Invitational heats up

PALMER — The temperatures weren’t the only thing heating up in Palmer this weekend. Fourteen teams from around Southcentral Alaska converged on Palmer High School for the annual Invitational and Relays.

With only weeks before the region and state championship track meets, athletes around the state are preparing to put forward their best performance in hopes of claiming a state title.

The Palmer boys squad finished fifth, best among Valley schools, while the Wasilla girls finished fourth. Grace Christian School took the girls home, while Anchorage Christian was victorious on the boys side of the events.

Levi Thomet of Kodiak put together possibly the most impressive display of speed on the afternoon, winning the 800 meters, 1600, running the anchor leg of Kodiak’s winning 4x800 team, and winning the 3200 by a margin of more than 20 seconds.

Thomet is one of many versatile athletes who competed in events at the Palmer Invitational. Palmer’s James Nisbett runs track, and, for the first time since he was an eighth-grader, also plays for the Palmer Moose soccer team. Nisbett and his backfield partner on the football field, Vincent Aumavae, are part of the Palmer 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams.

Aumavae put together a stellar performance on Friday, running in both relays and placing second in the 100 at 11.80 seconds, and third in the 200, with a time of 24.36.

Running royalty Allie Ostrander won the longest race of the day, finishing the 3,200 a full 1 minute and 35 seconds ahead of second place Alex Mathis of Wasilla. Ostrander also captured the crown in the 400 meter race.

Palmer Sophomore Brady Southwick had a particularly fast afternoon, winning the 100-meter hurdles and finishing second in the 300-meter hurdles to Wasilla’s Kenneth Frick.

Southwick praised the work of his coaches, Tim Popowski and Phil Nisbett, in getting him ready to perform at his best.

“They plan workouts for us to get us in shape and get us ready for the event, which benefits us in the long run,” he said.

Southwick said he has high hopes for himself and his team in the upcoming region meet.

“We are shooting for top five finish in the region,” he said. “Since we’re hosting it, we’ve got to represent.”

In addition to his two hurdles events, Southwick competed in the triple jump and ran a leg of Palmer’s 4x200 meter relay team. Palmer’s 4x100 and 4x400 boys teams both finished first among Valley teams at fourth place. Jared Layton returned from injury to run a 12.02 in the 100 meters, and may provide a vital boost to the title hopes of the Moose relay teams.

The Wasilla boys 4x200 team of Burris, Renk, Wolfe, and Gentz posted the best time of the meet at 1:37.49. They were the only winning Valley relay team.

Ceil Dunleavy won the girls high jump for Wasilla. Justin Drover of Su Valley had the best finish of Valley boys competitors with a jump of 5 feet, 6 inches, good enough for fourth place.

In the throwing events, Marshall Comer of Wasilla placed third in shot put, and discus. Brian Thompson of Palmer was right behind him in the shot at fourth place.

Matt Baron of Houston won the triple jump with a distance of 39-9.

Palmer’s Jonna Latinen finished third in the discus and second among Valley athletes in the shotput at seventh place.

Wasilla’s Kenneth Frick was third in the long jump, just ahead of Colony’s Keith Shepard.