Cross country team continues to show positive gains

Wrangell High School travelled to Petersburg last Saturday, Sept. 7, to face their rival school in a cross country meet. While Wrangell's runners did not beat Petersburg or several other competing schools last weekend, Coach Drew Larrabee said that the team continues to make positive gains on their times.

In the women's 5,000 meter varsity run, Wrangell came in sixth place out of nine teams, just behind Petersburg at fifth place. Liana Carney was Wrangell's first runner to cross the finish line, with a time of 21:50.95. It should also be noted that Carney was ahead of all Petersburg runners, with Melanie Chase of Petersburg coming in about two seconds behind Carney. Jade Balansag, of Wrangell, was second for her team with a time of 23:06.27. After her, for Wrangell, came Jamie Early at 24:21.74. The first place team for the women's race was Ketchikan High School.

In the men's 5,000 meter varsity, Wrangell took ninth place out of eleven competitors. Devlin Campbell was the first of his teammates to finish the race at 20:19.83. Ethan Blatchley was second amongst the Wrangell runners at 21:55.01. Tyson Messmer was third place for the Wrangell men with a time of 23:12.72. Overall, first place in the men's race went to Ketchikan High School, as well.

Larrabee said that for Campbell, his immediate goal is to reach a "sub-20," or to run a 5k in under 20 minutes. With Messmer and Blatchley close behind with their times, he said he hopes to see them hit a sub-20 time soon, too. In practices, he added that he will be having his team track their times and meets to see how they are pacing, and to figure out what goals they should set.

"They're all pushing, they're making positive gains," Larrabee said. "This is the nicest, most positive, most respectful group of kids I've ever had."

Full results from the Petersburg Invitational can be found at http://www.athletic.net.

Wrangell's next meet will be in Craig on Sept. 14.