Wasilla's defending state champ beats tough field to win Soldotna race

Last season as sophomores, Wasilla’s Hailee Giacobbe and East’s Katahdin Staples provided landmark victories for their programs at the Division I state cross-country meet.

Giacobbe became the first girls runner from Wasilla to win the big race, while Staples was the first boys runner from East to win in 50 years.

Saturday at the Ted McKenney XC Invitational at Tsalteshi Trails just outside of Soldotna, both runners served notice their programs may not have to wait as long this time for glory.

The event is named for Ted McKenney, the longtime area cross-country coach who died in 2020 at 64 from brain cancer.

The race, which had 762 finishers in the open and varsity races, is the first big cross-country meet of the season. Although runners from Fairbanks and Southeast are absent, the race still sets the stage for the rest of the campaign.

The South boys took the boys team title, while Chugiak, already on a run of four straight Division I state titles, cruised to the girls crown.

Giacobbe, who was third at Ted McKenney last year, caught fire over the second half of the season and won her last four races.

Still, she had an impressive array of challengers Saturday.

Chugiak senior Hannah Shaha won the Division I state cross-country title in 2023 and also beat Giacobbe in the 3,200 meters at the state track meet in the spring.

Anchorage senior Rosie Conway won the state 1,600 in spring, and also is a past junior girls champion in the Mount Marathon Race.

Speaking of titles on the iconic Seward mountain, South freshman Calista Zuber, Seward sophomore Olive Jordan and Soldotna senior Tania Boonstra also came in with that on their resume. Finally, Service’s Talia Smith had won the state skimeister title as a freshman.

Giacobbe still won at 19 minutes, 24 seconds, while Conway was second at 19:40 and Zuber was third at 19:54.

At about the 1-kilometer mark, Giacobbe said she was able to take a slight lead, but she said she doesn’t remember much about tactics after that point.

“I was just trying to run my own race,” she said. “I was just trying to run how I felt.”

Giacobbe attributes her success to finding the right mental balance between running for herself, and her coaches and teammates.

She said she prefers courses that are less hilly than Tsalteshi, but she didn’t let that affect her.

“I feel like I’m going to be excited no matter what course I do, because I’m excited, I’m stoked, I’m ready to go,” she said. “I’m ready to race. It’s awesome just to be able to race.”

Giacobbe opened her season by winning the Wasilla Trailblazer Invite in Wasilla.

She was also one of four Valley runners in the top 20 of the girls varsity race. Aubrey Virgin placed 12th with a time of 20:33 to lead Colony. Palmer’s Karley Tichenor was 15th with a time of 20:42 to lead Palmer. Colony’s Clara Sensabaugh (20:51) was also 18th.

Colony led Mat-Su squads in the girls team standings at sixth with 158 total points.

Palmer’s Bodie Miller led all Valley runners in the boys varsity race, finishing fourth with a time of 16:38. Miller was just ahead of Colony’s Trygve Vang-Thompson who was sixth with a time of 16:39. Gabriel Black was also in the top 10 for the Knights, placing ninth at 16:57.

Theodore Stamoolis placed 20th for Colony at 17:24.

The trio in the top 20 helped Colony place third in the team standings with 121 points.