The Kenai Peninsula claimed three of the four team titles and three of the four individual crowns Saturday at the Region III Cross-Country Championships at Colony High School.
At the Class 4A level, the Kenai girls won their first region crown since 2001. The Kardinals were led by individual champ Riana Boonstra, a sophomore.
At the Class 3A level, Homer swept the team titles and Seward, behind Ruby Lindquist and Hunter Kratz, swept the individual titles.
The Kenai girls put four of their runners in the top six, with Boonstra running the 5K course in 19 minutes, 4 seconds, Jaycie Calvert in second at 19:17, Ithaca Bergholtz in fourth at 19:32 and Addison Gibson in sixth at 20:14.
Leah Johnson provided the crucial fifth score, taking 18th.
“It’s a real surprise, at least I don’t think it was expected by other teams,” Kenai coach Maria Calvert said. “I think our girls really had great confidence in each other and great confidence they could all run together as a team and do really well.”
Kenai managed to break the dry spell despite losing one of the top runners in the country in the graduated Allie Ostrander and not having any juniors or seniors on varsity.
“Five sophomores and two freshmen. How cool is that?” Calvert said.
Kenai scored 31 points, while Colony was second with 48 and SoHi was third with 80. The top three teams earn trips to state.
The Stars managed to make state without getting a score from Olivia Hutchings, who finished second at state last season but has been slowed this year by health issues.
Daisy Nelson was eighth for the Stars, while Kellie Arthur was 12th, Molly Erickson was 14th, Hannah Pothast was 19th and Emily Werner was 27th.
Kodiak, led by individual champ Michael Parnell, was the Class 4A boys champ, while Wasilla and Colony claimed the other two state spots.
Aaron Swedberg and Josh Shuler claimed individual state berths for SoHi by finishing in the top 15. Swedberg was fifth in 17:02, while Shuler was 15th in 17:48.
The Homer girls claimed the top spot in the region for the second straight year, but junior Megan Pitzman did not get a third straight region crown.
Seward’s Ruby Lindquist ran 19:42 to top the 19:48 of runner-up Pitzman.
Also for Homer, Audrey Rosencrans was third, Alex Moseley was sixth, Aurora Waclawski was 11th and Lauren Evarts was 13th.
The Seahawks girls also claimed a state berth by finishing fourth as a team.
The Homer boys scored 30 points to win, while Grace Christian was second at 55. Seward was third to also nab a state berth.
Kratz won his first region title by clocking 16:45, 15 seconds ahead of Cordova’s Zach Hamberger.
But Homer had all of its scoring runners in the top 10 to walk away with the team title — Jared Brant was fourth, Jordan Beachy was fifth, Charlie Menke was seventh, Jacob Davis was ninth and Luciano Fasulo was 10th.
Region III Cross-Country Championships
at Colony High School
Saturday
BOYS
Class 4A
Team scores: 1. Kodiak, 33; 2. Wasilla, 67; 3. Colony, 68; 4. Soldotna, 85; 5. Palmer, 115; 6. Kenai Central, 139.
Individual 5-kilometer results
1. M. Parnell, Kod, 16:22.9; 2. Keith Osowski, Kod, 16:23.3; 3. Q. Fuller, Was, 16:38; 4. T. Knopp, Col, 16:42; 5. A. Swedberg, Sol, 17:03; 6. J. Hannah, Kod, 17:07; 7. R. McKinney, Kod, 17:08; 8. D. Peterson-Thompson, Col, 17:09; 9. D. Knopp, Col, 17:20; 10. R. Kavalok, Pal, 17:24; 11. L. Mumma, Pal, 17:34; 12. K. Greathouse, Was, 17:44; 13. T. Warhus, Was, 17:45; 14. Isaak Bell, Was, 17:47; 15. Josh Shuler, Sol, 17:49; 16. B. Olsen, Ken, 17:54; 17. D. Johnson, Kod, 17:55; 18. K. Danielson, Ken, 17:59.5; 19. C. Rosenberg, Pal, 17:59.7; 20. J. Pothast, Sol, 18:03.
Other Peninsula finishers: 22. Levi Michael, Sol, 18:05; 23. Koby Vinson, Sol, 18:05; 24. Seth Hutchison, Sol, 18:05; 33. Jeremy Kupferschmid, Sol, 19:02; 34. Tristan Landry, Ken, 19:02; 35. Alden Bookey, Ken, 19:04; 36. James Butler, Ken, 19:37; 40. Mathew Torkelson, Ken, 20:03.
Class 1-2-3A
Team scores: 1. Homer, 30; 2. Grace, 55; 3. Seward, 65; 4. ACS, 80; 5. Houston, 144.
Individual 5-kilometer results
1. Hunter Kratz, Sew, 16:45; 2. Zach Hamberger, Cor, 17:00; 3. Blake Bennett, ACS, 17:03; 4. Jared Brant, Hom, 17:18; 5. Jordan Beachy, Hom, 17:20; 6. Cameron Sheldon, Gra, 17:31; 7. Charlie Menke, Hom, 17:36; 8. Trent Fritzel, Gra, 17:36; 9. Jacob Davis, Hom, 17:39; 10. Luciano Fasulo, Hom, 17:41.
Other Peninsula finishers: 11. Paxson Berry, Sew, 17:41; 14. Dexter Lowe, Hom, 17:54; 15. Seth Brewi, Sew, 17:57; 17. Case Estes, Sew, 18:03; 25. Thomas Zweifel, Sew, 18:28; 28. Denver Waclawski, Hom, 18:44; 29. Jonathan Kingsland, Sew, 19:04; 31. Alex Estes, Sew, 19:12; 37. Aaron McCollum, Nik, 21:34; 38. Gavin Wallis, Nik, 21:36; 43. Henry Heft, Nik, 26:18.
GIRLS
Class 4A
Team scores: 1. Kenai, 31; 2. Colony, 48; 3. Soldotna, 80; 4. Kodiak, 90; 5. Palmer, 125; 6. Wasilla, 168.
Individual 5-kilometer results
1. R. Boonstra, Ken, 19:05; 2. J. Calvert, Ken, 19:28; 3. R. Woodings, Pal, 19:29; 4. I. Bergholtz, Ken, 19:32; 5. J. Bowker, Col, 19:46; 6. A. Gibson, Ken, 20:14; 7. Z. Bigley, Kod, 20:19; 8. D. Nelson, Sol, 20:22.4; 9. A. Mathis, Col, 20:22.8; 10. E. Bowker, Col, 20:23.7; 11. J. Block, Col, 20:24.2; 12. K. Arthur, Sol, 20:33; 13. C. Powers, Col, 20:50; 14. M. Erickson, Sol, 20:58; 15. S. Bruce, Col, 21:08.
Other Peninsula finishers: 18. Leah Johnson, Ken, 21:24; 19. Hannah Pothast, Sol, 21:25; 20. Kasey Paxton, Ken, 21:28; 22. Brooke Satathite, Ken, 21:38; 27. Emily Werner, Sol, 21:51; 31. Olivia Hutchings, Sol, 22:30; 34. Fiona Boze, Sol, 23:07.
Class 1-2-3A
Team scores: 1. Homer, 32; 2. Grace Christian, 55; 3. ACS, 60; 4. Seward, 81.
Individual five-kilometer results
1. R. Lindquist, Sew, 19:42; 2. Megan Pitzman, Hom, 19:49; 3. A. Rosencrans, Hom, 19:56; 4. A. Van Pelt, Hou, 20:08; 5. E. Balsan, ACS, 20:19; 6. A. Moseley, Hom, 20:25; 7. T. Ealum, ACS, 20:42; 8. G. Annett, Grace, 20:57.7; 9. M. Morgan, Grace, 20:58.1; 10. T. O’Hara, ACS, 20:58.5.
Other Peninsula finishers: 11. Aurora Waclawski, Hom, 20:59; 13. Lauren Evarts, Hom, 21:19; 15. Ziza Shemet Pitcher, Hom, 21:28; 16. EmmaLee Moore, Sew, 21:31; 18. Haley Knott, Hom, 21:46; 20. Ashley Guernsey, Sew, 22:06; 23. Sadie Lindquist, Sew, 23:39; 25. Iris Anderson, Sew, 24:01; 30. Cassidy DeLand, Sew, 29:18.
Nikolaevsk’s Trail wins Region II meet
Nikolaevsk senior Greg Trail won the Region II meet at Susitna Valley on Saturday to earn a Class 1-2-3A state berth.
Trail is the second Nikolaevsk runner to win a region title, following on the heels of Blake Klaich’s 2011 victory.
Trail ran the five-kilometer course in 17 minutes, 35 seconds, to top runner-up Caden Gerlach of Glennallen by 25 seconds.
Nikolaevsk coach Steve Klaich said Trail had been chasing Gerlach all year and losing by less than a minute until Saturday, when he set a new personal best by 24 seconds.
“When I watched Greg run today, honestly, I thought he went out too fast,” Klaich said. “He proved me wrong. He was able to maintain it.”
Nikolaevsk squeezed two other runners into the top 10 to earn more state berths. Senior Jonah Fefelov was fourth at 19:08 and freshman Michael Trail was seventh at 20:12.
The girls race was won by junior Briahna Gerlach of Glennallen, the two-time defending Class 1-2-3A state champ. Gerlach ran 18:10 to win by over two minutes.
Senior Megan Hickman and freshman Chelsea Johnson earned state berths for Nikolaevsk. Hickman finished fifth in 22:06, while Chelsea Johnson was 10th in 24:22.
“We went 5 for 5,” Klaich said. “I’m absolutely thrilled.”
