Wasilla junior earns third straight cross-country win of season

Wasilla cross-country running standout continued her fast start to her junior season, winning her third straight race of the year.

The defending Division I state champion secured another dominant victory during the Colony Invitational Aug. 30 at Colony High School.

Giacobbe posted a time of 19 minutes, 23 seconds, and was the lone runner in the girls field to break the 20-minute mark. The junior finished 55 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Ariela Garvey of Homer. Giacobbe has now clocked times of 18:40 (Wasilla Invite), 19:24 (Ted McKenney Invitational in Soldotna) and the 19:23 at Colony.

Palmer senior Bodie Miller enjoyed another strong race and led all Mat-Su runners with a runner-up finish in the boys race. Miller notched a mark of 16:41 to place second. This came a week after he recorded a personal best time of 16:38 while finishing fourth at the McKenney Invite.

Colony finished as the runner-up in both the boys and girls team standings. The Colony boys finished tied with Homer at 49 points in the team standings, but the Mariners earned the tiebreaker. Senior Trygve Vang-Thompson led a run of three straight Knights across the finish line in the top 10. Vang-Thompson was fifth at 17:00, followed by senior Gabriel Black (17:21) and junior Theodore Stamoolis (17:25) at sixth and seventh.

London Ramirez (17:45, 13th) and Benjamin Alberti (18:03, 18th) also finished in the top 20.

The Colony girls finished with 60 total points, one shy of Seward, which won the team title. Freshman Clara Sensabaugh led the Knights, placing seventh with a time of 20:58. Senior Morgan Ainsworth, in her return to Colony High cross-country, placed 10th at 21:25. Ainsworth placed third in the ASAA Division I state meet as a sophomore in 2023, but moved out of state with her family prior to her junior year.

Klysa LeCount (21:47, 11th), Elsie LeCount (21:57, 15th), Luci Wright (17th, 22:06), Isela Austin (22:08, 18th) and Breeze Buchanan (22:25, 20th) also placed in the top 20 for Colony.

Junior Karley Tichenor led the Palmer girls at ninth with a time of 21:00. Senior Alder Deal placed 14th, with a mark of 21:53.

The Wasilla boys placed two in the top 20. Freshman Justin Dalitsh was 16th at 17:56 and sophomore Nathan Stapley placed 19th at 18:09.

Up next for local runners is the George Plumley Memorial Palmer Invitational Saturday at Palmer High’s Michael Janecek Running Trails. Athletes from 44 programs across the state are set to participate. The boys varsity race is at 12:45 p.m. and the girls varsity race follows at 1:30 p.m.

Contact the Frontiersman at sports@frontiersman.com.