By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Runners from the Mt. Edgecumbe High cross country team competed in Craig over the weekend, in the lead-up to the regional championships that will be held in Sitka Sept. 28.
Assistant coach Jack Davis told the Sentinel “we’ve got a great little team, they’re doing great work, they’re working hard.”
On the boys side, Cameron Tai was the first MEHS runner to finish, coming in at 20:48 and taking 22nd place out of 64 runners. Roman Lowe finished 26th with a tie of 21:19. In 33rd place, Jesse Hanson finished in 22:06. Bryce Jimmie took 36th in 22:14. He finished just 1.74 seconds ahead of Craig’s Aaron Taylor.
Shane Angnaboogok ran the race in 22:56, scoring 41st. Murphy Charles took 46th place in 23:22, and Keenan Kashevarov ran a 26:42 to take 55th. Coach Davis was happy with this performance, noting that he had “three boys within a minute of each other in the 22s.”
On the girls side, two runners struggled with leg injuries and could not complete the race. Sunset Woods, who ran a strong 26:29 to snag 23rd place of 38 runners. Kayla Kashevarov was right behind her and ended up in 24th, with a time of 26:50. Raquel George took 29th place at 28:07.
Senior Robin Masterman ran the race but suffered from shin splints and didn’t finish. Masterman, of Bethel, said she has been a “runner all my life, but I’ve only been on the cross country team for two years.”
Noting the pain from her shin splints, she said she does “like some more long-distance running, it’s a lot less intense.”
Masterman and the coach agreed it was wise for her to stop before her injury developed into something worse. In cases when a runner doesn’t reduce activity, shin splints can become stress fractures.
Davis was optimistic for the cross country season. “We should have some kids going to state on both boys and girls teams,” he said.
The Edgecumbe runners compete again Saturday in Ketchikan.
