By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
In their first out-of-town race of the season, the Sitka High Wolves competed in a state cross country championship in Anchorage over the weekend. To protect against possible transmission of the coronavirus, the Wolves took only six runners north.
Sitka High runners compete in Anchorage over the weekend. (Photo provided by Shasta Smith)
Coach Shasta Smith was glad that her runners had a chance to compete away from Sitka in a season limited by the virus outbreak.
“First and foremost I’m thankful that we got the opportunity. In my mind it was so vastly different it’s hard to compare it to normal. It was a great opportunity for growth,” Smith said.
Sitka’s fastest racer, Silas Demmert, echoed that.
“It totally surpassed (expectations), I wasn’t even sure we were going to get regions or travel to state. The fact that we were able to do that, I’m grateful,” he told the Sentinel.
Demmert claimed twelfth place out of 30 runners in his division with a time of 17:42.
He noted that pacing at the state meet was difficult, with only eight runners in a heat.
“It was pretty good. I kind of lost the pack around the second mile. I really tried to get with them but they all surged,” he said.
The number one spot in the boys race went to Tristian Merchant, running for the Anchorage Christian School. Merchant ran the 5k course in a blistering 14:50, beating the second place runner by over a minute and a half.
“Tristian was in my wave but he was long gone,” Demmert said.
The Wolves’ Kobi Weiland was right behind his teammate, finishing in 15th place at 17:55. Demmert said he and Weiland have run together all season, often pushing each other to improve.
Kobi’s younger brother, freshman Annan Weiland, ran the course in 19:55.
Coach Smith praised Annan for making it to state as a freshman.
“Being a freshman and making it to state – especially when the pool is so small – is an accomplishment of itself… I wish he had more opportunities to race this year,” she said.
Anna Prussian was the first Sitka girl to finish, coming in at 20:27 to claim sixth place in her division.
“It was definitely my best race of the season. I think it was a lot different racing other people, it was definitely a much different mental game. And the course, it was a great course, I enjoyed it,” Prussian said.
The course this year ran through Kinkaid Park instead of the usual venue, the trails at Bartlett High School.
Demmert said this year’s course was less hilly than Bartlett’s route.
“It was a couple hundred feet of elevation. It really wasn’t near Bartlett’s elevation and hills, and how narrow those could get,” he said.
Prussian said the hills on the course were moderate.
“There were definitely a lot of rolling hills, not so much. Usually we run at Bartlett and it’s up and down steep hills,” Prussian said.
She added that the race this year struck her as “weird,” as it was hard to pace off of other runners with so few in a heat.
“It was really weird, last year the first race against another team was in Juneau, and there were a bunch of teams there. Through the season you realized how to pace yourself with other people and it was definitely challenging racing with other people for the first time this season at state,” Prussian said.
She noted that this season met her expectations, especially since the team managed to travel to state.
“It would definitely have been pretty hard if we didn’t get to go to state. For a while there that week when cases spiked I didn’t think we would be going. And if we hadn’t gone to state it would have been a very different season,” Prussian said.
Lady Wolves’ Tawny Smith finished the race in 22:43, taking 21st place out of 30 runners despite an ankle injury on the course.
“I personally didn’t run my best race, but it happens. I had a decent season overall, it just didn’t happen to add up,” Smith said.
She said that lining up to start with only seven other runners in a heat was a novel experience.
“It was definitely different, the fact that you’re on the line with seven other people racing for a state championship is nerve wracking,” she said.
Looking back at the season, Smith said she’s grateful for the chances she and her team had.
“Just not to take any opportunity to race for granted and to learn something from every race,” she said.
Like her teammates and coach, she was happy for the chance to compete at the state level in a year packed with canceled and delayed sporting events around the world.
“We were all just thankful and fortunate to be there,” she said.
Right behind Smith in the race was Lindsey Bartolaba, who finished in 23:54.
“I was really glad to be able to take her up there,” coach Smith said.
The coach said the main lesson of the season is adaptability.
“Those are the real lessons in sports, it’s dealing with that adversity and challenges and trying to overcome and figure out what to do next time,” she said.
The coach stressed that there is a difference between running a best time and running at full effort.
“Just because you didn’t get a best time doesn’t mean you didn’t give your best effort,” she said.
She was proud of her runners for continuing to work, even when the future of the season seemed in doubt.
“I’m really proud of the kids for showing up everyday and working hard and often not knowing if we would have another race,” she said.
Smith described the season as “memorable,” adding that she had no desire to repeat the experience.
Overall, Smith said, she’s grateful.
“Gratitude for one, gratitude that we live in Alaska and we have these opportunities and even though we’re on a little island we can still compete with the big dogs. I felt like the team as a whole is really focused on that the whole season. ‘Oh my gosh we get another meet.’ How lucky are we,” she said.
