Wasilla senior wins Colony Invite XC meet

PALMER — A Wasilla senior opened the prep cross-country running season with a victory Saturday.

Allison VanPelt finished first in the varsity girls’ race during the Colony Invitational at Colony High School. VanPelt posted a mark of 19 minutes, 35.10 seconds.

A pair of Valley runners finished in the top 3 of the varsity boys’ race. Colony junior Gavin Block was third, at 17:27, only seven seconds ahead of Wasilla junior Hunter Hayes, who finished fourth. Connor Owens led Palmer with a sixth-place finish in the boys’ race. Wasilla freshman Landon Hayes was eighth.

Wasilla junior Abbi Boucher was sixth in the girls’ race, and Lydia Bushey led the Colony girls with an eighth-place finish.

Wasilla finished second in the boys’ team standings. Grace Christian swept the team titles.

Palmer girls win at Bethel

Palmer opened its season in Bethel and the Moose girls won the Kuskokwim Classic.

The Moose placed six runners in the top nine. Freshman Katey Houser led the Moose with a runner-up finish, and time of 18:53. Sophomore Sophie Wright (19:37) was fourth. Juniors Lydia Ortiz (fifth), Sophia Nowers (sixth), Zoe Copp (eighth) and Nina Kalytiak (ninth) also finished in the top 9.

Palmer was third in the boys’ standings. Amiq Maclean led Palmer with a fifth-place finish.

Contact Frontiersman editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.