WHS girls in run for another title

WASILLA — As Wasilla head coach Gary Howell looks at his girls team, the two-time defending 4A state championships, he loves what he sees.

Wasilla graduated only two scoring runners from its 2011 championship squad, cruised through the 2012 regular season, and won their third straight Region III title convincingly last week.

And, the Warriors are healthy.

“We don’t have any injuries. With the weather being the way it’s been, with so much rain lately, you can’t really ask for much more,” Howell said Wednesday evening.

But as he looks at the other nine squads that will compete with WHS for the girls team title during the ASAA/First National Bank State Cross-Country Running Championships at Bartlett High School in Anchorage on Saturday, the veteran coach knows in Alaska cross-country running, anything can happen.

With the horrible weather that plagued Southcentral Alaska during region championship weekend, Howell knows conditions will be a big variable.

During the 2012 regular season, 24 different runners in the girls’ 4A class broke the 20-minute mark. But during the state’s four 4A region meets, only nine runners finished their respective region meet with a time of less than 20 minutes in a 5-kilometer race.

“The weather has been so bad. It depends on what weather we’re running in during the state meet,” Howell said.

Wasilla enters the meet with three of the state’s top nine runners, according to region championship times. Junior Mariah Burroughs (19:09), sophomore Peggy Mathis (19:47) and senior Jenna Ford (19:59) each broke the 20-minute mark during the Region III Championships at Tsalteshi Trails in Soldotna last weekend. Riley Burroughs, Mandi Ringgenberg and Alysha Devine also placed in the top 20, and round out Wasilla’s top 6.

Howell said Ford, who will cap a stellar prep cross-country career Saturday, is one of the big reasons why Wasilla transformed itself into a state cross-country running power during the last four years. He said the senior is also looking as strong as ever.

“I just said it today, Jenna looks so strong,” Howell said. “She was rolling along at 7:30 miles. Not many girls can run one, she popped off five.”

Howell said he’s also been impressed with Riley Burroughs, who is catching up to Wasilla’s talented top 3.

Wasilla is one of a pair of Valley schools to send a girls team to the state meet. Colony also advanced with its second-place finish at last week’s Region III championships.

Leading the way for the Knights is senior standout Audrey Michaelson, who posted the second-fastest time in the state during the region championships weekend. Michaelson finished as the Region III runner-up with a time of 19:05. She was also second in the region last year, and finished third in the 2011 state championships.

Michaelson has posted the third-fastest time in the state this year, with a career best 18:43 at the Palmer Invitational earlier this month.

Makenzie Thompson, Bailey Meier, Samantha Victor, Tracie Haan, Jocelyn Kopsack and Tatjana Spaic will also run for the Knights Saturday.

The Colony boys also advanced to the state meet with a second-place finish at the Region III Championships.

Brandon Schafer, who finished third in the Region III meet last week, leads the Knights into the state championships. Boaz Sessom and Darien Sinnett also posted top 10 finishes last week, while Lyon Kopsack and Lane Reed also finished in the top 15.

Wasilla’s Brenden Lee, and Palmer’s Chris Osiensky and Sean Hermann will run as individuals on Saturday.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com, follow him @matsu_sports and find him by searching Valley Sports Huddle on Facebook.