Marshall, Rooney on top and headed to Regionals

The Wrangell Wolves cross-country team traveled to Ketchikan last weekend with a smaller group than usual – only four runners for each of the boys and girls teams – but they came away with an eye towards preparing for the Region V tournament this weekend in Juneau.

In the girls’ side of the competition held Sept. 15, Wolves senior Kayla Rooney finished in the top-25 with a final time of 23:18; Andrea Gillen ended the day with a time of 26:32. Hannah Armstrong ended her run at 30:06.

Rooney, who has already attended three state tournaments in cross-country, said she is looking forward to being a four-year competitor in 2013 – and is going to do what it takes to get there.

“I plan on working really hard this week.” Rooney said. “I am going to work really hard on the regional course because I am determined to make it to state.”

In the boys’ event, senior Jacob Marshall made an impressive 20th place finish with a time of 18:26. The pack behind Marshall was close and tight, as fellow Wolves runner Bryce Gerald followed him in with a time of 18:43. Blaine Wilson ended the day with a time of 19:22, while Chester Armstrong finished in 19:33.

Marshall said his pre-game warm-up is just as mental as it is physical.

“It was a good meet in Ketchikan and there was a lot of competition there, which is what we’ll see in Juneau,” Marshall said. “I think the experience is to set my mind game in place before each race to focus on how tough it is going to be, but at the end of it I really feel great.”

Head coach Monty Buness said the meet in Ketchikan was just a warmup for this coming weekend in the Capital City.

“The tune-up race in Ketchikan is one that everybody goes to see how everybody is stacked up for the regional race,” he said. “It was competitive because all the fastest guys and girls were there.”

And though there was no official Wrangell team – they would have had to run five members in both the boys and girls races to make one – Buness said there was a great deal of individual accomplishment on the course.

“With (Jacob) Marshall, you have an outstanding first-year senior runner in the top-10 of the region and we’re wishing he would have been around for the last three years,” Buness said. “We also have Bryce Gerald, who is a freshman and ran a sub-19 performance even though he had a side ache for a while. Kayla turned in a top performance in her race as well.”

The Wolves will travel to Juneau this weekend, with the state tournament set for Sept. 29 in Anchorage.