Palmer Moose girls surprise

PALMER — At the beginning of the season, Palmer coach John Bishop feared he was looking at a thin girls cross country running team. He thought he had a couple of girls who would compete. But for the most part, Bishop knew he had a young and inexperienced team.

But on Saturday, Bishop had a squad that exceeded everyone’s expectations and became the first Palmer girls squad to earn a team berth to the state championships for the first time in 12 years.

“I’m very happy,” Bishop said. “I knew we’d have to girls who would qualify. But I didn’t expect (the team) to make it.”

Those girls — Ellen Jorgenson and Hana Bohman did qualify — but it’s the pleasant surprises that really pushed the Moose into the state meet, Bishop said.

Palmer placed a third runner, Heidi Hanna, in the top 20. But Bishop gives a bulk of the credit to the work of Molly Osiensky and Megan Southwick. While their finishes may seem modest — 24th and 37th respectively — Bishop said that effort was huge for Palmer’s cause.

“The main thing that sticks out is those two girls,” Bishop said. “When a teammate stepped out, they stepped up.”

Bishop is referring to the loss to Deanna Cummings, who dropped out of the race after passing out because of dehydration. Bishop said Cummings is OK, but is prone to passing out if she gets too dehydrated.

“We’ll still bring her to state. She’s a great runner,” Bishop said. “We’ll just make sure we’re pounding her with Gatorade.”

With Cummings out of the race, Osiensky and Southwick scored crucial points for their team and did enough to allow the Moose to finish fourth overall, grab the fourth and final team berth to state, and edge rival Colony by only three points.

Southwick has been a lucky find for the Moose. Bishop said she was cut by the Palmer volleyball team, but wanted to continue to participate in a fall sport and joined the cross-country team.

“Megan didn’t think she had a shot at having her points count. But without her doing that, we wouldn’t have had this opportunity,” Bishop said. “I really think both Megan and Molly are responsible for getting us the points we needed to make it to state.”

Jorgenson was also a fortunate find for the Moose. A foreign exchange student from Denmark, Jorgenson showed up on the first day of practice as an unknown. Now she’s the top runner on the team.

“She’s moving up the ranks,” Bishop said.

Palmer and Wasilla are both sending boys and girls teams to the state meet. The Colony boys team also advanced. For more on the upcoming state meet, which is slated for Saturday afternoon at Bartlett High School in Anchorage, see the Friday edition of the Frontiersman.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him at twitter.com/matsu_sports.