Four Valley schools produce state qualifiers

PALMER — Runners from each of the Valley high schools represented in the varsity races at the Region III Cross-Country Running Championships are going to state.

In the boys’ 4A varsity race on Saturday at Colony High School, the order of the top individual finishers mirrored the top team finishes. Kodiak runners Michael Parnell and Keith Osowski — who finished in 16:22.9 and 16:23.3, respectively — led the charge from the beginning, with Wasilla senior Quincy Fuller and Colony junior Tracen Knopp close behind. The boys finished in the same order they started, with Fuller and Knopp clocking times of 16:38 and 16:42.

Fuller said his was a personal record by 2 or 3 seconds.

“Tracen started going ahead of me and I was losing him after 3k, but at 4k I kicked it back in and got it (third place),” Fuller said.

Knopp said he was shooting for top 3 going into the race, but knew Fuller was a tough competitor. He felt like he “kept a pretty even pace the whole way through,” and, like Fuller, is looking forward to a top-10 finish at state.

The Knights lost to the Warriors by just one point — 68 to 67 — a margin neither team expected to be so narrow.

“We’re just so happy that the boys are going (to state),” said Colony head coach Rhonda Knopp, who did not take a full boys team to the championship last year. “They made great gains this season.”

Wasilla head coach Leslie Varys said she was nervous going into the meet, knowing she had done all she could for the boys.

“As a coach, I can’t race it for them,” she said.

But after watching them run and finish, Varys knew she needn’t have worried.

“I think each of them had a job to do and they did it to perfection,” she said.

Fuller credited his team prayer huddle before the race as much as his coaches for the Warriors’ performance.

“God helped us,” Fuller said.

On the girls’ side, the Warriors are a new team, consisting mostly of first-time runners who have focused on basketball at the school up to this point, Varys said. Jordan Burroughs, the first female finisher for Wasilla, came in 25th place.

At Colony, sophomore Jill Bowker has been the girls’ team’s top performer since last season, and the region meet was no different. Bowker finished fifth overall with a time of 19:46, 17 seconds behind third-place and top Valley finisher Ruby Woodings, a junior at Palmer.

“It wasn’t an amazing race but I’m still happy with it,” Bowker said.

Bowker, like several others in Saturday’s races, “wiped out” at the bottom of a muddy hill on the course, resulting in a slower time for her than usual.

Woodings, however, saw one of the best finishes of her career, despite the fact that Colony’s winding, hilly course is one of the toughest for her.

“I really catch people on the flats, but those turns and corners are hard,” she said.

Woodings’ time on Saturday was two seconds slower than her personal best, she said, and she finished just 1.3 seconds behind second-place finisher Jaycie Calvert, from Kenai. Winner Riana Boonstra, also of Kenai, finished in 19:05.

Since Woodings’ usual racing partner, Rya Berrigan, “had a tough race,” she said, the quiet redhead will again be the only Palmer girl competing at state, but she will have company on the boys’ team this year.

Palmer senior Ryan Kavalok finished 10th in 17:24 and freshman Leif Mumma came in 11th at 17:34, earning them both individual spots at state.

Kavalok said he “stayed steady” and as a general racing strategy tries to “stay aware of whoever is behind me.”

“Overall I’d say the team did good,” Kavalok said. “I’m proud of them.”

Palmer head coach John Bishop said Mumma was a nice surprise for the team this year, and that the boys’ team as a whole has been stepping up their game.

“With ANR (Alaska Nordic Racing) coming out to the Valley now, a lot of our runners are training year-round,” Bishop said.

The large schools aren’t the only ones producing state-qualifying athletes, however.

Houston freshman Allison VanPelt was the lone Valley runner to enter the 123A girls’ race, and she made her team proud. Despite the persistent loosening of her right shoe as it stuck in the mud on the trail, VanPelt finished fourth with a time of 20:08 for the 5-kilometer course.

She ran the second half of the race with one shoe.

“I almost caught third place,” she said.

She might have, too, if not for shoe snafu. VanPelt said her finish time was her second-best, having run a 20:04 at Su-Valley last weekend. The Colony course is also one of her favorites, second only to Bartlett’s where the state meet will be held next weekend.

“I just love running up hills,” VanPelt said.

According to Houston parents at the meet, VanPelt broke all kinds of records at Houston Middle School, and has become “the fastest female” in Houston High’s records by minutes.

VanPelt said she hopes her performances this season and in the future will help bring her school to the forefront of Valley and state athletics.

“Houston’s always kind of been, for cross-country, in the background,” she said. “I’m happy to bring it out and show everybody that Houston’s still in the game.”

VanPelt said she’s shooting for a sub-20-minute finish next week.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.

Results

Region III Cross Country Running Championships

5 kilometers

Sept. 26, 2015

Varsity

Boys’ 4A, Top 20

1. M. Parnell, Kod, 16:22.9; 2. Keith Osowski, Kod, 16:23.3; 3. Q. Fuller, Was, 16:38; 4. T. Knopp, Col, 16:42; 5. A. Swedberg, Sol, 17:03; 6. J. Hannah, Kod, 17:07; 7. R. McKinney, Kod, 17:08; 8. D. Peterson-Thompson, Col, 17:09; 9. D. Knopp, Col, 17:20; 10. R. Kavalok, Pal, 17:24; 11. L. Mumma, Pal, 17:34; 12. K. Greathouse, Was, 17:44; 13. T. Warhus, Was, 17:45; 14. Isaak Bell, Was, 17:47; 15. Josh Shuler, Sol, 17:49; 16. B. Olsen, Ken, 17:54; 17. D. Johnson, Kod, 17:55; 18. K. Danielson, Ken, 17:59.5; 19. C. Rosenberg, Pal, 17:59.7; 20. J. Pothast, Sol, 18:03.

Boys’ 123A, Valley finishers

20. J. Knutson, Hou, 18:14; 30. I. Smolden, Hou, 19:10; 32. E. Kinne, Hou, 19:21; 33. K. Taylor, Hou, 19:44; 34. T. Jackson, Hou, 19:47; 35. B. Bitler, Hou, 20:11; 36. D. Newell, Hou, 20:55.

Girls’ 4A, Top 15

1. R. Boonstra, Ken, 19:05; 2. J. Calvert, Ken, 19:28; 3. R. Woodings, Pal, 19:29; 4. I. Bergholtz, Ken, 19:32; 5. J. Bowker, Col, 19:46; 6. A. Gibson, Ken, 20:14; 7. Z. Bigley, Kod, 20:19; 8. D. Nelson, Sol, 20:22.4; 9. A. Mathis, Col, 20:22.8; 10. E. Bowker, Col, 20:23.7; 11. J. Block, Col, 20:24.2; 12. K. Arthur, Sol, 20:33; 13. C. Powers, Col, 20:50; 14. M. Erickson, Sol, 20:58; 15. S. Bruce, Col, 21:08.

Girls’ 123A, Top 10

1. R. Lindquist, Sew, 19:42; 2. Megan Pitzman, Hom, 19:49; 3. A. Rosencrans, Hom, 19:56; 4. A. Van Pelt, Hou, 20:08; 5. E. Balsan, ACS, 20:19; 6. A. Moseley, Hom, 20:25; 7. T. Ealum, ACS, 20:42; 8. G. Annett, Grace, 20:57.7; 9. M. Morgan, Grace, 20:58.1; 10. T. O’Hara, ACS, 20:58.5.