The top-seeded Soldotna boys finally cast the monkey off their back with a 5-1 first-round win over Palmer in the Northern Lights Conference tournament at the Kenai Soccer Complex on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, the Kenai girls, Soldotna girls and Homer boys got wins to advance to Friday’s semifinal round.

In the SoHi boys game, Cory Carver scored twice to lead the team past the Moose, with goals in the 30th and 68th minutes.

Setting a state record one day, nearly pulling it off again the next.

Thus is the life of Kenai Central sophomore Allie Ostrander, who pulled off an incredible feat for the second consecutive day at the Region III Track and Field Championships at Nikiski on Saturday by winning the girls 1,600-meter race and breaking the five-minute barrier — something done by only two other girls in Alaska.

Ostrander’s time of 4 minutes, 58.21 seconds is behind only the 4:55.89 set by Kris Smith in 2003 and the 4:55.3 (hand timed) ran by Betsy Haines in 1977.

The Nikiski girls soccer team knew coming into Thursday’s game against Skyview that they had to win to clinch a spot at the Northern Lights Conference tournament.

All it took was one goal, and a 1-0 victory was theirs.

“It was great, it was what we were playing for today,” said Nikiski coach Mandy Adair. “We always seem to start playing and figuring things out when we’re going into the tournament, so hopefully we can put it together and surprise somebody.”

Kenai coach John Morton decided to shake things up this week after starting the season slower than he wanted, and it paid off with a big 2-0 win over Soldotna on Saturday at the fields near Kenai Middle School.

Morton decided to move some players back in the defensive zone and strengthen that aspect of their game, and the team — along with some big saves from goalie Wren Norwood — shut out the Stars, improving the Kards’ record to 3-2-1 overall, and 2-1 in the Northern Lights Conference.