By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Local cross country runners took to the trails over the weekend here for the first travel meet of the season. The Ketchikan team joined the Sitka High Wolves and the Mt. Edgecumbe Braves in person, a rare occurrence in a sports year defined by virtual events.
The Sitka High boys snagged first place, but Kayhi’s girls won their event by a narrow margin, followed by the Lady Wolves.
Despite the Ketchikan win on the girls side, it was Sitka’s Tawny Smith who crossed the finish line first at 20:30, followed by her teammate Anna Prussian at 20:45.
Sitka coach Shasta Smith complimented her two fastest girls.
“I was pleased; they seemed to be happy. It was a pretty good mental race for both of them,” Smith said. She added that while she has some fast runners, Kayhi fielded a deeper team.
Prussian told the Sentinel that she was glad to have a chance to race against an out-of-town team.
“It was great just racing another team from another school. It’s been great racing Edgecumbe, but they’re from here and we’ve seen them. But racing a new town gave you the real race jitters,” Prussian said. She noted that now, with the Region V race coming up this weekend, she is already preparing for the State Championship race.
“Our coach is definitely training us more for the state meet… so we’re going to be having hard weeks until state,” Prussian said.
Ketchikan runners claimed the fourth through seventh finishing spots to win the race as a team.
Sitka’s Lindsey Bartaloba claimed eighth at 23:47. Her coach praised her run.
“She ran a personal record (for the season). She has been getting better every week,” Smith said.
Maitlin Young, a first-year high school runner, took ninth place at 24:22.
Young said that with more training she thinks she can improve further.
“Ketchikan was a great team. I thought it was fun to race them… I just want to keep improving my time,” she said.
Mt. Edgecumbe’s Jelsey Gologergen took tenth at 25:10.
Lady Wolves’ Alysa Henshaw finished at 25:51. Asked how it felt to run against an out-of-town team for the first time of the year, she laughed.
“I wasn’t next to anybody so it was the same… It was almost like they weren’t there,” Henshaw said.
Edgecumbe’s Raquel George finished in 26:42 to take twelfth. Krine Lonewolf finished in 26:50 and her teammate Izzy Jackson ran the course in 29:42. Braves’ Sophia Jones finished in 29:48, with Cheyenne Murphy right behind at 30:08. Bernadette John finished in 32:05.
With a sports season swirling with uncertainty, coach Smith said that having the opportunity to race any teams in person was a positive.
“It has been quick and not what we would typically have, but also in that we’ve been able to do anything… So many what-ifs and things change day to day. I was so pleased that we were able to race Ketchikan at all. And I’m super thankful for our friends across the bridge,” she said.
Sitka’s Silas Demmert took second in the boys race after Kayhi’s Mickey Lapinski. Demmert finished the five kilometers in 17:45, 24 seconds behind Lapinski.
“It was nice to have some competition,” Demmert said.
It was the first time this year that Demmert has trailed another runner.
“It was really difficult for me. That’s kind of what I’m working on this year, this season. Usually it’s been that I need to run away from Kobi (Weiland), because I’m with Kobi. It was tough, especially when he passed us and he was really fast too,”he said.
Weiland finished third at 18:14, followed by Mt. Edgecumbe’s Landon Varga at 18:46.
Edgecumbe coach Josh Arnold was pleased with his racers’ performance.
“We had a good race on Saturday,” Arnold said. He stressed that with all of the pandemic precautions in place at MEHS, his runners have had a very limited season.
“This year of course was different than any other with all the COVID tests so we were running on campus for the first couple weeks, getting really creative with running options on Japonski Island,” Arnold said, “We are just now getting to the point where their lungs and legs and hearts are getting really in shape.”
Sitka’s Hank Maxwell took sixth at 19:12. He said that he enjoyed the competition.
“It was pretty good... you knew how fast everyone else was, who you could keep up with. But Ketchikan was here so you didn’t know,” Maxwell said.
Maxwell’s teammate Troy Filkins was right behind at 19:15, with Annan Weiland in ninth at 19:39. Edgecumbe’s Roman Lowe finished in 20:09, with Wolves’ Stephen Harmon on his tail at 20:12.
The Braves’ Connor Journey was one second behind Harmon. Edgecumbe’s Atigun Pensley finished in 20:31, with Sitka’s James Helem behind him at 20:51.
Edgecumbe’s Kaden Mwarey finished in 21:07, with his teammate Bryce Jimmie one second behind. Braves’ Zane Mahoney finished in 21:53.
Earlier in the season, schools in Southeast planned to send their runners to Ketchikan for the Region V race this weekend, but recent increases in the number of COVID-19 cases across the region have upended those plans, Sitka High Activities Director Rich Krupa told the newspaper.
The Region V race for Sitka will take place this Saturday, with the boys running at 10 a.m. and the girls at 10:30 a.m. through Totem Park. Anyone interested in attending should wear a mask and practice safe distancing protocols.
The top four runners of each team will earn a chance to run at the state level this year. Krupa said that there will be no team scores this year, only individual times at the state level.
