Leave it up to a senior and four-time state competitor to offer some advice for first-timers.
Thunder Mountain High School’s Erin Wallace, a senior who fought off an ankle injury to stay on the course this season, is one of four Falcons to qualify for Saturday’s ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Cross Country Running State Championships in Anchorage.
Joining Wallace at the starting line of the Division I (4A) girls race at Bartlett High School will be teammates Hannah Deer and Reece Bleakley.
TMHS’ Shafer Suzuki is TMHS’ lone qualifier in the Division I (4A) boys race at 12:45 p.m.
Wallace has qualified for the state meet every year of her high school career as one of the top 10 finishers at the Region V meet.
“Doing this for four years in a row now that’s a pretty big accomplishment,” TMHS coach Scott May said.
She ran a 19:17 for fifth place overall at last year’s state meet.
Like Wallace, Suzuki is a fourth-year runner under May. Unlike Wallace, this is Suzuki’s first appearance on the statewide stage.
“We knew he was on the fence coming into regions (of qualifying) and so he was very excited just to make it,” May said.
May said his four state runners broke bread this week to talk about the weekend.
“We all had dinner together at one of their houses, and that was Erin giving her wisdom to the other three,” May said. “It’s a very different course then were used to.”
What did Wallace share with her teammates?
“Just be conservative at first and then pour it on in the second half of the race,” May said.
May said there’s a large hill at the beginning of the course, and runners sometimes take it too fast.
Deer, a freshman, and Bleakley, a sophomore, will run alongside one of the most competitive fields of underclassmen in recent history.
Freshmen Sadie Tuckwood (JDHS), Kendall Kramer (West Valley) and Maggie Druckenmiller (West Valley) all made the podium in last year’s Division I (4A) state race.
At the Region IV Championships last weekend on the Bartlett trails, freshmen Ava Earl (South Anchorage) and Emily Walsh (Eagle River) finished first and second, respectively.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
