THE FINAL DASH

WASILLA — Riding the momentum of its first conference title in nearly three decades and armed with 14 state qualifiers, the Wasilla Warriors girls track and field squad is ready to take a run at a state title. But the Warriors have two-time defending state champion Dimond in their way.

Dimond, which coasted to the team title during the Cook Inlet Conference Championships last week, is the heavy favorite to win the 4A girls title during the ASAA/First National Bank State Track and Field Championships, which begin today at Lathrop High School in Fairbanks. But Wasilla head coach Gary Howell knows anything can happen once the meet starts.

“It’s just going to come down to who runs better tomorrow and the next day,” Howell said Thursday by phone, soon after his team finished the long bus ride to Fairbanks.

Wasilla is fresh off a Northern Lights Conference title, the team’s first conference championship since the Warriors scored consecutive team titles from 1980-82. The Warriors moved 14 athletes into the 4A meet, who make up 30 spots on the heat sheets. Dimond also brought a troop north, with 16 athletes taking up 42 spots on the heat sheets.

Howell compared his girls team to another Wasilla squad that recently had a shot at the state title.

“It’s kind of like what the boys’ basketball team faced,” Howell said, referring to Wasilla’s match against eventual state champion West Anchorage in the 4A state title game earlier this year.

If the Wasilla boys put together a perfect game, Howell said, and the top-ranked Eagles make mistakes, the Warriors could have pulled off the upset. Howell sees a similar scenario this weekend.

“If they’re a bit lackluster and we run perfect,” Howell said. “But they’d have to screw up somewhere. Somebody big would have to go down and we’d have to run out of our brains.”

Wasilla had a few athletes who ran their brains out during the NLC Championships at Palmer High last weekend. Freshman Dajanae Harris and sophomore Morgan Dampier won events in record fashion. Harris used a time of 12.73 seconds to snap a 5-year-old record in the 100-meter. Dampier set the conference record in the 800, besting a mark set in 1999.

Harris also won the long jump and was second in the 200. Dampier was second in the 100 and 400. Both helped Wasilla win the 800 relay.

Howell said both have a legitimate chance at standing at the top of the podium during the state awards ceremony on Saturday. Freshman Jenna Ford should also contend for high finishes in the distance events.

Wasilla moved 26 total athletes into the state meet this year, a significant improvement over last season. Howell said the mentality of those around the program has changed. In the past, Howell said the Warriors have been content to just get kids to state, and maybe even post a personal best. Now, the Warriors want to score points in events and climb the team standings.

The Wasilla boys will be looking for big points out of senior John Knowles, the defending state champion in the shot put. Knowles won an NLC title in both the shot put and discus for the second straight year. He also has the top throw in the discus this year.

Alice Oksoktaruk (triple jump), Kiera Rust (triple jump) and Jillian Troisi (shot put) are also seeded in the top-six of their events for the Warriors.

Junior Jim McCall, who finished with four wins during the NLC Championships, leads the Moose into the state meet. McCall finished first in the 100, 200 and long jump. He also helped Palmer win the boys’ 400 relay. McCall is seeded second in both the long jump and 200, and fourth in the 100. Senior John Scoresby is seeded sixth in the 200.

The Moose will be gunning for a title in the boys’ 400 relay. The team of Scoresby, McCall, Chris Forkner and David Clement won an NLC title with a season best time of 44.76. The Moose are currently seeded third behind Bartlett and East Anchorage.

“The big thing this year is we want to win state,” Scoresby said after his team’s win in the 400 relay last weekend.

Colony junior Shellina Irwin is also in contention for a state title. Irwin has the top throw in the shot put this season, a mark of 35 feet, 10 3/4 inches. She won the NLC title with a throw of 35-6 1/2. Colony coach Tom Lincoln is confident Irwin can become the third Colony thrower in school history to win a title.

“I’ll be disappointed if she doesn’t win the whole thing,” Lincoln said during the NLC Championships last week.

Siobhan Johansen, the NLC champion in the triple jump, enters the state meet seeded second in that event. Taylor Stewart (triple jump) and Laura Maresh (long jump are also seeded in the top-six of their events for the Knights.

Matt Jaronik, who won a state title in the 400 as a sophomore, will be working to cap his senior season with another championship this weekend. Jaronik is the state’s fourth-seeded runner in the 400. Last Saturday at the NLC meet, Jaronik won the 400 with a season best time of 50.85.

“It’s been a weird year,” Jaronik said after the win. “We’ll get distance runners, people running the mile and the 800 coming out for it. Sprinters come out of nowhere. It’s a weird race like that.”

Senior Anthony Bricker is also seeded in the 300-meter hurdles.

Senior Danielle Barney leads a trio of Houston Hawks into the state meet. Barney led the state in the discus for much of the season and is seeded fifth in the state meet.

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