Palmer hosting scaled down region running meet

PALMER — Prep sports have looked far different during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that includes high school cross-country running.

Palmer High School is hosting a scaled down Region III cross-country running championships Saturday at Palmer High’s Janecek Running Trails. Region III split its cross-country teams into two divisions for the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Region III Division I includes Colony, Palmer, Wasilla, Soldotna and Kodiak. Colony, Palmer and Wasilla are part of the Region III North and will race at Palmer High Saturday. Soldotna and Kodiak make up Region III South. Soldotna will run on the Peninsula and Kodiak. Region III received 10 berths for the varsity boys and another 10 for the varsity girls for the ASAA/First National Bank Division I State Cross-country Running Championships, slated for Oct. 10 at Kincaid Park in Anchorage. Soldotna and Kodiak will receive two state berths each, for both boys and the girls. The top-six runners from the Division I races at Palmer High Saturday will earn a spot in the state championships.

Region III Division II includes Anchorage Christian, Grace Christian, Houston, Redington, Homer, Kenai, Nikiski and Seward. Anchorage Christian, Grace Christian, Houston and Redington will race in the Northern Division meet Saturday at Palmer. Homer, Kenai, Nikiski and Seward will meet on the Peninsula. The top eight boys and the top eight girls in both the Northern and Southern divisions will qualify for the state meet.

Events begin with the Division I girls race at 11 a.m. and the Division I boys race follows at 11:40 a.m. The Division II girls race starts and 12:30 p.m. and the Division II boys race is at 1:15 p.m.

Mat-Su programs have competed in four local regular season races hosted by Redington, Colony, Palmer and Wasilla this season. Palmer senior Sophie Wright finished first in each of the girls varsity races. She notched a personal best time of 19 minutes, 30.7 seconds en route to a victory at the George Plumley Invitational at Palmer High on Sept. 12.

Colony senior Garrett Streit has a pair of first-place finishes and a runner-up finishes in three varsity boys races this season. Colony sophomore Zac Cheyette has a pair of wins, and second and third-place finishes this year in varsity boys races.

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