Daily Sitka Sentinel

Sitka Boys, McIntyre Win Region XC Crown

By KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writer
    JUNEAU – Sitka High senior Skyler McIntyre led junior Dominic Baciocco and senior Joe Pate across the finish line to win the Southeast Division II Region V cross country championships on Saturday at Juneau’s Sandy Beach.
    “It’s a hard course,” Sitka head coach Shasta Smith said. “It’s the hardest course in the region.”
    The strong Wolves finish of all seven runners in the top 15 gave the boys the team title with 19 points, Haines placed second with 65 and Petersburg third with 83 to represent the region at next weekend’s state championships in Anchorage. Mt. Edgecumbe placed fourth with 102 points, followed by Skagway 123, Metlakatla 186, Wrangell 190, and Hoonah 209.
    “It is extremely important when we run together,” McIntyre said. “We are all working hard every single day with each other.”

Sitka Wolves and Mt. Edgecumbe harriers race with Southeast rivals to start the Region V Division II Boys Cross Country Championships at Juneau’s Sandy Beach on Saturday. The Sitka boys team placed first at the meet. (Sentinel Photo by Klas Stolpe)

    McIntyre’s 16:35.95, Baciocco’s 16:46.78 and Pate’s 16:55.41 were faster than the DI winner, Juneau-Douglas High School senior Arne Ellefson Carnes, who ran a 16:55.82.
    “We have been running the past three years with each other, training together,” McIntyre said. “We do this every single race. We work together. At the end of the race it’s whoever has the most left. Whoever wins, we all win.”
    Baciocco said he started to feel dehydrated with a mile left and relied on his team to carry him through.
    “I didn’t have any speed,” he said. “There are a lot of things that can go wrong. I think our team did awesome and I’m so happy that Skyler won and Joe got third. That’s pretty solid for us going into state. Our goal is to win for sure. I think that having more teams to go after at state will help.”
    The state championships course is at Anchorage’s Bartlett High School.
    “It’s going to be a dogfight to see who gets the team win next week at Bartlett,” Baciocco said. “It has more rolling hills, not as steep, and something I think we’re better suited for.”
    Wolves senior Tabor Buxton placed 5th in 17:32.44, junior Derek Bartlett 9th in 18:11.81, sophomore Kobi Weiland 10th in 18:15.81, and junior Hahlen Behnken Barkhau 13th in 18:35.55.
    Buxton noticed the Wolves were ahead after the first loop, roughly 1.8 kilometers in. Racers do the loop three times and it features a tough uphill portion and a few minor ups and downs.
    “I felt like we were good on that but the hills for me were killer,” Buxton said. “I just kept going and always thought about my team. I did alright.”
Mt. Edgecumbe Braves sophomore Dayton Hoblet (from False Pass) placed 15th in 18:47.54, nabbing the last individual qualifying position for the state championships. MEHS policy requires a top 10 finish for school funding but Hoblet said he will use his Alaska Airlines mileage to travel.
    “It was my best run all season,” Hoblet said. “When I saw the finish line, and I was on the other side of the fence, I knew I had a good shot at placing. I caught up to our first place runner Brayden (Bahnke) and I was feeling smooth so I ran as fast as I could. My PR was a 19:32 in Ketchikan and here. I don’t know what was going on, I just felt really smooth.”
PR stands for personal record.
It was the most impressive Braves run of the year and can carry over to a fast state time.
“I am from the Aleutian chain so I will have some people there to watch me run,” he said. “I hope to pay my own way to state and go see my family and they can watch me run. This team here, these guys, are like my family, too. This is my second year at Edgecumbe and I have been running with lots of them since my first day.”
    Braves senior Brayden Bahnke (Nome) placed 17th in 18:57.07, junior Jeremy Ulroan (Chevak) 21st in 19:17.36, senior Leon Evon (Bethel) 30th in 19:45.50, sophomore Ajey Moses (Chevak) 33rd in 19:52.20, sophomore David Bahnke (Nome) 37th in 20:09.05, and  sophomore  Kahliel Martin (Bethel) 44th in 21:01.90.
    “Hoblet’s run was a surprise, but it’s great,” Mt. Edgecumbe head coach Josh Arnold said. “We had a good run today. I’m proud of these kids. They ran as hard as they could. I had some kids that we wouldn’t have expected to have good days today and kids that we expected to do well that had not so good days. That’s just life. The kids work hard every day and I am super proud of them. It was fun to watch the Sitka team as well.”
    For the JDHS Crimson Bears Ellefson-Carnes won the DI boys title in a time of 16:55.82 and the Crimson Bears won the DI team championship with 19 points over Ketchikan’s 50 and Thunder Mountain’s 71.
    JDHS fans held up face placards of senior runners, and Ellefson-Carnes was shown throughout the course.
    “It’s nice to be around people that are there for you no matter what,” he said. “In the race, seeing the same person at multiple spots is really cool to see in a community, this family of people.”
    Ellefson-Carnes said he was thinking of his final home race throughout the run.
    “The last 800 meters through the sand I knew I would never be at that spot again,” he said.
    And of the numerous life-size face placards his peers waved?
    “It was kind of weird, but kind of cool to see the support and the faces of all the seniors,” he said.
    The DII boys state cross country championship race is at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, the DI boys championship race is at 2:15 p.m., both at Bartlett High School in Anchorage.

REGION V CHAMPIONSHIPS
     DII BOYS - 1, McIntyre, Skyler, sr SIT, 16:35.95. 2, Baciocco, Dominic, jr SIT, 16:46.78. 3, Pate, Joe, sr SIT, 16:55.41. 4, George, Siyel, jr HNS, 17:15.61. 5, Buxton, Tabor, sr SIT, 17:32.44. 6, Knudsen, Bryce, jr Kake, 17:37.78. 7, Faverty, Kirby, jr HNS, 17:52.37. 8, Brady, Danny, sr SKG, 17:59.13. 9, Bartlett, Derek, jr SIT, 18:11.81. 10, Weiland, Kobi, so SIT, 18:15.81. 11, Eddy, Tolin, sr PSG, 18:22.31. 12, Belisle, Wyatt, sr SKG, 18:28.35. 13, Behnken Barkhau, Hahlen, jr SIT, 18:35.55. 14, Davis, Mark, so HNS, 18:38.59. 15, Hoblet, Dayton, so MEHS, 18:47.54. 16, Lister, Chase, fr PSG, 18:49.73. 17, Bahnke, Brayden, sr MEHS, 18:57.07. 18, Skeek, Brennan, so PSG 18:58.23. 19, Crager, Carson, so HNS, 19:04.14. 20, Schwab, Stockton, jr TB, 19:13.20. 21, Ulroan, Jeremy, jr MEHS, 19:17.36. 22, Merry, Shawn, sr Kake, 19:18.28. 23, Lucas, Uriah, fr PSG, 19:21.87. 24, Sperl, Koren, sr PSG, 19:23.02. 25, Sperl, Kole, jr PSG, 19:24.08. 26, Valley, Navin, so MET, 19:24.69. 27, Olsen, Trever, jr HYD, 19:30.55. 28, Cunningham, Patrick, sr HNS, 19:35.00. 29, Myers, Silas, so SKG, 19:41.69. 30, Evon, Leon, sr MEHS, 19:45.50. 31, Congdon, Jacob, jr TB, 19:51.12. 32, Congdon, Kyle, fr TB, 19:51.71. 33, Moses, Ajey, so MEHS, 19:52.20. 34, Palmieri, Brennan, so HNS, 19:59.39. 35, Rooney, Ryan, fr WRG, 20:02.18. 36, Ensign, Zorion, so CRG, 20:08.54. 37, Bahnke, David, so MEHS, 20:09.05. 38, Cumps, Julian, so PSG, 20:13.09. 39, Hinson, Caleb, so HNS, 20:15.79. 40, Jim, Fenton, jr WRG, 20:17.25. 41, Taylor, Aaron, jr CRG, 20:25.92. 42, Wooten, Raymond, so TB, 20:55.45. 43, Wright, Josh, sr HNH, 21:01.56. 44, Martin, Kahliel, so MEHS, 21:01.90. 45, Buxton, Tobin, so MET, 21:05.14. 46, White, Caleb, so MET, 21:12.47. 47, Goebel, Gavin, so SKG, 21:33.21. 48, Comstock, Jonah, jr WRG, 21:34.32. 49, Watkins, Tyler, sr HNH, 21:46.02. 50, Eagle, Kellan, sr WRG, 21:53.52. 51, Hansen, Tanner, sr SKG, 21:56.40. 52, Ross, Cooper, so HNH, 22:25.07. 53, Marsden, Travis, jr MET, 22:37.14. 54, Gray, Ethan, sr HNH, 22:37.56. 55, Smith, Kyle, fr CRG, 22:59.84. 56, Guthrie, Spencer, sr MET, 23:04.59. 57, Jermaine, Johnson, fr HNH, 23:07.10. 58, Shilts, James, fr WRG, 23:21.58. 59, Brusell, William, sr MET, 23:25.15. 60, Messmer, Tyson,fr WRG, 23:50.60. 61, Heath, Calvin, so CRG, 23:53.13. 62, Joseph, Sean, so KLW, 24:58.78. 63, Hayes, Roy, sr KLW, 25:00.36. 64, Williams, Tim, sr MET, 25:09.16. 65, Morris, Isaac, so SKG, 25:25.48. 66, Sharclane, Xaviery, so HNH, 25:57.71.
 -- Dilts, Brayde, jr KLW, DNF. --, Almenzor, Gabriel, sr CRG, DNF. - - Harvey, Ethan, sr TB, SCR.
    DI BOYS - 1, Ellefson-Carnes, Arne, sr JDHS, 16:55.82. 2, Kelly, Tucker, jr TMHS, 17:21.37. 3, Taylor-Roth, Clem, sr JDHS, 17:38.12. 4, Bucy, Ambrose, so JDHS, 17:38.55. 5, Goldstein, Koby, jr JDHS 17:54.35. 6, Davies, Ronan, sr JDHS, 18:00.11. 7, Capps, Brent, fr KTN, 18:01.64. 8 Dapcevich, Max, jr JDHS, 18:03.38. 9, Smith, Phillip, so KTN, 18:04.16. 10, King, Jacob, sr KTN, 18:05.39. 11, Lapinski, Mickey, fr KTN, 18:15.56. 12, Tim, Degener, so JDHS, 18:26.93. 13, Blair, Charlie, so KTN, 18:32.81. 14, Credito, Ivan, sr KTN, 19:08.59. 15, Brown, Jonah, so TMHS, 19:16.87. 16, King, Dwight, jr KTN, 19:42.52. 17, West, Elias, so TMHS, 20:42.98. 18, Sikes, Riley, sr TMHS, 20:47.04. 19, Unzicker, Isaiah, fr TMHS, 21:03.34. 20, Bowman, Tommy, fr TMHS, 21:04.42. 21, Bultez, Ethan, so TMHS, 24:37.54.