Sprinter leads Knights

SKYVIEW -- A group of Valley squads had strong showings in the first official Region III track and field event of the season. The Colony girls, Palmer boys and Wasilla girls' squads each posted top-four finishes at the Skyview Invitational in Soldotna last weekend.

Led by a pair of Stevie McDowell first-place performances, Colony earned 94 total points to finish second in the girls' class. McDowell won the 100-meter with a time of 13.18 seconds and the 200-meter in 27.22 seconds. McDowell edged teammate Haley Huggins in the 200.

Huggins and Shelby Beairsto also won events for the Knights. Beairsto's jump of 5-feet, ranked her first in the high jump and Huggins scored a leap of just more than 32 feet to win the triple jump.

Wasilla freshman Hillarie Putnam led a young Warrior squad to a fourth-place finish in the girls' class. The result was higher than any Wasilla finish in the major team events last season.

Putnam won the long jump with a distance of 15-1 and finished third in the triple jump.

"Hillarie's a very strong athlete," Wasilla coach Joanie Welch said. "I've known her since she was in elementary school and she does well in whatever she does."

Suzanna Caldwell, who advanced to the state championships for Wasilla last season, finished second in the 3,200 and third in the 1,600.

Danielle Schuetter finished fourth in the discus to the lead the Moose to a seventh place overall finish and Melissa Ostermick placed fifth in the 3,200 to lead Su Valley to a ninth place overall finish.

Palmer posted a second-place finish in the 400 relay and a fourth-place in the 3,200 relay. Su Valley scored a third-place finish in the 800 relay.

The Moose earned 60 total points to finish third overall in the boys' class. Olin Bingham helped lead Palmer with a first-place finish in the 400. The Moose also won the 800 relay. The Colony boys, led by a second-place Peter Doner finish in the 3,200, finished seventh overall. Ben Neher had a pair of top three-finishes -- placing third in both the high jump and triple jump -- to lead the Warriors.

Andrew Kappler led the Houston Hawks with a fifth-place finish in the discus.