Cross-country meet draws large crowd of runners and supporters

Over 300 athletes, family members and volunteers showed up to the Wrangell Invitational cross-country meet Saturday, Sept. 9, for a race featuring teams from 10 schools around Southeast.

The Sitka team won both the men's and women's races overall, putting three runners in the top five for each race. Sitka's Connor Hitchcock logged the fastest time of the day at 16:42 and Sitka's Clare Mullin, who competed in the men's race, logged the fastest women's time at 18:56.7.

Wrangell runners had a strong showing as well.

Freshman Alana Harrison placed fourth with a personal best time of 22:37.3 - a full minute faster than her race at the Klawock Invitational Sept. 2.

Senior Keegan Hanson, who is running for the Wolves for the first time this season, took fourth place with a personal best of 16:59.6. Sophomore Boomchain Loucks was right behind him, taking fifth place with a personal best of 17:08.7. Junior Daniel Harrison set his season's record at 17:56.2, finishing in seventh place.

Jackson Powers, Cooper Powers, Jackson Carney, Trevyn Gillen, Ben Houser and Kalee Herman all set personal records at the meet, held at Muskeg Meadows Golf Course. Bella Ritchie and Aadyn Gillen also represented Wrangell.

The team showed "really great progress overall," said coach Mason Villarma. "I'm excited about the trajectory of the season. Sitka had a great day, but we equally had a good showing and we'd like to improve upon it in Ketchikan."

The team will travel to Sitka for a meet on Saturday, Sept. 16, to Ketchikan for a meet Sept. 23 and then to the Southeast championship Sept. 30 in Juneau. The cross-country season ends at the state meet in Palmer on Oct. 7.