Wasilla sophomore leads Valley runners in state meet

ANCHORAGE — As he prepares for races, Hunter Hayes doesn’t like to over think things.

“Just run,” the Wasilla sophomore has said week after week.

And the simple, and straightforward, strategy continues to work. A week after winning his school’s first individual boys’ region title in nearly three decades, Hayes posted a season-best time and finished as the top Valley runner during the ASAA/First National Bank State Cross-Country Running Championships Saturday afternoon at Bartlett High School in Anchorage.

“That’s the way I look at it,” Hayes said of his simple approach following the Division I boys’ race.

Hayes placed 14th in a fast field, and clocked a time of 16 minutes, 42 seconds. It’s his best time of the season, and the second-fastest time of his high school career.

“It went good. I did better than I thought I was going to do,” Hayes said.

Hayes, who now makes the transition from the cross-country trails to the wrestling mat at Wasilla High, said he was able to stay in the top 10 of the field throughout the first lap, before settling back into the top 15.

“I was hoping to get out early, so I’d have a lead on most of the guys who normally catch me,” Hayes said.

Last week, Hayes earned Wasilla’s first individual title on the boys’ side since former WHS star Chris Gilbert won his third straight in 1998. Hayes also led Wasilla to its first boys region title since 1985.

Saturday, Hayes helped the Wasilla boys finish as the top Valley team during the state meet. The Warriors placed sixth in the team standings with 179 total points.

Senior Isaak Bell capped his career with a personal record, placing 31st with a time of 17:13. He took nearly 10 seconds off his prior best. Wasilla junior McKinley Larson (17:41) also set a season record Saturday.

The top Valley runners in both Division I races Saturday were 10th graders.

Palmer sophomore Sophia Nowers led the Valley in the Division I girls’ race, placing 25th with a time of 20:29.

Another sophomore, Colony’s Gavin Block, placed 30th in the boys’ race with a time of 17:12. Freshman Lane Meier was 33rd, with a time of 17:18, for the Colony boys.

Senior Jill Bowker led the Colony girls with a 26th place finish, and time of 20:36. Sophomore Lydia Ortiz placed 31st for the Palmer girls, with a season-best time of 20:44.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiesman.com.

ASAA/First National Bank State Cross-Country Running Championships

Saturday, Bartlett High School

Division I boys’ team scores:

1. West Anchorage 39; 2. West Valley 71; 3. Dimond 79; 4. Chugiak 94; 5. Service 127; 6. Wasilla 179; 7. Soldotna 190; 8. Lathrop 191; 9. Colony 215; 10. Juneau-Douglas 220.

Division I girls’ team scores:

1. West Valley 47; 2. Kenai Central 79; 3. Service 94; 4. West Anchorage 113; 5. Eagle River 146; 6. Chugiak 161; 7. Juneau-Douglas 161; 8. Palmer 189; 9. Colony 198; 10. Lathrop 241.

Division I boys individual results:

1. Ti Donaldson, West Valley 16:07 2. Santiago Prosser, Dimond 16:14 3. Sebastian iseda Mitttelstadt, Service 16:18 4. Declan Dammeyer, West Anchorage 16:18 5. Everett Cason, West Anchorage 16:22 6. Daniel Bausch, West Anchorage 16:24 7. Nick Carl, Eagle River 16:24 8. Joey Van Horn, West Valley 16:34 9. Zephan Ozturgut, East Anchorage 16:36 10. Niko Latva-Kiskola, Dimond 16:38 11. Maison Dunham, Kenai Central 16:38 12. Arne Ellefson-Carnes, Juneau-Douglas 16:38 13. Ethan Davis, West Anchorage 16:38 14. Hunter Hayes, Wasilla 16:42 15. Alexander Maurer, Service 16:44 16. Michael Earnhart, Chugiak 16:48 17. Luke Jager, West Anchorage 16:52 18. Isaac Hendrickson, Lathrop 16:52 19. Kaleb Beloy, South Anchorage 16:53 20. Cameron Sheldon, Dimond 16:54 21. Jacob Bradley, Eagle River 16:55 22. Brenden Thompson, Kodiak 16:56 23. Jack Cater, West Valley 16:59 24. Miles Dennis, Chugiak 17:01 25. Max Hartke, Chugiak 17:02 26. Ari Endestad, West Valley 17:04 27. Liam Baez-Terry, Chugiak 17:07 28. Dallin Gardiner, Dimond 17:09 29. Max Beiergrohslein, Chugiak 17:12 30. Gavin Block, Colony 17:12 31. Isaak Bell, Wasilla 17:13 32. Camron Herron, West Valley 17:17 33. Lane Meier, Colony 17:18 34. Koby Vinson, Soldotna 17:22 35. Hyrum Nelson, Chugiak 17:22 36. Eli McKenzie, West Anchorage 17:23 37. George Cvancara, Dimond 17:25 38. Josh Shuler, Soldotna 17:26 39. Dayan Mitchell, West Valley 17:27 40. Jack Winford, West Valley 17:29 41. Jason Hlasny, Service 17:30 42. Dakota Rygh, Service 17:31 43. Nathan Sanches, Lathrop 17:32 44. Sean Verg-In, Soldotna 17:33 45. Clem Taylor-Roth, Juneau-Douglas 17:35 46. Braxton Gruner, Kodiak 17:35 47. Paul Winegeart, Kodiak 17:37 48. Jonathan Burrell, Lathrop 17:38 49. John Coss, Ketchikan 17:38 50. Davin Turney, Service 17:39 51. Paul Allmendinger, Ketchikan 17:40 52. McKinley Larson, Wasilla 17:41 53. John-Mark Pothast, Soldotna 17:43 54. Kaleb Greathouse, Wasilla 17:52 55. Josh Taylor, Colony 17:53 56. Jacob Belanger, Service 17:56 57. Mitchell Guyer, Service 17:59 58. David Ebel, Lathrop 17:59 59. Bechler Metcalf, Soldotna 18:00 60. Bryce Pintner, Dimond 18:00 61. Baird Reynolds, Lathrop 18:04 62. Tim McKenna, Juneau-Douglas 18:05 63. Sebastian Reed, West Anchorage 18:07 64. Phillip Smith, Ketchikan 18:08 65. Chandler Wappett, Lathrop 18:08 66. Kolby Torres, Colony 18:14 67. Leif Stephen, Ketchikan 18:18 68. Lazarus Porter, Lathrop 18:22 69. Taft Steiner, Wasilla 18:25 70. Bradley Walters, Soldotna 18:29 71. Tim Degener, Juneau-Douglas 18:32 72. Fred Rygh, Dimond 18:34 73. Ronan Davies, Juneau-Douglas 18:37 74. Samuel Logsdon, Wasilla 18:40 75. Lance Chilton, Soldotna 18:41 76. Landis Ewrin, Colony 18:43 77. Jacob Lestina, Chugiak 18:51 78. Shafer Suzuki, Thunder Mountain 18:51 79. Norse Iverson, Colony 18:52 80. Wesley Fraker, Wasilla 19:04 81. Jacob Wojtacha, Colony 19:22 82. Max Dapcevich, Juneau-Douglas 20:29 83. Shadrach Stitz, Juneau-Douglas 2:10:15.

Division I girls’ individual results:

1. Kendall Kramer, West Valley 18:07 2. Ava Earl, South Anchorage 18:40 3. Sadie Tuckwood, Juneau-Douglas 18:58 4. Emily Walsh, Eagle River 19:01 5. Grace Fahrney, Service 19:04 6. Bailey Roe, West Valley 19:17 7. Aubrey LeClair, West Anchorage 19:18 8. Jaycie Calvert, Kenai Central 19:23 9. Adrianna Proffitt, Chugiak 19:35 10. Maggie Druckenmiller, West Valley 19:37 11. Riana Boonstra, Kenai Central 19:38 12. Anne Iverson, Juneau-Douglas 19:42 13. Addison Gibson, Kenai Central 19:42 14. Faith Widman, West Valley 19:42 15. Brooke Satathite, Kenai Central 19:45 16. Leola Atkinson, Bartlett 19:50 17. Tatum Witter, Service 20:00 18. Quincy Donley, West Anchorage 20:07 19. Caitlin Gohr, Service 20:15 20. Rehab Porter, Lathrop 20:15 21. Grace Marks, West Valley 20:23 22. Emma Axelsson, West Valley 20:26 23. Hannah Deer, Thunder Mountain 20:27 24. Sam Starks, West Valley 20:28 25. Sophia Nowers, Palmer 20:29 26. Jill Bowker, Colony 20:36 27. Maggie Meeds, South Anchorage 20:36 28. Kylie Judd, Dimond 20:40 29. Breanna Day, Chugiak 20:40 30. Garvey Tobin, Service 20:43 31. Lydia Ortiz, Palmer 20:44 32. Ivy Eski, West Anchorage 20:53 33. Kiara Sherman, Eagle River 20:54 34. Claire Nelson, Eagle River 20:55 35. Ryann Dorris, West Anchorage 20:57 36. Sofija Spaic, Colony 21:01 37. Sophie Wright, Palmer 21:03 38. Clare Howard, Service 21:06 39. Lily Slatonbarker, West Anchorage 21:06 40. Lucca Duke, West Anchorage 21:13 41. Ithaca Bergholtz, Kenai Central 21:15 42. Carly Glover, Kodiak 21:15 43. Brooklynn Gould, Chugiak 21:16 44. Maddie Christiansen, Kodiak 21:21 45. Cinnamon Monterrosa, West Anchorage 21:21 46. Bonnie Perkins, Eagle River 21:23 47. Erika Arthur, Soldotna 21:24 48. Nicole Bell, Colony 21:24 49. Maddy Maurer, Service 21:29 50. Jasmin Holst, Juneau-Douglas 21:29 51. Randi Von Wichman, Service 21:29 52. Lindsey Gerlach, Chugiak 21:31 53. Clare Hanneman, Lathrop 21:32 54. Nina Kalytiak, Palmer 21:35 55. Mary Goodwin, Eagle River 21:38 56. Emma Nelson, Chugiak 21:40 57. Jazlynn Novelli, Colony 21:44 58. Miriam Stitz, Juneau-Douglas 21:44 59. KayLee Manwaring, Chugiak 21:45 60. Reece Bleakley, Thunder Mountain 21:49 61. Erin Wallace, Thunder Mountain 21:50 62. Ashley Walsh, Eagle River 21:51 63. Elizabeth Knight, Ketchikan 21:53 64. Morgan Elerding, Ketchikan 21:55 65. Tjarn Bross, Lathrop 21:57 66. Brynn Kruchoski, Chugiak 22:00 67. Kylee Deering, Colony 22:08 68. Sosan Monsef, Juneau-Douglas 22:15 69. Claire Smith, Colony 22:46 70. Myah Smith, Eagle River 22:50 71. Sarah Drury, Kenai Central 22:52 72. River Wiseman, Lathrop 22:52 73. Dareena Doyle, Kenai Central 22:57 74. Izabella Block, Colony 22:57 75. Zoe Copp, Palmer 23:01 76. Vanessa Madruga, Palmer 23:04 77. Carmen Sonnek, Lathrop 23:06 78. Braydee Zweifel, Lathrop 23:20 79. Aila Berrigan, Palmer 24:02 80. Gwenneth Poe, Lathrop 24:17