Wasilla senior leads Valley athletes with win in Big C shot put

ANCHORAGE — A handful of Mat-Su Valley teams ran for shelter over the weekend to compete in the Big C Relays inside The Dome at ChangePoint in south Anchorage.

Wasilla senior Chris Lafe led Valley athletes by winning the boys’ shot put in a meet that included teams from across the state.

Lafe, who recently committed to play college football at Valley City State, shoved the shot put 46 feet, 6 inches, six inches farther than Soldotna senior Ross Courtney, another VCS football recruit, who finished second in the event.

Wasilla junior John Knowles was second in the boys’ discus with a toss of 135 feet.

While the throwers led the Wasilla boys, the WHS relay squads stood out on the girls’ side.

Kiera Rust, Morgan Dompier, Alison Kelley and Keri Clump pushed Wasilla to a fourth-place finish in the 1,600-meter relay. Wasilla’s team of Rust, Dompier, Gladys Nickerson and Cori Schleich finished fourth in the 800 sprint medley relay.

Nickerson, Schleich, Shiina Isshiki and Jessica Pahkala gave the Warriors a fifth-place finish in the 1,600-meter sprint relay.

Senior Rachel Hoffman finished fourth in the girls’ 300 hurdles for WHS.

The Colony girls also showed strength in the relays. Alyssa Hutchins, Abby Jahn, Maria Wick and Heidi Doner gave the Knights a second-place finish in the 3,200 relay.

A pair of CHS girls finished in the top-four of the throwing events. Shellina Irwin was third in the shot put and Katie Troxel finished fourth in the discus.

Taylor Stewart finished second in the high jump.

Blake Niver led the CHS boys with a fifth-place finish in the 300 hurdles.

Erika Chambers was one of the top Palmer athletes in the meet, posting an eighth-place finish in the girls’ discus.

Jesse Marden, J.D. Mitchell and David Zoerb finished 12th, 13th and 14th respectivley for the Palmer boys in the discus.

Dustin Dodds led Houston with a fourth-place finish in the 300 hurdles.

The indoor meet, the first major event of the season, drew teams from Anchorage, Fairbanks, Kodiak, Valdez, the Kenai Peninsula and the Mat-Su Valley. Prior to the Big C Relays, most local teams have been held captive in gymnasiums and school hallways as athletes wait for conditions outside to improve.

Now, local track squads could have another two-week wait until another schedule competition.

Wasilla is slated to compete in Seward on April 18, Howell said, and is planning on hitting the Skyivew Invitational the following weekend.

Palmer hopes to host a small informal meet on either April 17 or April 18, Ewart said, and will head to North Pole High School the following weekend.

Colony is scheduled to compete in the Anchorage Christian School Invitational April 10-11 and the Seward Invitational on April 18.

Houston is scheduled to also compete in Seward on April 18.

Big C Relays

Friday-Saturday, Anchorage

Boys

100-meter — 1, Wah’fe Granger, Bartlett, 11.21. 2, Cyrus Chenault, Bartlett, 11.57. 3, Marcus Mendez, Bartlett, 11.62. 4, Denzel Crump, Lathrop, 11.64. 5, AJ Allen, Lathrop, 11.66.

110 hurdles — 1, Ben Gallegos, North Pole, 15.75. 2, Cameron Rollins, Bartlett, 16.22. 3, Travis Wilson, Service, 17.26. 4, Jacob Yates, Bartlett, 17.31. 5, Taylor Elsenheimer, South Anchor, 17.56.

300 hurdles — 1, Cameron Rollins, Bartlett, 43.54. 2, Travis Wilson, Service, 44.03. 3, Taylor Elsenheimer, South Anchor, 44.44. 4, Dustin Dodds, Houston, 44.59. 5, Blake Niver, Colony, 44.70.

400 relay — 1, South Anchorage ‘A’ (Elliott Bauer , David Sollars , Austen DeWolf , Ryan Clay), 44.52. 2, Bartlett (Cyrus Chenault , Dominique Garrett-Queen, Jamal Hale , Marcus Mendez ), 44.79. 3, East Anchorage 45.80. 4, Dimond 46.29. 5, Lathrop 46.87.

1,600 relay — 1, Eagle River (Evan Fisher , Cameron Johnson , Evan Keanaaina , Brandon Blackley), 3:15.11. 2, Bartlett 3:32.27. 3, Dimond 3:35.54. 4, South Anchorage 3:36.61. 5, West Anchorage 3:38.61.

800 sprint relay — 1, Bartlett ‘A’ (Raymond Reid , Marcus Mendez , Dominique Garrett-Queen, Cyrus Chenault ), 1:38.28. 2, East Anchorage 1:42.93. 3, Soldotna 1:42.95. 4, Dimond 1:43.26. 5, Kenai Central 1:43.80.

1,600 sprint relay — 1, Seward ‘A’ (Jesse Atherton , Andrew Buchanan , Travis Price , Jayna O’Leary), 3:51.44. 2, Eagle River 3:55.39. 3, East Anchorage 3:55.67. 4, Dimond 3:57.94. 5, Service 3:59.90.

Discus — 1, Alex Lutton, Dimond, 141-04. 2, John Knowles, Wasilla, 135-03.50. 3, Mitchell Swensen, Dimond, 132-03. 4, Spencer McLean, South Anchor, 122-11. 5, Ross Courtney, Soldotna, 122-09.

400 — 1, Ethan Hewitt, Chugiak, 49.54. 2, Travis Price, Seward, 50.79. 3, Matt Jaronik, Colony, 51.44.

800 — 1, Christian Harpel, South, 2:02.88. 2, Travis Price, Seward, 2:02.94. 3, Billy Kiefer, Kenai Centra, 2:02.98.

3,200 — 1, Trevor Dunbar, Kodiak, 9:08.93. 2, Jacob Kirk, Grace, 9:42.5h. 3, Sam Salus, Kodiak, 9:52.60.

3,200 relay — 1, Kodiak (Dylan Anthony, Chaven Davidson, Sam Salus, Trevor Dunbar), 8:23.96. 2, Service (Robert Walgren, Cody Phelps, Silas Talbot, James Christy), 8:25.71. 3, Grace (Jeremiah Klein, Leif Karlberg, Jacob Kirk, Quinton Metcalf), 8:53.84.

High jump — 1, Chris Plooy, Dimond, 6-00. 2, Charles King, Ben Eielson, 5-10. 3, Tyler Spalding, Kenai, J5-10. 3, Colten Growden, Eielson, J5-10.

Long jump — 1, Chris Plooy, Dimond, 20-07.25. 2, Josh Eriksen, North Pole, 20-04.25. 3, Ben Jackson, Service, 20-00.75.

Shot put — 1, Chris Lafe, Wasilla, 46-06. 2, Ross Courtney, Soldotna, 46-00.75. 3, Raymond Reid, Bartlett, 44-07.25.

Girls

100-meter — 1, Gabrielle Todd, Bartlett, 12.67. 2, Brandy Jayne, Eagle River, 12.91. 3, Shaai Ferguson, Service, 13.24. 4, Lierin Flanagan, Kenai Centra, 13.32. 5, Melissa Grammer, Valdez, 13.46.

100 hurldles — 1, Anna Simmers, ACS, 15.80. 2, Brandy Jayne, Eagle River, 15.95. 3, Eliza Chadwick, Nikiski, 17.09. 4, Jacqueline Klecka, Eagle River, 17.42. 5, Rosie Smith, Bartlett, 17.72.

300 hurldes — 1, Keiahnna Engel, Dimond, 49.15. 2, Stacy Wheeler, West Anchora, 50.08. 3, Sara Lopez, South, 50.21. 4, Rachel Hoffman, Wasilla, 50.36. 5, Shaynee DeVito, Kenai, 50.52

400 relay — 1, Dimond (Cara Wilcox , Jaley Bozeman , Kimmy Jackson , Symphony Bagsby), 52.92. 2, East Anchorage 53.48. 3, Kenai Central 53.52. 4, Anchorage Christian 54.02. 5, Lathrop 54.22.

1,600 relay — 1, Dimond ‘A’ (Jaley Bozeman , Kimmy Jackson , Keiahnna Engel , Jessica Todd ), 4:11.74. 2, Service 4:18.62. 3, West Anchorage 4:26.62. 4, Wasilla 4:27.31. 5, Grace Christian 4:29.78.

800 sprint relay — 1, Kenai Central (Kristi Louthan , Lierin Flanagan , Shaynee DeVito, Samantha Hull ), 1:53.95. 2, Dimond 1:57.57. 3, East Anchorage 2:00.24. 4, Wasilla2:01.71. 5, Anchorage Christian 2:03.20.

1,600 sprint medley relay — 1, Dimond (Kimmy Jackson , Lauren Wilson , Jessica Todd , Symphony Bagsby), 4:29.27. 2, Skyview 4:31.12. 3, Lathrop 4:42.95. 4, Soldotna 4:43.92. 5, Wasilla 4:46.57.

Discus — 1, Crystal Tui, West Anchora, 116-06. 2, Anna Simmers, Anchorage Ch, 96-06. 3, Alfreda Snead, Dimond, 95-11. 4, Katie Troxel, Colony, 95-06.50. 5, Ashleigh Gaines, West Anchora, 92-02.

400 — 1, Lierin Flanagan, Kenai, 59.42. 2, Gabrielle Todd, Bartlett, 1:01.61. 3, Jessica Todd, Dimond, 1:01.93.

800 —1, Ivy O’Guinn, Skyview, 2:22.96. 2, Stacy Wheeler, West, 2:24.32. 3, Kailey Wilson, Kenny Lake, 2:28.10.

3200 —1, Ivy O’Guinn, Skyview, 11:39.86. 2, Kailey Wilson, Kenny Lake, 11:45.87. 3, Kristen King, Eagle River, 12:03.6h.

3,200 relay — 1, Grace Christian (Holly Kopp , Nicole Leman , Hannah Johnson , Elizabeth Winkle), 10:31.83. 2, Colony 10:36.09. 3, South Anchorage (Sarah Armburst , Linda Lee , Catherine Stophlet , Ryan Kaser), 10:39.06.

High jump — 1, Linzee Burcham, Kodiak, 4-10. 2, Taylor Stewart, Colony, 4-08. 3, Thea Ruckhaus, Lathrop, J4-08.

Long Jump —1, Janae Anderson, Lathrop, 15-06. 2, Jessica Todd, Dimond, 14-02. 3, Keiahnna Engel, Dimond, 14-01.

Shot Put — 1, Crystal Tui, West, 37-02.50. 2, Jocelyn Silva, Lathrop, 33-09.50. 3, Shellina Irwin, Colony, 32-03.50.