Local runners ready for final prep cross country meet

WASILLA — Alaska’s high school runners have one last chance to make a run for glory this weekend.

The gun goes off noon Saturday for the 2007 ASAA Alaska High School Cross Country Running Championships at Palmer High’s Michael Janecek Trails. The season’s final meet, the state championships will settle once and for all which school’s runners are the fastest over five kilometers.

The meet will be held on the same course that hosted a wet, muddy Palmer Invitational event two weekends ago. Palmer coach Tim Lundt said the course was torn up pretty bad by the state’s largest cross country meet.

“It looked like 100 horses had run over it,” Lundt said.

After keeping runners off the course, laying down 80 cubic meters of sand and working nonstop to get the trails into race shape, Lundt said the Janecek Trails will be ready for business come Saturday.

“We should be ready to run on it tonight,” he said Thursday.

Four Mat-Su teams — the Wasilla girls, Colony girls, Colony boys and Palmer boys — will vie for class 4A team titles Saturday, while the Susitna Valley girls will compete in the girls’ class 1-2-3A event.

The top four class 4A teams in the region meet advanced to state, as did any other individual finishers in the top-15. Four Valley runners — Wasilla boys Baruch Chamberlain and Jimmy Sliwa, along with Palmer girls Jacquie Lutz and Sarah Houchen — will compete at state as individuals.

The most intriguing race of the weekend for Mat-Su teams will likely come during the class 4A boys race, where Kodiak — led by Region III and defending state champ Trevor Dunbar — will be looking to repeat as state champions.

Standing in the Bears’ way will be Jake Parisian and the Palmer Moose, who will be looking to use a home-course advantage to pull off the upset.

Lundt said he believes the flat, winding Palmer layout should make for a hotly-contested race.

“I think we’re going to have a really close state meet,” Lundt said.

The twists and turns of the Janacek Trails, Lundt said, will have the effect of bunching up the field and placing a premium on strategy.

“If you get boxed in and you don’t run those corners correct, you’re going to lose 30 seconds,” he said.

Lundt said course knowledge could help the Moose run down Kodiak.

“We’ve run it so many times it’s definitely an advantage to us,” he said.

Lundt said he believes it’s not impossible to take down the Bears.

“If we play our numbers right and the kids are really watching where the kids are in front of them, we might be able to surprise Kodiak,” he said.

Parisien, who finished second to Dunbar at regions, is healthy after suffering a mid-season injury to his hip and backside that made running uncomfortable. Lundt said the Palmer star has been running in practice for two weeks and is ready for a big showdown with the Kodiak senior on Palmer’s flat course.

“I think this type of course is a better fit for Jake,” Lundt said.

After a strong showing by several area teams and individuals at last weekend’s Region III meet, other Valley coaches also have high hopes for Saturday’s meet.

“The whole plan for the season has been to peak this week,” Wasilla coach Gary Howell said Thursday.

The Wasilla girls team won the Region III title at Colony High last weekend by placing five runners in the top 16 positions, using depth to its advantage. Howell knows a similar finish at state won’t be easy. He noted that West Anchorage has been ranked by at least one Web site as having one of the top programs in the nation, with West Valley and Juneau not far behind.

“Any time you can be in the same conversation with those teams, you have a team of merit,” Howell said.

Senior Kendra Nelson paced Wasilla by placing fourth at regions, while Katie Bialka was seventh, Brooke Nelson 11th, Jessica Gross 12th and Elle Fuller 16th. Howell doesn’t think the Wasilla girls are likely to challenge for a title, but he said he doesn’t think a finish in the top three teams is out of the question.

“All it would take would be a less-than-stellar performance by one of those girls on another team and a super good one by one of ours,” he said.

Howell said he he’s tapered work-outs off a bit in training this week, but said the team’s mentality makes it hard to slow down too much.

“They run best when they run hard,” he said.

Howell said he’s also hopeful Jimmy Sliwa — who finished eighth at state last year — will have a good showing in the individual race. Sliwa earned a trip to state by finishing eighth at regions, and Howell said he believes the senior bears watching this weekend.

“He’s got the potential to blow up and just have a great race,” Howell said.

The Colony Knights have two teams at state after the school’s girls team posted a second-place finish behind Wasilla at regions, while the boys were third behind Kodiak and Palmer.

Colony co-head coach Mark Doner said both the boys and girls teams can’t wait for the chance to run at state.

“We are very excited to run,” Doner said Thursday.

Doner said the Knights likely won’t be in contention for a title at state, but that he believes his teams are both poised for a solid showing after running well at regions.

“Every one of our athletes — I think it’s 42 — all but one of them ran a faster time than they’d run at the Colony Invite on the exact same course,” he said.

Sophomore Heidi Doner was the top Colony girl at regions, placing second overall behind Kodiak’s Abby Reed. Other Knights to watch at state include Sydney Stewart, who was ninth at regions, and Maria Wick, who placed 14th.

For the Colony boys, Mason Wick was the top individual at regions, placing fourth overall, while Jeff Ford was ninth.

Doner said a good goal for the Colony boys would be to finish in the top seven.

While a high finish for either of his teams — or any individuals — would be great, Doner said the team’s highest priority right now is having fun at the biggest meet of the season.

“I said to them, ‘Hey, let’s go into this with our eyes open, race the fastest we can, and make some good memories,’” he said.

Also participating at the state meet will be the Susitna Valley girls, which earned a trip to the class 1-2-3A meet by placing second overall at last week’s Region II meet.

Su Valley’s boys team narrowly missed out on a trip to state, but Buskirk said the disappointment has been tempered by the fact that most of the school’s cross country team — both boys and girls — continues to train as a team after school.

“They keep running together,” she said.ß

Su Valley coach Jane Buskirk said the team’s goals will be pretty simple at state.

“I’d like to have everybody have the best race they can,” Buskirk said.

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