Su Valley girls win region title

TALKEETNA -- The Susitna Valley girls' cross-country running team is basically expected to win the Region II title.

On Saturday the Rams lived up to those expectations.

For the 11th consecutive year, Susitna Valley was crowned the region champ.

For their 11th title, the Rams decided to be perfect. Su Valley had the top five finishers and scored a perfect 15 points to win the event.

Taz Mannix won the race with a time of 6 minutes and 26 seconds. Melissa Ostermick finished four seconds behind her teammate to claim second.

Jen Thompson (third), Krystal Moore (fourth) and Katy Kreupel (fifth) rounded out the top five.

Ninilchik placed two runners in the top 10 to give the squad a second-place finish.

The Ram boys squad finished second to Cook Inlet Academy.

Su Valley had three of the top six runners and notched 44 team points.

Boone Howard led the Rams with a second-place finish.

Howard finished five seconds behind first-place Brian Beeson of Cook Inlet.

Travis Clark finished fourth for SVHS and Nico Ambrose placed sixth.