Wasilla girls finish fourth at state meet

PALMER — Wasilla’s girls cross country team has marched to its own beat all season long. On Saturday, the Warriors had company.

With an enthusiastic Wasilla High Powerline drum corps providing the rhythm, the Warriors were able to drum up a fourth place overall in the girls’ class 4A race at the ASAA Alaska High School Cross Country Running Championships at Palmer’s Janecek Trails.

“I liked that,” Wasilla senior Kendra Nelson said after placing 11th to lead all Mat-Su finishers. “It was cool to have a band from our school out there.”

Juneau’s Leah Francis won the 4A girls race in a time of 18 minutes, 52.72 seconds, while West Anchorage placed all five of its runners in the top-13 to earn the team crown. Juneau was second, followed by West Valley, Wasilla and Service. Colony High placed eighth overall.

The drummers played the soundtrack for what turned out to be an ideal day for cross country running, with temperatures pushing 60 degrees and a Janecek Trails course that runners said was better than expected.

The course was torn up two weeks ago during a rainy Palmer Invitational, and volunteers brought in more than 80 cubic meters of sand to help fill in divots and holes.

Runners said the work done by Palmer crews made for a fast, smooth course.

“The sand wasn’t that bad,” Kendra Nelson said. “It didn’t bother me at all.”

The Wasilla girls stuck to a familiar strategy Saturday, going out as a group and sticking close together for much of the race. The strategy worked perfectly last week at regions, and again paid big dividends Saturday, as every Wasilla runner set a personal best time on the day.

“Happy would be an understatement,” Wasilla coach Gary Howell said after the race.

After Kendra Nelson, Wasilla’s next five runners — Katie Bialka (26th), Jessica Gross (29th), Brooke Nelson (30th), Allison Kelley (49th) and Elle Fuller (50th) — all finished within 41 seconds of one another.

“It says a lot for consistency and buy-in for what we do,” Howell said.

The Wasilla coach said the strong state finish proves that hard work in practice can pay big dividends come race day.

“We put down a blue collar effort every day in practice,” he said. “They know that coming in, and if they can buy into it, the results will follow.”

Palmer’s Jacquie Lutz finished 19th overall for the Moose, which advanced two runners to the state meet as individuals. Lutz’s Palmer teammate, Sarah Houchen, was 44th.

Lutz said she eclipsed her goal of finishing better than she did last year at state, when she was 27th.

“I was happy because I can tell I’ve been improving over the years,” the Palmer senior said.

Colony coach Mark Doner said he had hoped for a better showing from his team, which placed second last week at regions behind the strength of a second-place run by Heidi Doner. The younger Doner wasn’t as strong this time around, fading to 37th overall. Sydney Stewart led the Knights in 35th position, while Liza Laughlin was 38th and Maria Wick 46th.

“Today was not the day we were hoping for,” Mark Doner said.

The Colony coach speculated that his girls team may have pushed a little too hard at the region meet.

“They dug deep last week and I think they paid for it this week,” he said.

In the girls class 1-2-3A race, Susitna Valley’s Missy Scott placed 21st overall, while Ashley Evans was 58th for the Rams, which placed 10th overall. Anchorage Christian’s Nychele Fishchetti won the girls 1-2-3A race in a time of 19 minutes, 16.99 seconds, while Seward claimed the team title.

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