Wrangell High School’s cross-country teams raced well last Saturday and improved their results from the season’s opening race two weeks ago.
The boys team finished first in all divisions in Craig, anchored by another Boomchain Loucks victory. Loucks, a junior, won the boys 5K handedly, and improved on his personal best race time by nearly 14 seconds.
The girls side showed improvement as well — something coach Mason Villarma has emphasized as the focus of their season. Wrangell finished second in their division thanks to a sixth-place finish from junior Kalee Herman. In back-to-back meets, Herman has been the highest finisher for the girls.
Loucks has now won both meets he’s raced in this season. The Sept. 7 race in Craig was supposed to be the third of the year, but after a heavy rain led to the cancellation of Wrangell’s only scheduled home meet on Aug. 31, the Craig Invitational was just the second time Wrangell runners raced against rivals this year.
“Boomchain has the fastest 5K in all of Southeast (and) 11th across all divisions in the state,” Villarma said. “He hasn’t even got to race anyone (who is competitive), so it will be fun to see what he can do as he faces stiffer competition.”
Ian Nelson, another junior, was just two seconds away from a top-five boys finish. Daniel Harrison and Jackson Powers finished within one second of each other, rounding out Wrangell’s top 10 finishers at eight and nine, respectively.
Petersburg finished second in the boys team scoring, with Mt. Edgecumbe, Craig and Ketchikan filling out the top five.
For the girls, sophomore Bella Ritchie finished eighth while freshman Kailyn McCutcheon finished just behind her teammate in 10th. The race was dominated by Petersburg, with the Vikings finishing in the first four positions of the girls 5K.
The Wrangell cross-country team will travel next to the Sitka Invitational meet, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 14.
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