on placing; official times were not kept.

“Be consistent with your pacing,” Jernigan said of keeping ahead of the rest of the D-II pack. “Go fast, but not that fast on the first lap.”

While Jernigan – who won the girls D-II individual 5-kilometer race on Monday – and Mitchell took the D-II top spot, Humphreys’ Joey Brown and Pacific record-holder Cassandra Jarzabek won the Division I crown.

And in the final team standings, Guam High achieved a school first, capturing both the API and Far East D-I titles, while Yokota won the D-II school banner.

Brown and Jarzabek, meanwhile, were the overall race winners. Jarzabek burst in front of the girls group and the Blackhawks’ top pair never let up.

For Jarzabek, it was a huge difference from Monday, when she made a wrong turn but still won the D-I individual race. This time, she and Brown left nothing to chance, Jarzabek said.

“I had to get it done. No question about it,” said Jarzabek, who set the Pacific record of 17 minutes, 58 seconds 10 days ago at her home Humphreys course. “I wanted to get out strong. I’m primarily a middle-distance runner, so this was a good fit for me.”

Brown has won all but one race in Korea this season and said he wanted to his and Jarzabek’s worth against the rest of the region.

“Just have fun and run my race,” Brown said. “We tried our hardest, left no room for doubt and did what we had to do. We were happy to run against good competition.”

Humphreys’ Cassandra Jarzabek teamed with Blackhawks’ senior Joey Brown to become overall API and Far East Division I relay race winner. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Perry's Xavier Mitchell comes across the finish line first to win the DODEA-Pacific Division II relay race. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Perry's Hannah Jernigan, the eventual Far East D-II relay race winner, navigates one of the course's straightaways. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

The coaches of the API and DODEA-Pacific team champions have some previous Far East meet pedigree.

Joe Taitano, who has coached Guam High and before that John F. Kennedy on Guam since the early 1980s, won a Far East D-I title as a coach with the Islanders in 2000.

This time, he claimed the API and Far East D-I team titles for the first time in Guam High history. Taitano credited his runners for taking care of business.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Taitano said. “The kids did the work. I’m blessed with the kids we have this year. They listened, learned, persevered and performed. That helped make my job easier as a coach.”

The Panthers’ championship came on the heels of capturing the Guam All-Island boys and girls team titles last Thursday at JFK’s Ramsey Field, Guam High’s boys for the fifth straight year and the girls for the third time in four years.

For the second straight year since coming out of the coronavirus pandemic, Nile C. Kinnick took the D-I girls team title, behind senior Mia Bartram, who placed third in Monday’s individual race.

Yokota’s coach, Danny Galvin, won the overall and D-II title in the Far East individual race nine years ago and now is in charge of a Panthers outfit that took the D-II boys and girls team crowns and came in second in the team relay standings.

He in turn credited his high school coaches. His father, Dan – a teacher at Yokota – and former Hong Kong Olympian Maggie Chan Roper coached Galvin.

“I’ve taken pieces of that and passed it on to them,” Galvin said of his runners. “I had a good group of kids. It was up to them to go out and do it. They really bought in and improved. I’m proud of them.”

For Brown and Jarzabek, the season isn’t over – they and runners from Daegu and Osan will compete in Saturday’s Korean-American Interscholastic Activities Conference season-ending meet at Taejon Christian.

“I always have more gas in the tank,” Jarzabek said.