Wasilla girls win Skyview Invitational

SOLDOTNA — Kenai Central sophomore Allie Ostrander stormed to another win at the Skyview Invitational on the Tsalteshi Trails on Saturday afternoon, and the Wasilla Warriors claimed another title in the girls’ team standings.

Wasilla, led by a pair of top-10 runners, finished with a meet-low 63 points to win the girls’ team title. Ostrander’s time of 17 minutes, 37 seconds bettered her time of 17:53 from last year, although the course layout this year was slightly changed. The finishing stretch was moved from the familiar long, lazy downhill sprint to what is known as Collin’s Climb, closer to where the race starts, and the final 400 meters is spent on the grass leading up to the finish.

Skyview athletic director Kent Peterson said the course had a few loops changed and was slightly less hilly.

“I think that I went a little slower in the beginning and that really helped me, because last week I was like 10 seconds too fast on each of the first two kilometers, but this week it helped me to maintain a better pace through the race,” Ostrander said. “I actually thought I was behind pace, but I ended up getting a PR by 15 seconds.”

Whether or not the course change helped or hurt her time, Ostrander’s domination was impressive. The petite runner opened up a 10-second gap on the field by the time they rounded the initial uphill and only widened it from there.

“I always think there is someone behind me, even on the Wolf trail, I was looking back and thinking there must be someone,” Ostrander said. “I’m always focusing on just giving it my all every race, and I do focus on my best times.”

Because the course has had slight changes throughout the years, there is no way in telling what the course record may be, but Ostrander’s efforts definitely belong in the discussion.

“That’s what drives me to do better is thinking about my last time,” she said. “I’m really competitive, even with the boys on my team, just trying to beat them.”

Seniors Mariah Burroughs and Jenna Ford both placed in the top 10 to help the Warriors finish with only 63 points and beat runner-up West Anchorage by 10. Burroughs was fifth in the race, clocking at time of 19:03. Ford was eighth at 19:24.

The Warriors had four runners place in the top-16. Teammates Peggy Mathis and Riley Burroughs were virtually shoulder-to-shoulder heading into the finish. Mathis was 15th at 19:48.4, just ahead of 16th-place Riley Burroughs at 19:48.8. Mandi Ringgenberg was 31st for Wasilla.

The Kenai girls team was comprised of only two members — Ostrander and teammate Hope Steffensen — and therefore did not qualify enough athletes to be ranked in the team standings.

Steffensen ran an impressive race as well, notching a seventh-place finish with a time of 19:14.

“That really was not where I wanted to be, but this is a deeper field and every race is different, and I know I gave the best I had today, so now I can’t wait for next week,” Steffensen said.

Steffensen said she had been fighting an illness the previous week that might have led to reduced energy and overall fatigue.

“I was a bit worn out there, but I just kind of follow Allie at the start, because most people just get out of her way,” Steffensen said. “I usually try to stay with the same pack but I fell behind today.”

Sophomore Dani McCormick was the leading girl for Soldotna, finishing 24th in 20:10. She led a close pack of teammates across the line, with sophomore

Sadie Fox finishing 29th at 20:19, and freshman Olivia Hutchings 32nd with a time of 20:27.

“It was really hot the whole time, I was feeling it,” McCormick said. “I could’ve gone faster, because I feel like I was just spacing out and I know I could have made it under 20 minutes.”

Samantha Contreras led the Palmer girls with a time of 21:20.

Palmer senior Chris Osiensky led all Valley runners with a fifth-place finish in the boys’ race. Osiensky, who won the Colony Twilight early this season, clocked a time of 16:23 in the race. Sean Hermann was 17th for the Moose, and Brenden Lee led the Wasilla boys with a 22nd-place finish.

Kodiak swept the top two spots in the boys race, with Levi Thomet winning in a time of 16:11, and teammate Cole Christiansen finishing one second behind.

Miles Knotek of Seward led Peninsula runners with a third-place finish, completing the course in a time of 16:17, very near to what he ran last year.

“Levi and Cole were way the heck back there towards the third kilometer, so they were obviously mixing it up,” Knotek said. “It’s a new course, and I don’t think it’s been run this way before.”

Knotek said he was mixing it up at the front of the pack with Service runner Gilly Szweda-Mittelstadt when the two Kodiak runners roared past into the lead with about a kilometer left.

“On the third kilometer, we started moving up, and we caught the lead pack about the fourth kilometer,” Thomet said.

Even with both Kodiak runners finishing up front, they were not fully satisfied with the team finish, saying they had a plan to hold back early and surge to the front late. Both Thomet and Christiansen said the team tried implementing a strategy in which the team’s seventh runner went out ahead of the pack early in the race, in an attempt to quicken the pace, but mostly to place a number of Kodiak runners up front.

“We wanted to get him up there, because right now, West Valley is ahead of us, and we want to win state,” Thomet said. “We want to give them a run for their money. But at the end, we just wanted to take 1-2 at that point.”

“The plan didn’t work,” Christiansen said. “Our guys didn’t move up with us. We have two new guys from JV that are up here, and it’s too big of a field, and we didn’t get out fast enough.”

Even Homer’s top boys finisher, junior Pedro Ochoa, noticed the plan while racing. Ochoa finished 20th with a time of 16:59.

“I was looking out for the fast kids, but they tricked us, because they were reeling me in,” Ochoa said. “I was waiting for them to reel them in, but they reeled me in. They were lying back the first mile before they kicked it in.”

Kenai Central’s top finisher was sophomore Jonah Theisen, finishing 21st and only fractions of a second behind Ochoa.

“I was running right next to the Kodiak guys in the beginning, and I was thinking that something here isn’t right,” Theisen said.

Service took the boys team title by a wide margin, capturing a low score of 46 points, compared to runner-up Kodiak’s 103 points.

As for using the strategy in future races, Thomet said the team does not plan on doing it.

Skyview Invitational

Saturday, Skyview High

Girls team scores:

1. Wasilla 63; 2. West Anchorage 73; 3. Grace Christian 77; 4. East Anchorage 131; 5. Kodiak 174; 6. South Anchorage 175; 7. Dimond 187; 8. Eagle River 201; 9. Soldotna 206; 10. Service 207; 11. Chugiak 209; 12. Homer 256; 13. Palmer 353.

Girls individual results (top 10):

1. A. Ostrander, Ken 17:37; 2. J. Northey, Ser 18:50; 3. G. Graham, East 18:51; 4. H. Stevens, ER 19:00; 5. M. Burroughs, Was 19:03; 6. R. Roelle, 19:06; 7. H. Steffensen, Ken 19:14; 8. J. Ford, Was 19:24; 9. T. Mahlen, South 19:25; 10. C. Ohotnicky, HFA 19:27.

Other Valley finishers:

15. P. Mathis, Was 19:48.4; 16. R. Burroughs, Was 19:48.8; 31. M. Ringgenberg, Was 20:23; 50. S. Contreras, Pal 21:20; 72. M. Osiensky, Pal 22:29; 73. S. Lush, SV 22:41; 77. A. Hasse, Was 22:52; 78. M. Southwick, Pal 22:58; 88. A. Qualls, Pal 24:14; 90. D. Cummings, Pal 25:50; 91. K. Hales, SV 27:13;

Boys team scores:

1. Service 46; 2. Kodiak 103; 3. Grace Christian 160; 4. West Anchorage 161; 5. South Anchorage 165; 6. Chugiak 188; 7. Dimond 194; 8. Seward 200; 9. Kenai 206; 10. Wasilla 277; 11. Palmer 278; 12. East Anchorage 280; 13. Homer 281; 14. Eagle River 306; 15. Skyview 390; 16. Bartlett 447; 17. Soldotna 483; 18. Nikolaesvsk 569.

Boys individual results (top 10):

1. L. Thomet, Kod 16:11; 2. C. Christiansen, Kod 16:12; 3. M. Knotek, Sew 16:18; 4. G. Szweda-Mittelstadt, Ser 16:19; 5. C. Osiensky, Pal 16:23; 6. J. Farr, East 16:26; 7. G. Schulz, Ser 16:33; 8. L. Fried, Kod 16:36; 9. D. McPheters, Chu 16:37; 10. A. Monzon, ACS 16:37.

Other Valley finishers:

17. S. Hermann, Pal 16:53; 22. B. Lee, Was 17:01; 57. S. Carpenter, Was 17:46; 64. B. Carricaburu, Was 17:58; 65. J. Gentz, Pal 18:03; 72. T. Marshall, Was 18:14; 75. K. Frick, Was 18:20; 77. C. Pulver, Was 18:23; 88. B. Mahan, Pal 18:41; 91. R. Steiner, Was 18:47; 115. D. Banse, Pal 20:10; 118. A. Teller, SV 20:27; 119. Z. Grace, 20:28; 120. Z. Marsh, Pal 20:28; 121. S. LaRue, Pal 20:30.