The race for first place in Thursday’s Treadwell Middle School Cross Country Meet came down to the wire.
Thirteen-year-old Skylar Tuckwood, of Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School, held off Schoenbar Middle School’s Anneliese Hiatt in the girls race by under a second.
“I woke up this morning and I was feeling really good and I was excited,” Tuckwood said. “But then I got here and I was nervous because Anneliese from Ketchikan, she’s pretty fast too, so the whole race we were pushing each other.”
About a half-hour later, a remarkably similar scene played between another DHMS Wolverine and SMS Knight. DMHS’ Will Robinson, 13, finished just 0.3 seconds behind Schoenbar’s Owen Woodward to claim second place.
“I couldn’t really feel my legs,” Robinson said of the finish. “I started slowing down but then I started speeding up again because I just stopped feeling my legs.”
[JDHS girls XC claim first state championship in 23 years]
The 1.6-mile races through the Treadwell Historic Mining Area on Douglas marked the conclusion of the six-week middle school cross country season, and runners and families gathered for a post-race potluck to celebrate it. Four teams represented the capital city in the meet: Dzantik’i Heeni, Floyd Dryden, Juneau Community Charter School and Montessori Borealis. Dzantik’i Heeni brought just over 50 runners while the other three schools had a combined 70 runners (out of the 150 total participants).
“They’re awesome; they’re really excited about running,” DHMS coach Ray Imel said of his team. “It’s a fast group so that’s fun to see. More girls than boys; more seventh graders than eighth graders or sixth graders.”
Floyd Dryden coach Jessica Cobley said a big chuck of sixth graders joined her team. Cobley put the Eagles through a weekly hill workout to prepare them for the meets.
“Those are really fun,” said Riley Duncan, an eighth grader and the top Floyd Dryden boys finisher in the race. “I try and push myself as hard as I can on those because I know when it comes to race day, the hills will definitely be a turning point in a race. It started out at six hills and went to 10. At the end (of the workout), you just know that during the race, you’re going to do a lot better.”
On the girls side, it was Mariah Schauwecker leading the way for the Eagles, finishing sixth overall. She also approved of the hill workouts.
“It’s kind of a tradition that when you do hills there’s this big pond thing and we have to run through it and it’s really fun,” she said.
The Juneau Community Charter School was led by Maisy Morley (7th overall) and Wilder Dillingham (6th overall). Morley’s dad, Steve, is the coach of the Water Bears, who wore navy blue T-shirts with an illustration of the eight-legged microscopic organism during the race. Morley asked his students which mascot would represent the school the best. They decided on the Waters Bears.
“The Waters Bears’ a hard-core survivor,” Morley said. “They’re pretty amazing creatures. They’re tiny but they can do amazing things like survive radiation and survive the vacuum of space and desiccation. It’s just fun to have a weird-looking thing as your mascot.”
The Montessori Borealis had a creative mascot of their own: The Golden Goats. Coach Cory Crosset said about half of the school’s students run cross country.
“They generate more buzz than I do,” Crosset said. “I just provide it.”
Boys Race — 1, Owen Woodward, 10:36.6. 2, Will Robinson, 10:36.9. 3, Aiden Miller, 10:39. 4, Eli Crupi, 10:44. 5, Riley Duncan, 10:52. 6, Wilder Dillingham, 11:01. 7, Brayden Gentry, 11:14. 8, Trevor Dash, 11:47. 9, Finn Kesey, 11:51. 10, Hank Maxwell, 11:52. 11, Malachi Peimann, 11:53. 12, Nick Iverson, 11:54. 13, Samuel Lockhart, 12:02. 14, Caden Johns, 12:03. 15, Jeremy Ferguson, 12:04. 16, Koa Doddridge, 12:33. 17, Jaeger Dostal, 12:38. 18, Colter Martin, 12:44. 19, Owen Woodruff, 12:54. 20, Colton Shull, 13:06. 21, Owen Neely, 13:11. 22, Vrej Baghoomian, 13:16. 23, Busby West, 13:19. 24, Camden Kovach, 13:22. 25, Dylan Sowa, 13:23. 26, Leif St. Clair, 13:25. 27, Ethan Reichl, 13:28. 28, James Helem, 13:34. 29, Hayden Kuzakin, 13:35. 30, Luke Dean, 13:37. 31, Robbie Gabel, 13:41. 32, Jack Schwarting, 13:41. 33, Corder Janes, 13:42. 34, Luke Percival, 13:43. 35, Justus Darbonne, 13:44. 36, Tyler Manypenny, 13:46. 37, Hunter Jasiah, 14:02. 38, Miles Quigley, 14:04. 39, Reed Maier, 14:17. 40, Ike Puustinen, 14:26. 41, Alexander Smith, 14:32. 42, Derek Johnson, 14:34. 43, Simon Hing, 14:35. 44, Eero Woolford, 14:43. 45, Carson Cummins, 14:45. 46, Solvester Montez, 14:51. 47, Justin Scussel, 14:58. 48, Lincoln Johnson, 15:11. 49, Sam Cheng, 15:17. 50, Kade Winchell, 15:21. 51, Martin Holst, 15:22. 52, Beck Schneider, 15:23. 53, Colton Cummins, 15:24. 54, William Coronell, 15:43. 55, Ben Gho, 16:03. 56, Joshua Pierson, 16:34. 57, Reece Dusenberry, 16:36. 58, Ferguson Wheeler, 16:44. 59, Dashel Culbreth, 16:44. 60, Finn Lamb, 16:44. 61, Bryson Stepetin, 16:56. 62, Elijah Carle, 17:13. 63, Carter Harralston, 17:15. 64, Carvin Hass, 17:46. 65, Harry Coutu, 17:51. 66, Isaiah Carle, 18:20. 67, Thomas Harbar, 18:20. 68, Martin Micheel, 19:13. 69, Ben Sikes, 19:20. 70, Anders Grant, 21:19. 71, Connor Orsborn, 21:23.
Girls Race — 1, Skylar Tuckwood, 11:23. 2, Anneliese Hiatt, 11:24. 3, Anna Prussian, 11:47. 4, Emma Gassman, 11:56. 5, Bruno (Rayna), Tuckwood 11:57. 6, Mariah Shauwecker, 11:58. 7, Maisy Morley, 12:18. 8, Nettle Hart, 12:30. 9, Emily Blackmon, 12:41. 10, Ida Meyer, 12:53. 11, Cedar Croteau, 12:56. 12, Etta Eller, 13:02. 13, Malia King, 13:10. 14, Lauren Stichet, 13:26. 15, Maggie Dean, 13:29. 16, Mallory Welling, 13:30. 17, Heidi Halg, 13:44. 18, Sophia Owen, 13:45. 19, Sophia Nylen, 13:50. 20, Jordan Lilly, 14:00. 21, Jasmine Sanders, 14:04. 22, Talia Schlosser, 14:13. 23, Lexi Vasquez, 14:21. 24, Genevieve Pikul, 14:28. 25, Mackenzie Pahang, 14:33. 26, Finley Sullivan, 14:34. 27, Gilian Essary, 14:40. 28, Anna Dale, 14:41. 29, Kiara Endicott, 14:41. 30, Jackie Smith-Russel, 14:42. 31, Genevieve Hiatt, 14:53. 32, Citibria DeMeth, 15:00. 33, Christall Bullock, 15:10. 34, Claire Durling, 15:15. 35, Hayden Loggy-Smith, 15:19. 36, Layla Webster, 15:20. 37, Catriona McCord, 15:20. 38, Jaylynn Martin, 15:21. 39, Faith Easterly, 15:25. 40, McKenzie Lam, 15:30. 41, Tatum Billings, 15:45. 42, Bristol Casperson, 16:04. 43, Angelica Rodriguez, 16:04. 44, Remi Starks, 16:06. 45, Minta Schwartz, 16:06. 46, Jade Clements, 16:19. 47, Ellie Yerkes, 16:21. 48, Jadid Palanco, 16:24. 49, Shaelyn Newport, 16:29.50, Audrey Howard, 16:43. 51, Cagney Davis, 16:44. 52, Dakota Burns, 17:02. 53, Talylor Jackson, 17:09. 54, Maddy Sassi, 17:09. 55, Hailey Ayd, 17:13. 56, Makayla Peter, 17:16. 57, Bailey Roguska, 17:17. 58, Jack Lovejoy, 17:19. 59, Brianna Eakes, 17:20. 60, Aubrie Engen, 18:00. 61, Taiya Bentz, 18:01. 62, Tria Bowers, 18:09. 63, Evelyn Richards, 18:13. 64, Adelyn Buss, 18:17. 65, Dori Germain, 18:22. 66, Lacie Gehring, 18:38. 67, Mila Griffin, 18:39. 68, Ava Newell, 18:44. 69, Kaitlin Forst, 18:46. 70, Alyssa Lawhorne, 19:04. 71, Addison Wilson, 19:10. 72, Deborah Shorty, 19:13. 73, Rhiana Walker, 19:25. 74, Sophie Rabung, 20:04. 75, Angel Aranda-Jackson, 20:04. 76, Ryan Phillips, 20:04. 77, Sydney Carter, 20:16. 78, Kelsi Sell, 20:26. 79, Jossline Aranda-Jackson, 20:32. 80, Megdalena Baken, 20:44. 81, Nicole Ng, 21:18.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.
Juneau Community Charter School sixth grader Talia Schlosser runs in the Treadwell Middle School Cross Country Meet on the Treadwell Mine Historic Trails on Thursday. (Nolin Ainsworth | Juneau Empire)
Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School eighth grader Finn Kesey sprints to the finish line of the Treadwell Middle School Cross Country Meet on Thursday at Savikko Park on Douglas. (Nolin Ainsworth | Juneau Empire)
Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School eighth grader Mallory Welling runs in the Treadwell Middle School Cross Country Meet on the Treadwell Mine Historic Trails on Thursday. (Nolin Ainsworth | Juneau Empire)
