Palmer boys, Colony girls take firsts in Mat-Su Borough cross-country meet

TALKEETNA - If it werent for Susitna Valleys Ivan Steadman, the Palmer Moose boys would have had a perfect score at the Mat-Su Borough cross-country meet Thursday at Su Valley High School.

Steadman placed third, sandwiched around Drew Dickson (first), Nate Cross (second), Aaron Dickson (fourth), Lee Bolling (fifth) and Ryan Ford (sixth).

This was Drew Dicksons first win of the year over his brother, Aaron. Drews time was 16 minutes, 23.9 seconds.

The first two races, I was setting strategy, he said. It is good to have one solid race before regionals.

Those regionals are this weekend at Palmer.

Nikki Campbell and Dominique Colberg, both of Colony, took first and second in the girls race.

Campbells time was 18:48 and Colbergs was 18:59.

We really encourage each other, the senior Campbell said of the sophomore Colberg. We run together all the time.

Su Valleys Danielle Pratt was third at 19:45.5, followed by Colonys Diana Heimrl (20:13.6) and Su Valleys Melissa Ostermick (20:35.3).

The top Wasilla runner on the girls side was Megan Shields, who came in 11th, with a time of 21:44.9.

On the boys side, the top Colony finisher was Richard Hollock, in eighth place at 17:15.2, and the top Wasilla finisher was Mike Rubeo, 13th at 17:53.9.

Wasilla coach Eric Victor said most of his runners were timed with personal bests at the borough meet.

Jane Buskirk, one of the Su Valley coaches, said that on the girls side of the competition, the Rams also turned in personal-best times straight down the line, some of them by a minute or more.

Thats kind of nice, she said. Things are clicking for the girls.

Su Valley came in second in both the girls and boys races.