Wrangell's Riley Blatchley pulls into the finish line during Saturday's cross-country meet in Wrangell, followed by Petersburg runners Koren Sperl and Daniel Holmbert, and teammate Tyman Teat (background).
Hundreds of runners carried on through chilly rains at Saturday's Wrangell Invitational Cross-Country meet. The weather kept to around 52 degrees that day, with most of the 0.3 inches falling during the early afternoon races.
Coming from 15 schools around the region, 226 runners and 20 coaches participated in the weekend meet, the third so far of the season. A new course was plotted out for the races, held past Muskeg Meadows Golf Course along Spur Road.
Wrangell High School fielded 13 runners at the meet, and its girls team finished sixth with 163 points. Reyn Hutten was the fourth place overall finisher for the girls with a time of 20 minutes, 8 seconds.
Thunder Mountain High School's Naomi Welling won the girls race in 19:18, followed by teammate Erin Wallace at 19:42. Erika Rodanhisler from Ketchikan High School finished third at 19:53.
For the rest of Wrangell's team, Amy Jenson finished 25th at 23:09, Helen Decker 55th at 26:05.02, Kaylauna Churchill just behind her at 26:05.8, Abigail Gerald in 73rd at 27:58, and Kiara Meissner in 77th at 30:38.
Eighty-one girls representing 14 teams ran in all, with 4A Juneau-Douglas High School coming in first with 43 points. Ketchikan came in second with 62 points, followed by 2A Petersburg High School with 74.
For the boys team race, Sitka's Colin Biaciocco came in first place at 16:24. Alize Arthur from Juneau-Douglas came in second, at 16:36, and Joseph Pate of Sitka finished third at 16:40.
Wrangell's Matthew Gerald came in sixth place at 17:00.75. Teammates Jacob Hammer came in 28th place at 18:40, Tyman Teat in 56th at 19:39, Jean-Luc Lewis in 82nd at 21:12, Kellan Eagle in 112th at 24:38, and Ashtyn Haynes in 122nd at 26:43.
Overall, the Wolves' boys placed seventh of 15 teams with 187 points. Sitka came in first in the meet with 37 points, followed by JDHS with 48 and TMHS with 91.
WHS activities director Lisa Nikodym oversaw the meet, which was supported by dozens of volunteers from the school and wider community. To help house so many visitors, Trident Seafoods allowed the schools use of their bunk facilities.
Starting practice during summer vacation, the cross-country season is already half-way over after a pair of meets in Sitka and Craig. The Wolves will head south to Ketchikan this weekend for its next races, followed by the Region V tournament in Juneau on Sept. 26, and State in Bartlett on Oct. 3.
Saturday's meet was prefaced by a community run, hosted jointly by running group Southeast Beasts and the cross-country team. Around 40 participants showed up for the run, dubbed the "Wolf Pack 5K."
Organizer Lucy Robinson hoped the run might spur some of Wrangell's younger runners to participate in their events, which promote activity while raising funds for charitable causes. For example, it's next event, the Alaska Day 5K, will be raising money for the hospital's cancer care program.
"I'd love to see more runners come," she said. "We're building future Beasts."
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