Palmer senior, Colony boys finish near the top of state standings

PALMER — Kodiak junior Trevor Dunbar capped an undefeated season with a record-breaking run at the ASAA Alaska 4A Cross Country Championships Saturday at Palmer’s Janecek Trails.

Dunbar’s course-record victory — his second consecutive state title — helped the Bears to a second boys 4A team title in as many years.

Colony’s Mason Wick placed sixth for the Knights, which also got a top-10 finish from Jeff Ford to place second overall for the second straight year. West Valley narrowly edged Palmer for third.

South’s Aaron Fletcher placed second overall, while Palmer’s Jake Parisien was third.

Fletcher and Parisien pushed the pace early as the lead pack broke away from the field over the first kilometer. But starting fast proved costly, and when Dunbar made his move midway through the race, neither Parisien nor Fletcher was able to keep pace.

“I knew that me and Aaron were going out too fast,” Parisien said following the race.

The Palmer senior, who battled a late-season injury in the weeks leading up to last week’s Region III championships, said he didn’t have enough in the tank when Dunbar began to pull away.

“If I had more miles under me, I could have kept it up,” he said.

He said he was hoping to give Dunbar a better run, but had no complaints about earning a second top-three finish in three years. Parisien placed second at state two years ago before spending his junior season in North Dakota.

“I wish I could have got second or first, but I’m happy for both Trevor and Aaron,” Parisien said. “They’re both good guys.”

Dunbar’s winning time of 15 minutes, 36.43 seconds shattered the previous course record of 15:44 held by Miguel Gomez of East and David Dyer of Dimond. Fletcher finished in 16:03.78, while Parisien finished in 16:35.33, one second ahead of Kodiak’s Sam Salus. Dunbar said getting the course record was a big goal for him coming into the race.

“I was ecstatic,” he said moments after crossing the finish line. “I wanted it.”

While Dunbar’s big finish was expected, Colony’s was not. The Knights finished third behind Kodiak and Palmer at regions, and Colony coach Mark Doner said before the race he was hoping for a finish in the top five to seven teams. After watching his team grab its second-consecutive runner-up finish at state, Doner was beaming.

“Not bad, not bad at all,” the Colony coach said. “I’m smiling.”

Doner said the key to Colony’s finish was the performance of not just Wick and Ford, but also Dave Gray (24th), Tanner Enloe (32nd) and John Jensen (54th).

“Our 3-4-5 guys ran unbelievably tough today,” Doner said.

Wick, a senior, said the Colony runners knew they had just one race left in the season to go for broke.

“Everyone stepped it up today,” Wick said.

Ford’s finish was particularly impressive considering his 10th-place performance was just one spot below where he finished at regions.

“I didn’t see that coming,” the junior said. “I just had a good race.”

Other top-50 finishers from the Mat-Su Valley included Wasilla’s Jimmy Sliwa in ninth place, Palmer’s Kevin Smith in 15th, Palmer’s Lauri Husa in 17th and Wasilla’s Baruch Chamberlain in 46th.

Sliwa’s finish gave the senior a second top-10 finish in as many years.

Palmer had high hopes entering the meet, with coach Tim Lundt speculating the team could challenge for a spot in the top-two. Following Saturday’s race, Lundt said the Moose could have run better, but that he wasn’t disappointed in the team’s efforts.

“The kids ran with heart,” Lundt said. “You get what you get and you’ve got to be happy with that.”

Mike Miller of Anchorage Christian won the boys’ class 1-2-3A race in a time of 16 minutes, 27.36 seconds, while Grace Christian won the overall title.

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com