Front of the pack

WASILLA — Holding something back early was a recipe for success for several Mat-Su girls at the Colony Invitational Saturday at Colony High.

Palmer’s Jacquie Lutz started out relatively slow, and at the 2-kilometer mark was hanging back in sixth place. By the halfway mark, Lutz had moved up to fifth position, and was gaining on several runners in front of her.

By the time she reached the finish line, Lutz only trailed eventual winner Ivy O’Guinn of Skyview, in the process recording the best finish by a Mat-Su female in the race.

“I tried not to start out too fast,” Lutz explained afterward.

The Palmer senior credited strong support from the large crowd at Colony for helping her move through the pack as the race wore on.

“People just kept encouraging me the whole way,” she said.

Lutz said she came into Saturday hoping for a finish in or near the top five, but said her performance far exceeded her expectations.

“I am really happy,” she said. “I didn’t think I’d finish this high.”

Lutz wasn’t the only Mat-Su girl to run a solid tactical race. In fact, the Wasilla girls used their solid game plan to run away with the girls’ overall title.

Midway through the race, the Warriors had just one runner in the top-10, with most of the team’s top members preferring to pace themselves in the middle of the pack. But like Lutz, the Wasilla girls steadily moved forward as the race wore on, eventually placing each of the team’s first five runners in the top-14 to win convincingly over second-place Grace Christian.

“Our girls ran really smart,” Wasilla coach Gary Howell said following the race.

Colony’s Heidi Doner used her home field knowledge of the Colony course to grab fifth place to pace the fourth-place Knights. Palmer wound up in sixth, one spot ahead of Susitna Valley, which was led by a 33rd-place finish by Kristjana Timmers. Kassandra Morriss was the top Houston finisher, placing 28th.

Like Parisien, the Wasilla girls also ran the Colony course Tuesday, which Howell said definitely played a part in his team’s success.

“We figured out the formula,” he said.

Howell said it’s obvious that a slow start is key to finishing strong at Colony.

“Taking off too fast is not the way to run this course,” he said.

Kendra Nelson led Wasilla in 7th place, closely followed by teammates Katie Bialka (9th), Brooke Nelson (11th), Elle Fuller (13th) and Jessica Gross (14th).

Perhaps even more impressive about Wasilla’s win was the fact that the Warrior junior varsity pulled off a rare feat in cross country running, sweeping the top six positions in the girls’ open race and earning a perfect score of 15.

Howell said the dual win for his girls team illustrates just how deep the defending Northern Lights Conference Champions are, and said he believes the Warriors have established themselves as a serious threat on this year’s conference and state running radar.

“We’re definitely a pretty big blip,” he said.

Howell was quick to point out that Wasilla’s success wouldn’t be possible without a bit of help from an unlikely source. He said Colony coaches Mark Doner and Mark Strabel have allowed the Warriors to train on the Colony trails throughout the season, as Wasilla is lacking a decent trail at its campus.

“You’ve got to give credit where credit is due,” he said.

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com