Moose sprinters stellar in championships

PALMER — Before the start of the boys’ 800-meter relay Saturday afternoon, Palmer senior and anchor John Scoresby had a message for his team’s third runner, sophomore A.J. Gentz.

“I told him don’t be less than second when I get the baton. I don’t want to have to play too much catch up,” Scoresby said.

That wasn’t much of a problem, considering the Palmer sprinters spent most of the Northern Lights Conference Championships ahead of the pack.

Scoresby anchored a pair of relay wins and junior sprinter Jim McCall won four events as the Moose sprinted to a second-place finish in the team standings of the NLC Championships at Palmer High School.

McCall was the top sprinter of the championships, winning both the 100 and 200. He also won the long jump and helped the Moose finish first in the 400 relay with an impressive display of speed.

In the 400 relay, the Moose held the slight advantage for the first 200 yards. But when he took the baton from David Clement, McCall exploded through the third corner, leaving second-place Kodiak well behind.

“It’s always comforting to see Jimmy pull out in front during the third leg, so I can just run a solid 100 and finish strong,” Scoresby said.

Scoresby, McCall, Clement and Chris Forkner combined for a time of 44.76 seconds in the event. It’s a personal best for the foursome and temporarily stood as a state best until Bartlett used a time of 44.40 to win the 400 relay of the Cook Inlet Championships later on Saturday. The 44.76 was also very close to the NLC record of 43.91 set by Colony years ago.

Scoresby said the relay team wasn’t necessarily looking for the conference record.

“The main thing is just PR. You can ask for anything more,” Scoresby said. “The big thing this year is we want to win state.”

McCall won the 100 with a time of 11.53. Scoresby had entered the NLC meet as the top sprinter in the conference in the 100, but was disqualified for a false start during the finals.

“It was pretty disappointing,” Scoresby said. “It was the first time I’ve ever DQ’d in anything at all in my high school career.”

McCall edged Scoresby to win the 200.

On Friday, McCall was the lone athlete to eclipse the 20-foot mark in the long jump.

“It felt good. I was just trying to find my right form and keep it consistent,” said McCall, who won the event with a leap of 20-7 1/2.

Senior Wylie Mangelsdorf was also strong for the Moose, finishing second in the 1,600 and 3,200.

Colony senior Matt Jaronik led the Knights to a third place in the team standings with his third straight conference title in the 400.

“It felt really good,” Jaronik said, after he won the event with a time of 50.85. “It’s my best run of the season. I’ve been kind of disappointed, but this felt really good.”

Jaronik entered the championships as the second-seeded runner in the event. But he came through with his season best at the right time.

“It’s been a weird year,” Jaronik said. “We’ll get distance runners, people running the mile and the 800 coming out for it. Sprinters come out of nowhere. The 400 is a weird race like that.”

Anthony Bricker finished second in both the 110 and 300 hurdles for the Knights. He was also fourth in the triple jump.

Senior John Knowles swept the throwing events to lead Wasilla to a fourth-place finish in the team standings. Knowles overcame a few scratches to throw 50-11 in the shot put and 162-10 1/2 in the discus.

After winning the shot put on Friday, Knowles said if you scratch, you just have to shake it off.

“That’s been my biggest demise,” Knowles said. “Last year at state I lost because I messed up and let it get to me. I’m not going to let it happen again this year.”

Knowles scratched during his first two attempts in the discus final. In his third, Knowles heaved the disc more than 160 feet and had to use every part of his 6-foot-8 frame to maintain his balance and stay in the ring.

Seniors Taylor Owens and Manny Curtis also had strong meets for the Warriors.

Owens, who was seeded behind five runners in the 400, finished second in the event. He was also sixth in the 100. Curtis was second in the triple and third in the high jump.

Wasilla’s 3,200 relay team of Pat Chafin, Keith Thompson, Michael Johnston and Jaron Christianson-Vavalis made one of the most impressive improvements of the championships. The WHS foursome bettered their personal best by 18 seconds en route to finishing second in the event.

Christianson-Vavalis’ effort went beyond just running his anchor leg of the 3,200. Also a baseball standout at WHS, Christianson-Vavalis made the trip back to the Valley Friday night after a Warriors baseball game in Soldotna to make it back for the relay meet.

Charlie Buzby led the eighth-place Houston Hawks with a fourth-place finish in the high jump.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Northern Lights Conference Championships

Friday-Saturday, Palmer High School

Boys’ team scores:

1. Kodiak 131, 2. Palmer 110, 3. Colony 84, 4. Wasilla 68, 5. Kenai 63, 6. Soldotna 33, 7. Homer 17, 8. Houston 14, 9. Skyview 13.

Boys’ individual results:

100 meter — 1. J. McCall, Pal 11.53; 2. Y. Simmons, Col 11.78; 3. C. Forkner, Pal 11.88; 4. M. Jaronik, Col 11.89; 5. R. McFarlin, Kod 11.91; 6. T. Owens, Was 12.06.

200 — 1. J. McCall, Pal 23.03; 2. J. Scoresby, Pal 23.51; 3. R. McFarlin, Kod 23.64; 4. M. Jaronik, Col 23.85; 5. L. Turner, Pal 24.05; 6. T. Owens, Was 24.06.

400 — 1. M. Jaronik, Col 50.85; 2. T. Owens, Was 52.22; 3. R. McFarlin, Kod 52.52; 4. J. Fogle, Kod 52.62; 5. C. Schneider, Sol 52.71; 6. C. Nymeyer, Kod 53.16.

800 — 1. B. Kiefer, Ken 2:00.49; 2. D. Anthony, Kod 2:01.34; 3. W. Mangelsdorf, Pal 2:04.55; 4. T. Enloe, Col 2:04.90; 5. J. Oswski, Kod 2:06.78; 6. M. Minturn, Pal 2:08.64.

1,600 – 1. D. Anthony, Kod 4:29.31; 2. W. Mangelsdorf, Pal 4:36.70; 3. B. Kiefer, Ken 4:41.67; 4. N. Deer, Kod 4:44.82; 5. J. Osowski, Kod 4:45.74; 6. C. Williams, Sky 4:48.88.

3,200 — 1. D. Anthony, Kod 9:31.37; 2. W. Mangelsdorf, Pal 10:08.70; 3. J. Osowski, Kod 10:13.08; 4. C. Christiansen, Kod 10:15.13; 5. C. Williams, Sky 10:17.23; 6. S. Fischer, Was 10:24.69.

110 hurdles — 1. K. Schick, Kod 15.83; 2. A. Bricker, Col 16.83; 3. A. Kauffman, Sol 16.86; 4. B. Niver, Col 17.09; 5. M. Gilbert, Kod 17.64; 6. J. Sandahl, Ken 17.89.

300 hurdles — 1. K. Schick, Kod 40.82; 2. A. Bricker, Col 41.74; 3. B. Niver, Col 41.80; 4. J. Day, Pal 42.32; 5. M. Gilbert, Kod 42.95; 6. C. Davidson, Kdo 42.97.

400 relay — 1. Palmer (C. Forkner, D. Clement, J. McCall, J. Scoresby) 44.76; 2. Kodiak 46.55; 3. Skyview 46.75; 4. Colony 47.00; 5. Soldotna 47.68; 6. Homer 48.02.

800 relay — 1. Palmer (C. Forkner, L. Turner, A. Gentz, J. Scoresby) 1:35.08; 2. Soldotna 1:36.43; 3. Houston 1:37.40; 4. Kenai 1:37.55; 5. Kodiak 1:37.85; 6. Wasilla 1:38.55.

1,600 relay — 1. Kodiak (C. Davidson, C. Nymyer, J. Fogle, K. Schick) 2:30.88; 2. Kenai 3:40.15; 3. Soldotna 3:42.77; 4. Palmer 3:43.14; 5. Houston 3:44.54; 6. Wasilla 3:49.78.

3,200 relay — 1. Kodiak (J. Fogle, C. Nymyer, C. Davidson, D. Anthony) 8:28.22; 2. Wasilla 8:35.45; 3. Palmer 8:44.51; 4. Homer 9:31.50; 5. Soldotna 9:35.67; 6. Houston 9:53.09.

High jump — 1. T. Spalding, Ken 6-2; 2. K. Schick, Kod 6-0; 3. M. Curtis, Was 5-10; 4. Ch. Buzby, Hou 5-6; 4. (tie) T. Enloe, Col 5-6; 6. J. Fogle, Kod 5-6.

Long jump — 1. J. McCall, Pal 20-7.5; 2. M. Jaronik, Col 19-3.5; 3. T. Spalding, Ken 18-11.5; 4. I. Edwards, Was 18-7; 5. M. Gilbert, Kod 18-5.5; 6. M. Curtis, Was 18-4.

Triple jump — 1. T. Spalding, Ken 42-5.5; 2. M. Curtis, Was 39-0; 3. G. Michaelson, Col 38-5.25; 4. A. Bricker, Col 38-4.25; 5. T. Enloe, Col 36-11; 6. A. Kauffman, Sol 36-8.75.

Shot put — 1. J. Knowles, Was 50-11; 2. D. Teeling, Was 44-3; 3. R. Kalke, Hom 41-2.5; 4. E. Parsons, Pal 40-9.25; 5. J. Corbin, Pal 38-10; 6. C. Summers, Col 38-4.

Discus — 1. J. Knowles, Was 162-10.5; 2. T. Spalding, Ken 130-1; 3. T. Minogue, Sol 122-9; 4. D. Parham, Sky 118-0; 5. R. Kalke, Hom 116-0; 6. D. Sorenson, Pal 113-5.