Valley girls soar into state meet

PALMER — Colony’s Sierra Hodgson and Wasilla’s Rachel Hoffman each won two events to lead their teams to top-3 finishes at the Region III Track and Field Championships at Palmer High School.

Hodgson, a sophomore, picked up region titles in both the long and triple jump, while Hoffman, a junior, swept the hurdles events.

Led by Hodgson’s dominance in the jumps (she also placed third in the high jump), Colony managed to place second overall, losing out to Kodiak in the team standings. Wasilla was third, Palmer placed fifth and Houston was ninth.

Other top Colony performances were turned in by Katie Troxel, who finished third in the discus, Megan Wilson (second in the triple jump), and Megan Bowker, who was third in the 400 and ran on two relay teams for the Knights.

Wasilla coach Gary Howell said he wasn’t surprised by Hoffman’s showing, which also included running the third leg of the Warriors’ victorious 4x400 relay team.

“She’s just an amazing person,” Howell said of Hoffman, who also carries a 4.2 grade point average in the classroom.

Hoffman is part of a core group of Wasilla athletes who earlier this year helped the Warriors earn a Region III cross country running title. With a deep group of experienced runners to rely on, Howell was able to put together a couple of very solid relay teams, picking up a win in the 4x400 and earning second in the 4x200 and 4x800 events.

The Wasilla coach said he’s got a gritty, tough bunch of athletes who make his job much easier.

“I wouldn’t trade any of them for the world,” he said.

While Howell is obviously fond of his squad, his runners are equally willing to work for him. During the final relay race, anchor runner Keri Clump said she felt herself fading midway through her leg. But after getting passed briefly by a Skyview runner, Clump looked up and saw Howell racing furiously alongside the track.

“He said, ‘You’ve gotta go now! You’ve gotta dig inside yourself,’” Clump said.

The Wasilla runner said the encouragement was just what she needed to re-take the lead and hold on for the win.

“I just found it,” she said.

Palmer’s Geneva Ratcliff was the big story for the Moose, who finished fifth overall. Ratcliff, a senior, finished second in both the shot put and discus behind Soldotna’s Paige Blackburn. Palmer also got a second-place finish from Tabitha Corbin in the 100.

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