This year’s Wrangell High School cross country team has some big running shoes to fill.
Last year, the boys team placed first at regionals and first at state, which was a first-ever accomplishment for the team. Some of those runners are returning and head coach Mason Villarma has big hopes for the athletes.
“I think the men will definitely look to repeat a state championship,” he said in an interview on Friday, July 21. “I think the women — Southeast looks really weak — so I think they can win a regional championship. Anything can happen at state if we make that benchmark.”
The season, which begins Wednesday, July 26, and ends Oct. 7, is seeing a lot of interest on the part of student-athletes, Villarma said. Twenty kids showed up to the preseason meeting, 13 boys and seven girls, nine of which were freshmen. Returning athletes include Daniel Harrison, Boomchain Loucks, Ian Nelson, Jackson Powers and Mia Wiederspohn.
Villarma anticipates about 10 kids from the preseason meeting will show up at the first practice and by the third week he’ll have his permanent roster in place.
The head coach believes Harrison has another state title in him, as he won first place out of 82 runners at last year’s state meet in a time of 17:29.1 and an average pace of 5:38 a mile.
“I still think he (Harrison) will retain a state title, unless Boomchain has something to say about it,” Villarma said. “Boomchain has put in a lot of work over the summer. He did a University of Arizona running camp this last week. He’s been crushing early mileage already, working on his base. I think that he’ll keep Daniel honest. Anything can happen. I think those two will be competing for a state title.”
Some of the incoming freshmen look to have good potential, including Harrison’s younger sister Alana Harrison, who regularly practiced with the high school team while she was in eighth grade.
Villarma hopes to build up the women’s program this year and sees potential in Alana Harrison, Wiederspohn and Della Churchill.
There are still some challenges to overcome, however, such as competing in larger meets. Last year, the runners were a little overwhelmed when competing at Palmer High School north of Anchorage.
“We performed decent in the grand scheme of things,” Villarma said. “We beat a lot of big schools that we shouldn’t even have been competing with. (The kids) didn’t respond well to running in a really packed field. That race was bigger than their state meet. There was a bit of an initial shock.”
Villarma said he plans to keep the team in Southeast until state. They will consider extending the season for athletes who want more of a challenge, which could include running in Washington or Oregon at competitions like the Nike Cross Nationals.
“I think we’re going to keep to the Southeast meets this year and focus on strengthening those up,” he said. “Sitka is really competitive at the 3A level. For us, It’s like we know at least we’ll have a dual meet with Sitka in a competitive way. I think if we want to branch off into bigger-caliber meets, we’ll do so after the state meet for those (runners) that want to continue.”
Wrangell is a 2A division team. Divisions are based on school enrollment size.
The team’s first race will be on Sept. 2 in Klawock. On Sept. 9, Wrangell will host a meet at Muskeg Meadows.
“I’m just really looking forward to working with these kids,” Villarma said. “There’s just a lot of potential for a lot of these athletes to move on to compete at the college level. I think the Harrisons, Boomchain, the freshmen, I think they have the prospects of pursuing that if that’s what they want to do. It takes a high level of commitment. I want to get them to that place if that’s where they want to be.”
Villarma’s other goal is to build the cross country program to be as big as possible, surpassing the number of athletes the wrestling program gets every year. “That’s kind of a benchmark for us.”
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