Colony girls win Region III title

For the Frontiersman

SOLDOTNA — Colony cross country running coach Mark Doner couldn’t help but smile after scanning the results page of the Region III cross country meet posted outside Skyview High School Saturday afternoon.

“You gotta admit, that green looks good,” Doner said. “Especially grouped together.”

Doner and co-head coach Mark Strabel – along with everyone else in attendance at Tsalteshi Trails in Soldotna – had just watched a green wave roll across the finish line, as the Knights placed six runners in the top 17 places to easily claim the girls’ overall title.

“We said if we can get a bunch of ‘em under 21 [minutes], that would be icing on the cake,” Mark Strabel said. “To get six under 21 just blew us away.”

Colony was led by freshman Alyssa Hutchins in fifth place, one spot ahead of teammate Sydney Stewart. Following close behind that pair were junior Maria Wick (10th), sophomore Abby Jahn (12th), junior Heidi Doner (13th) and junior Caitlin Skvorc (17th).

Hutchins said she was happy to be the top Knight in the race, though she admitted that any of Colony’s talented stable of runners is capable of leading the group on any given day.

“Every race it’s a different outcome because we’re all strong and we all have the potential to do well,” Hutchins said.

Mark Doner said the Knights’ victory was made more special by the fact that Colony was able to win without a single senior in the lineup.

“A lot of those girls have been working hard together since they were in middle school,” he said.

Ivy O’Guinn took home her second career girls’ class 4A individual title by sprinting past SoHi’s Bree Mucha on the final downhill at the Panthers’ home course. O’Guinn also won the title in 2006.

Along with Kodiak’s Chloe Ivanoff, Mucha and O’Guinn broke away from the main pack of runners midway through the race and ran together until the final 200 yards, when O’Guinn decided it was time to make her move.

“It was the three of us together the whole way,” O’Guinn said after posting a time of 19 minutes, 4.4 seconds over the five-kilometer course.

On the boys’ side, things weren’t much different for the Knights, as they placed five runners in the top 16 to place second to Kodiak. The Bears’ Trevor Dunbar won the boys’ race in 15:32.4, leading a pack of three Kodiak runners across the finish line to help the Bears win their seventh consecutive boys’ title.

Colony’s Steven Sinnett was sixth, one spot ahead of teammate Tanner Enloe. Jeff Ford (13th) and Schyler Knopp (16th) rounded out Colony’s top five.

The top four teams on the boys’ and girls’ side automatically advance to the state meet, which will be held next Saturday at the Mike Janecek Trails in Palmer.

Led by a ninth-place finish by sophomore Kendra Miner, the Wasilla girls earned a berth at state by placing third. Alison Kelley finished 14th for the Warriors, which also got top-20 performances from Rachel Kennedy (15th), Brooke Nelson (18th) and Katie Bialka (19th).

But the Warrior boys found themselves on the outside looking in, placing fifth by just eight total points.

“It’s very disappointing,” Wasilla coach Gary Howell said of the Warriors’ failure to advance to state.

Howell blamed himself for Wasilla’s disappointing performance, saying his pre-race training schedule must have been off somehow.

“I might have screwed it up,” he said. “The kids can only run as good as I give ‘em, so I take full responsibility.”

Wasilla didn’t place an individual boy in the top 15, meaning no Warrior boys will advance to state. Wasilla’s top runner was Simon Fischer, who led a pack of four Warriors across the finish line. Jaron Christensen-Vavails was 21st, Noah Ripley was 22nd and Drew Ford finished 23rd.

“To take a team of 58 kids and reduce that down to seven is pretty tough,” Howell said.

The Palmer boys placed sixth overall, picking up a fourth-place finish from Wylie Mangelsdorf. Gretchen Winter placed 30th to lead the seventh-place Palmer girls.

Houston’s Travis Patterson finished in 19th place for the ninth-place Hawks, which didn’t field a team for the girls’ varsity race. Kassandra Morris placed 53rd in the girls’ open race to lead Houston’s girls team.