Retiring teacher, coach urges Colony grads to ‘find their 68’
By Jeremiah Bartz Frontiersman.com A football coach using a hockey reference as the centerpiece for his keynote address may
2 min read
Ella Hopkins and her Colony Knights classmates celebrated senior day Saturday morning. A couple of hours later, the senior earned a chance to celebrate again.
Hopkins ran to a dominant win during the girls’ varsity race of the Colony Invitational at Colony High School.
Hopkins, who won the Ted McKenney XC Invitational in Soldotna last week, used a time of 18 minutes, 40.45 seconds to capture the victory Saturday on her home course. Hopkins finished about 10 seconds faster than Wasilla sophomore Hailee Giacobbe, the runner-up.
Hopkins also set a personal record with the official time, and broke the 19-minute mark in a 5,000-meter cross-country race for the first time in her career.
Led by Hopkins, the Colony girls won the team title with 40 total points.
It was part of a sweep of the team trophies for the Knights. The Colony boys were first in the team standings, also with 40 points.
Senior Coby Marvin led the Colony boys with a runner-up finish, and time of 16:26. Marvin also set a personal record on Saturday, and broke 17 minutes for the first time in his career.
Junior Trygve Vang-Thompson (16:45) was fifth and senior Corbin Wilson (17:10) placed 10th for the Colony boys.
Sophomore Aubrey Virgin (19:34) finished fourth, senior Rachel Danz (20:26) was eighth and sophomore Isela Austin (20:35) was 10th for the Colony girls.
Wasilla was the runner-up in the boys team standings with 69 total points. Sophomore Blaze Rubeo (16:42) was fourth for Wasilla and senior Stephen Hafen (17:02) finished seventh.
Giacobbe led Wasilla to a third-place finish in the girls team standings. Sophomore Karley Tichenor led Palmer with a sixth-place finish and time of 20:16 in the girls race.
Freshman Oden Deal (18:39) led the Palmer boys with a 29th-place finish. Freshman Gabriel Thompson led the Redington boys with a time of 22:32. Freshman Christopher Opland had a time of 24:24 to lead the Houston boys.
Sophomore Daisy Cardoso led the Redington girls with a time of 23:45.
Contact the Frontiersman at sports@frontiersman.com.
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