Palmer junior runs wild in 4A boys race

PALMER — It was fairly easy to pick Palmer junior Wylie Mangelsdorf out of the crowd of runners competing in the ASAA/First National Bank 4A Boys State Cross Country Running Championship race.

With a painted face and blue mohawk, Mangelsdorf shot to the front of the pack of 83 athletes.

“I was the only one from Palmer, so I had to stand out some how,” Mangelsdorf said.

But in the end, the Palmer junior stood out for more reasons than a little blue paint. Mangelsdorf finished as the seventh-place runner in a highly-competitive field in the large-schools state championships at Palmer High School on Saturday.

Mangelsdorf used a late sprint and final lunge to finish seventh in the race. Sandwiched between a pair of Service runners during the final sprint down the chute, Mangelsdorf threw himself forward to edge Service’s Silas Talbot by four-tenths of a second.

Mangelsdorf’s time of 16:35 put him just two-tenths of a second behind fifth-place Jani Lane, of Service.

“It was so close,” Mangelsdorf said. “I just tried leaning there at the end.”

With a fast start, Mangelsdorf spent the first lap in the top five.

“I started fast because I knew the Kodiak kids were there,” Mangelsdorf said.

Mangelsdorf finished fourth in the Region III Championships behind Kodiak’s Trevor Dunbar, Dylan Anthony and Sam Salus.

Dunbar blew away the competition, breaking his own state record by 29 seconds and recording a time of 15:07 to win his third straight state title.

But Mangelsdorf spent his time early in the race jockeying for position with Anthony (third, 16:08) and Salus (fourth, 16:09).

During the second lap of the race, West Valley’s Werner Hoefler moved past Mangelsdorf and into the fifth spot. Mangelsdorf was able to stay in front of a charging David Norris of Lathrop, but late in the third lap it was the two Service runners who challenged Mangelsdorf for position.

“I didn’t even know they were there,” Mangelsdorf said. “I was just going all out.”

Tanner Enloe finished 25th with a time of 17:23 to lead Colony to a fifth-place finish in the team standings.

Jeff Ford (28th, 17:33) and Steven Sinnett (31st, 17:34) finished just a second apart in the standings.

With three runners in the top four, Kodiak cruised to its third straight team title.

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

ASAA/First National Bank State Cross Country Running Championships

4A Boys

Saturday, Palmer

Team scores:

1. Kodiak 45, 2. Service 56, 3. West Valley 107, 4. West Anchorage 142, 5. Colony 157, 6. Juneau-Douglas 157, 7. South Anchorage 166, 8. Lathrop 172, 9. East Anchorage 201, 10. Soldotna 244, 11. Skyview 244.

1. Dunbar, Trevor, Kodiak, 15:07.8; 2. Fletcher, Aaron, South Anchorage, 15:55.8; 3. Anthony, Dylan, Kodiak, 16:08.9; 4. Salus, Sam, Kodiak, 16:09.5; 5. Hoefler, Werner, West Valley, 16:26.3; 6. Lane, Jani, Service, 16:34.8; 7. Mangelsdorf, Wylie, Palmer, 16:35.0; 8. Talbot, Silas, Service, 16:35.4; 9. Norris, David, Lathrop, 16:48.4; 10. Bursell, Zach, Juneau, 16:49.1; 11. Updike, Issac, Ketchikan, 16:49.5; 12. Walgren, Robert, Service, 16:53.9; 13. Treinen, Nick, West, 16:55.1; 14. Harpel, Christian, South Anchorage, 16:59.8; 15. Hanley, Ryan, Dimond, 17:02.8; 16. Moerlein, Mike, Skyview, 17:06.7; 17. Thibodeau, Sage, Juneau, 17:08.7; 18. Bearden, Taylor, West Valley, 17:10.0; 19. Phelps, Cody, Service, 17:10.5; 20. Goodman, Dane, Service, 17:15.2; 21. Osowski, James, Kodiak, 17:17.0; 22. Davidson, Chaven, Kodiak, 17:19.6; 23. Susook, Dion, East, 17:20.9; 24. Odegaard, Alex, West, 17:21.2; 25. Enloe, Tanner, Colony, 17:23.8; 26. Cook, Johnny, Skyview, 17:26.3; 27. Nugent, Pat, Lathrop, 17:29.9; 28. Ford, Jeff, Colony, 17:33.1; 29. Solie, Sean, West Valley, 17:33.7; 30. Stone, Alex, Soldotna, 17:34.1; 31. Sinnett, Steven, Colony, 17:34.4; 32. Remington, Jacob, West Valley, 17:34.7; 33. Klutz, Zachary, East, 17:34.9; 34. Lammers, Issac, Chugiak, 17:35.3; 35. Ray, Josh, North Pole, 17:39.0; 36. Knapp, Nathaniel, East, 17:39.3; 37. Kisken, Sawyer, West Valley, 17:39.8; 38. Zinck, Ethan, West, 17:40.8; 39. Ainsworth Nolin, Juneau, 17:41.2; 40. Blott, Justin, Kodiak 17:43.0; 41. Schneider,Patrick, Kodiak, 17:43.3; 42. Knopp, Schyler, Colony, 17:44.1; 43. Stage, Martin, West, 17:44.5; 44. Wheeler, Scott, West, 17:45.5; 45. Branham, Josh, Lathrop, 17:49.7; 46. Semmens, Travis, Soldotna 17:50.1; 47. Wheatall, Aaron, Service, 17:50.6; 48. Burrell, Nathaniel, Lathrop, 17:53.0; 49. Mullen, Jeff,

Soldotna, 17:53.4; 50. Reimer, Alex, Colony, 17:53.7; 51. Jonas, Spencer, South Anchorage, 17:54.0; 52. Crawford, Dylan, Colony, 17:58.6; 53. Howe, Ealum, West Valley, 17:59.4; 54. Woodby, Robin, Juneau, 17:59.6; 55. Culver, Robinson, South Anchorage, 18:01.9; 56. Stoops, Daniel, Juneau, 18:02.6; 57. DeWilde, Gavin, North Pole, 18:03.0; 58. Wangberg, Blake, Colony, 18:03.3; 59. Derman-Harris, Jon, West, 18:03.8; 60. Bailey, Mackenzie, Service, 18:04.2; 61. Bunton, Andre, Juneau, 18:04.6; 62. Updike, Lucas, Ketchikan, 18:11.2; 63. Mahlen, Forrest, South Anchorage, 18:13.8; 64. Castellini, Luke, Lathrop, 18:15.9; 65. Rulien, Taylor, West, 18:18.4; 66. Pohl, John, East, 18:22.3; 67. Novak, Jack, South Anchorage, 18:22.6; 68. Hall, Justin, East, 18:23.4; 69. Holt, Brayden, Skyview, 18:23.9; 70. Hovda, Robert, Lathrop, 18:33.8; 71. Stolzberg, Robert, West Valley, 18:38.9; 72. Moldenhauer, Josiah, Soldotna, 18:40.2; 73. Waldo, Nick, Juneau, 18:41.1; 74. Merkes, Jordan, Soldotna, 18:41.4; 75. Sanders, Ryan, Soldotna, 18:42.5; 76. Ginn, Zachariah, Lathrop, 18:44.5; 77. Ajayi, Moyo, East, 18:46.9; 78. Pihl, Erik, Ketchikan 18:49.1; 79. Brewster, Brandon, South Anchorage, 18:59.4; 80. Gulley, Corey, Skyview, 19:04.9; 81. Clay, Evan, Soldotna, 19:34.3; 82. Deatherage, Elijah Skyview, 19:42.5; 83. Helminski, Ryan, Skyview, 19:55.2.