Senior in running for top spot in state running championships

PALMER — More than 400 runners will hit the Michael Janecek Trails at Palmer High School on Saturday during the 2009 ASAA/First National Bank State Cross Country Championships.

But only one runner will be competing on his home course for the final time.

Palmer senior Wylie Mangelsdorf will try to cap a stellar final season with a top finish, when the top boys in the 4A class start heading toward the finish line at 12:45 Saturday afternoon.

“We told Wylie to just go out and do whatever he could,” Palmer coach John Bishop said Thursday afternoon. “It’s the last race of his senior year. Try a new strategy, try whatever he wants.”

And when it come to strategy, Mangelsdorf, who enters the race as one of the top handful of boys’ runners at the 4A level, will be able to use home field to his advantage.

“He definitely knows what he can do (on this course),” Bishop said. “He knows every corner.”

Last weekend, Mangelsdorf finished as the runner-up in the Region III Championships. He posted a fifth-place finish at the Skyview Invitational during the early part of the season. In early September, Mangelsdorf finished third in the Palmer Invitational on the Janecek Trails.

Mangelsdorf also broke the 16-minute mark for the first time in his career at the Palmer Invite. Bishop said that accomplishment was the key moment in Mangelsdorf’s senior year.

Kodiak’s Dylan Anthony, the Region III champ, and Service runners Jani Lane and Silas Talbot are expected to join Mangelsdorf at the front of the pack.

Anthony also won the Palmer Invite. Lane was first in the Skyview Invite, and edged Mangelsdorf for second in the Palmer Invite by two-tenths of a second.

Bishop said a little extra push on Mangelsdorf’s final kick could vault the Palmer runner past Lane, who beat Mangelsdorf by just one-tenth of a second in the state championships last year.

“I think Wylie is more conditioned for trying to carry his speed throughout the whole race, rather than down the finish,” Bishop said. “We’ve been working on the 500 meters coming down to the finish.”

Right behind Mangelsdorf at the Region III meet were a trio of Warriors who could potentially finish among the top 10-15 runners during the state meet.

Wasilla sophomore Michael Johnston finished third, just ahead of teammates Drew Ford (fifth) and Alden Lee (sixth).

“I think he can run top-10,” Wasilla head coach Gary Howell said of Johnston, who is also a hockey standout at WHS.

Howell is also excited about the potential of Ford, Lee and senior Jaron Christensen.

“I know Drew, Alden and Jaron are all looking to post really good times,” Howell said of the three runners who all may have the chance to run at the college level next year. “low 17 (minutes) and even the 16’s, to be able to send that time away to a college coach.”

The 6-foot-3 Ford finished fifth in the region meet, despite battling a tough Crevasse Moraine Trails course that was full of hills. Howell feels the much more flat Michael Janecek Trails will better suit Ford.

“He’s big, a big runner when it comes to cross country,” Howell said. “Palmer should favor runners like Michael and Drew.”

Palmer, Wasilla and Colony earned three of the region’s four state championship berths for teams

Leading the Knights is senior Dylan Crawford, who placed 11th in the region meet.

On the girls side, Colony and Wasilla are each sending teams to the 4A meet.

Colony won its second straight Region III title last week, after placing a pair of runners in the top-six and five in the top-20.

Sophomore Alyssa Hutchins finished a team-high fourth and senior Sydney Stewart was sixth.

Earlier in the season, Hutchins finished ninth during the Palmer Invite.

Hutchins has battled region foes such as Kodiak’s Chloe Ivanoff, Skyview’s Ivy O’Guinn and Soldotna’s Bree Mucha throughout the year, and all could be jockeying for position in the top-10 or top-15 on Saturday.

Senior Abby Jahn and freshman Audrey Michaelson have also been key for CHS this season.

“Audrey has come on strong,” Colony coach Mark Strabel said after the region meet. “She doesn’t realize how good she is.”

Jenna Ford, who continued a stellar freshman season with a Region III title last weekend, will lead the Warriors into the state meet. Her chief competition is expected to be defending state champion Leah Francis, of Juneau-Douglas.

Howell said he fears his standout freshman has been feeling the pressure late in the season, but said the pressure should be on the defending state champion.

“I think Jenna is at an advantage. Jenna has nothing to lose, everything to gain,” Howell said. “Everybody expects Leah to beat (Jenna), and nobody’s going to think less of Jenna (if Leah wins).”

Howell said Ford has had a good week of practice and the WHS coaches are trying to keep her relaxed. But while Ford is looking strong, Howell said illness has hit the Warrior girls team once again.

“A lot of them have been sick,” Howell said. “I wish we had the health we had two weeks ago.”

Howell said he hopes for a strong finish to senior Brooke Nelson’s career. Nelson, a four-year varsity runner for the Warriors, finished 33rd with a time of 20:28 in the state meet last year.

Howell said he sees the potential for Nelson to break that 20-minute mark and burst into the top-20.

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