Colony senior runs to girls title at Soldotna cross-country meet

Colony senior Ella Hopkins and Grace Christian senior Robbie Annett repeated as champions of the Ted McKenney XC Invitational on Saturday at Tsalteshi Trails just outside of Soldotna.

Annett, the defending state champion at Division II, ran the 5 kilometers in 16 minutes, 4 seconds, to improve on his winning time from a year ago by two seconds. He has only not finished first at one cross-country race in the last two seasons.

Hopkins finished at 19:15, a new personal record for a 5K cross-country race and an improvement of 19 seconds on last year’s McKenney time. East’s Rosie Conway was runner-up at 19:29.

The Chugiak girls won the team title at the meet for the third straight season as they chase a fourth-straight Division I state crown. The boys team title went to defending Division I champ South.

The event is named for Ted McKenney, the longtime area cross-country coach who died in 2020 at 64 from brain cancer.

The McKenney Invite, which had 844 finishers in the open and varsity races, is the traditional grand kickoff to the cross-country season in Alaska, drawing runners from big schools around the state, except those in the Fairbanks area.

Hopkins said she likes the course because it is just one lap, which allows her to settle in and race her race. The McKenney was one of the three races Hopkins won in seven tries at 5K last season. She was seventh at Division I state.

She said the pace was solid to the midpoint of the race, then she said she fell back on her faith and went for it.

“I think I’m strong on the hills, but when I’m running, I just try to stay strong and say, ‘God, give me the strength to get up the next hill,’” Hopkins said. “That just pulls me through the course.”

She said her family commercial fishes for the summer in Egegik on Bristol Bay. That leaves beaches frequented by bears as the only training option.

Hopkins gave credit to her sister, Emma, for riding along on an ATV on training runs to keep her safe.

“I think it’s cool what I was able to do, even with obstacles like that around in the summer,” Hopkins said.

Defending Division I champ Hannah Shaha of Chugiak was fourth at 19:43.

“I’m just hoping to stay in the front pack and see what I can do this season,” Hopkins said.

Hopkins led Colony to a runner-up finish in the girls team standings with 86 total points. Sophomore Aubrey Virgin joined Hopkins in the top 10, with a 10th-place finish and a time of 20:19.

The Colony boys also finished second in the team standings with 115 points. Senior Coby Marvin led the Knights with a 10th-place finish with a time of 17:10.

Wasilla sophomore Hailee Giacobbe led the Warriors with a third-place finish in the girls standings, and a mark of 19:29. Stephen Hafen (17:30) was 20th to lead the Wasilla boys.

Sophomore Karley Tichenor was 16th in the girls race with a time of 21:05 to lead Palmer. Freshman Finn Adams was 31st (17:53) for the Palmer boys.