By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
In their first and last home track and field meet of the season, and competing against teams from the biggest high schools in Southeast, Sitka High girls and boys teams swept the first place spots in a number of events at lower Moller Field Saturday.
Overall, the Sitka boys team took first place, and the girls second in the four-way match with Juneau-Douglas, Thunder Mountain and Ketchikan.
The Wolves’ Silas Demmert dominated the distance running events, winning the 800 meter run in 2:13, the mile in 4:53, and the two-mile run in 10:22. In the half mile and mile races, Demmert edged out Thunder Mountain’s Matthew Johns by less than a second.
In the long four-by-800 meter relay, Demmert teamed with Annan Weiland, Hank Maxwell and Trey Demmert for a 9:45 first place finish.
The Lady Wolves team snagged second place in a tight competition in which the top three girls teams were separated by fewer than 20 points at the end of the meet.
Sitka freshman Clare Mullin finished first in all three distance events, crossing the line at 2:30 in the half mile, 5:34 in the mile and 12:10 in the two-mile. Sitkan Anna Prussian took second in those events.
Mullin and Prussian teamed with Maitlin Young and Addie Poulson in the four-by-400 meter relay, winning in 4:34, three seconds ahead of Juneau.
Sitka High’s Anna Prussian, second from the right, hands off the baton to Clare Mullin, far right, in the four-by-400 meter relay in a track meet, Saturday in Sitka. The Wolves won the relay. (Sentinel photo by James Poulson)
After missing the season opener in Ketchikan in late April, the weekend’s events marked the start of the competitive season for Prussian, a junior.
“It’s looking pretty good. It was actually my first meet of the season. I wasn’t able to go to Ketchikan, and so it was really fun just seeing everyone,” Prussian said. “It was a little hard starting on a dirt track because I don’t know where my times will be on a real track, but I know where I could reach on a real track now. And overall, I think it was a really good meet.”
Prussian finished second to teammate Mullin in the half-mile, mile and two-mile events, and junior Emma Gassman took fourth in the same trio of events.
Prussian was eager to see how she and Mullin can improve together this year.
“She was definitely ahead of me more than in most of these races and she’s crazy strong in the 800 and the 400,” Prussian said. “And so it was really fun being able to watch her in those races. I think we’re going to be able to push each other really well this season.”
On the field side of track and field, Sitka junior Caleb Hutton hurled a 12-pound shot put 34 feet to claim third place in the event and add a foot to his previous personal best.
In the girls shot put and discus events, Sitka’s Ava Brady claimed second place.
“I powerlift, so I kind of go into the same mindset,” Hutton said, describing his preparation for the throw. “It feels just like a lift I’ve been trying to get for a long time, and then when you finally do get it, it still feels like it didn’t happen. But it just sets up another goal for me to go on.”
For Hutton, a junior, this is his first year on the team without the major impact of the pandemic. The 2020 season was scrapped outright and the 2021 season involved a number of limitations and mitigations. Without those limits in place, the turnout of athletes who want to toss the shot is higher this year, Hutton said.
“It’s a bit less throws in practice, but it’s good to have more competition, more people being able to compete with you every day,” he said.
Hutton also ran in the 100 meter relay, taking third in 12.28, and in the four-by-100 meter relay team alongside Theo Everson, David Davis and Evander Elixman, which finished fifth in 54.21.
Senior Addie Poulson had an adventure of her own Saturday, running in the girls 300 meter hurdles event. As she got close to where the final hurdle should be she saw there wasn’t a hurdle there.
“I was pretty worried about getting disqualified. So when I was approaching the hurdle and realized it wasn’t there, I started looking around, and I made eye contact with Lindsey Bartolaba, who was on our team last year and I was like, ‘What should I do?’ She didn’t realize why I was looking at her, but I thought about going in the (next lane) just to get over it, but I got closer and I just did a little hopping action,” Poulson recalled. “So I was like, maybe that’ll slow me down as much as everyone else. And then I kept running.”
The absence of the hurdle was later laid to the host school’s shortage of that equipment. Poulson was not disqualified and finished third in 53.63.
Wolves coach Jeremy Strong was happy with how his team is coming along this season.
“I think the kids walked away with a lot of optimism and hopefully feeling proud of themselves, because it was a pretty good weekend… We have some pretty difficult workouts coming up,” the coach said. “So there’s going to be some fatigue here this week and probably next week, just overall because the workouts are going to be hard and then kind of get into regionals and feel like they’re prepared. And the rest is preparation for regions and states.”
Strong was excited to see how the team evolves in the coming weeks.
“I’m just looking forward to seeing the development - and their excitement of being together as a team is kind of coming together,” he said. “They’re finding their identity… Looking forward to the next step.”
