In their third race of the season, the Wrangell cross-country team boasted several personal-best times at the Sitka Invitational on Sept. 14.
Standout junior Boomchain Loucks was the boys highest finisher, crossing the line in second place with a personal best of 16:42.46. Loucks, who won the season’s previous two races, has improved on his time every race so far this year.
The boys team finished third behind the much larger schools from Ketchikan and Sitka — which won their home race. The boys bronze medal finish was spurred on by Ian Nelson, Jackson Carney, Daniel Harrison and Jackson Powers, all of whom finished one after another with Nelson leading the Wrangell pack in 12th place. Powers, Carney and Lucas Stearns all finished the race with personal-best times. Stearns crossed the line in 24th.
Junior Kaylee Herman continued to prove to be the girls fastest runner. Herman finished 15th with a time of 24:23.60. Kourtney Barnes and Kailyn McCutcheon finished in 20th and 21st, respectively; both times were personal bests.
“The girls team keeps getting better each race,” head coach Mason Villarma said. “This team has been training really hard and logging a lot of quality mileage.”
At the top of the results, Sitka dominated the girls race; six of the top seven runners were from Sitka. Ketchikan and Mt. Edgecumbe rounded out the girls team podium, though neither team was close to closing the gap to Sitka.
Villarma said the boys team’s results were “a bit disappointing” but cited intense training ahead of the meet as a large driver of the results.
“We will readjust and won’t be rolling into Juneau with tired legs. One thing is for sure with this team: they always want more,” Villarma said.
Next up, the team will travel to Juneau for their fourth race of the season on Sept. 21.
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