Ida Meyer ran the Region V Championship course at Ketchikan’s Ward Lake on Saturday much like she has run the multitude of 3.1-mile races this season — cool, calm and championed.
“I focus on smiling a lot,” Meyer said. “I really just settle into my pace and focus on that. Just lock in, I guess. It was fun. It was great to be there and represent Juneau and all the students.”
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé senior posted a 19:37 to win the individual crown and lead four Crimson Bears teammates across the finish to the team title with a perfect score of 15 over host Kayhi’s 44 to earn the lone Southeast team qualifier for state next weekend on the Bartlett High School Trails in Anchorage.
Meyer had more than Kings to battle.
“This was the second time I have been sick this season,” she said. “I’m coming off of a sickness so the personal race wasn’t the best but I’m so glad I could hold the position, but I am sick right now. I missed a lot of practices this week. In this race I wasn’t particularly smiling a lot.”
Meyer has a foundation as one of the better Southeast runners over her career and as a team leader.
“I try to preach to the younger teammates to just do your best,” she said. “Focus on your own race. Just pay attention to how you are feeling and take everything into context, like if you are sick, it may not have been a personal best but it is still a good effort. I just remind everyone to think about themselves and the team and what you can do for yourself and the team rather than being distracted by comparing yourself to other people.”
Meyer said she didn’t focus on this being her last region meet.
“I feel like it hasn’t really hit me yet, that I’m not going to be racing here next year, but now that I think about it, yeah, it is a little bit sad,” she said.
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé’s Nevah Lupro runs towards the finish line of the Women’s 5,000-meter race during the Division 1 Region V Cross Country event on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. Lupro finished second with a time of 20:54.15. (Christopher Mullen/ Ketchikan Daily News)
JDHS co-coach Abby Jahn said: “We really just wanted our girls to make sure the pressure was off this weekend, just get out there and have fun and race, enjoy themselves out there because the big race they are really going for is state next weekend. We just wanted to make sure they felt confident and good today and just had a good time.”
Jahn said she was impressed with their pack of runners that follows Meyer.
“They run workouts really well together,” Jahn said. “And they race really well together and they were working really well today. It is fun to watch them do that and it was cool to watch things just click today for a few of them.”
That pack on Saturday saw JDHS freshman Nevah Lupro placing second with a personal best time of 20:54, junior Della Mearig third with a personal best 21:15, junior Lua Mangaccat fourth with a personal best 21:46 and junior Siena Farr fifth in 21:51. Freshman Sunna Schane placed seventh in a personal best 22:17.
“It was really fun,” Lupro said. “I had a great time running. It was just nice to run with all my teammates right by my side and next to me. And it was nice weather.”
Lupro noted the impact Meyer has had.
“It was fun to hear what she had to say about every course,” Lupro said. “She has run on every course so she can help us with strategies on where to do certain things on the course. For Ketchikan, she said to just take it easy because this race was supposed to be an easy run. To just run a little slow in the beginning and push at the end.”
Mearig ran for the now-defunct Thunder Mountain High School last season.
“It was a tough adjustment at first,” Mearig said. “Because I was really set on leading my TM team for another year, but then it has been really cool to be on a team with all these people. It is fun to team-sweep a race for the first time. This year I have been able to have more people that are on my team that are around my pace. So I have been able to train with people that will be the same pace as the runners I see in races. So it is fun to compare how I am doing in workouts with them and not just when I am competing against them. I know I can run on the Bartlett course because I proved it to myself earlier this season so I am excited to get to run it again.”
Meyer, a team captain, was key in welcoming the addition of the TMHS runners into the JDHS team.
“At the beginning of the season, we all facilitated a discussion over how we were feeling, if we were grieving or not and how we can help each other combine the schools,” she said. “Just being positive and working together with everyone it has been kind of seamless so far. It has gone pretty well. Leading by example is I think important. My workout group is TM and JD kids. Being nice to everyone and accepting everyone is important and that is what we do.”
Jahn said Meyer is a great leader in terms of her race mentality “and how she approaches races. She sets the tone for that. She stays pretty relaxed beforehand and does a great job of cheering people on and bringing people in and making sure they feel included.”
Jahn also noted that Mearig, Mangaccat and Farr played a huge role in bringing the team together.
“We graduated five seniors last year so we are in a building year this year,” she said.
Also placing in the top 10 and qualifying for state were Kayhi sophomore Ryan Elerding in sixth with 22:05, Kayhi senior Kinsey Garlick eighth in 22:57, Kayhi junior Aliyah Glover ninth in 23:30 and Kayhi sophomore Sarah Kleeman 10th in 24:47.
The DI and DII races were held jointly, but scored separately, and Sitka senior Clare Mullin posted the day’s fastest time of 19:06 to repeat wearing the Southeast crown and is the favorite to capture her second consecutive state title next weekend as well.
The Sitka girls of Mullin, Marina Dill (senior, 20:18), Aliyah Merculief (senior, 21:18), Natalie Hall (junior, 22:05), Jadelyn Kubik (junior, 22:21) and Marina Marley (junior, 23:13) swept the top six spots as the Wolves defeated Mt. Edgecumbe for the team title with 15 points to 48.
MEHS senior Aries Bioff was seventh in 23:28 and freshman Sasha Charlie eighth in 24:44. Sitka sophomore Leilynn Swain finished ninth in 24:53, and MEHS senior Leilyn Swain grabbed the final individual spot for state in 26:27.
Petersburg swept the top three finishes and posted a perfect six points to win the Division III team title. Vikings sophomore Maria Toth won the individual crown in 21:36, and freshmen teammates Cadence Flint and Arielle Tucker finished second and third in 21:43 and 21:59, respectively.
Hoonah earned the second bid to state with 25 points, Kake scored 34, Wrangell 39, Haines 41 and Klawock 68.
The top 15 individuals qualifying for state were Toth, Flint and Tucker followed by 4. senior Camelia Bell, HNS, 22:14; 5. junior Gabriele Whitacre, PSG, 22:55; 6. sophomore Jora Savland, HNH, 23:08; 7. freshman Aurora Davis, KAK, 23:14; 8. freshman Zia Hulebak, PSG, 23:48; 9. sophomore Easton Ross, HNH, 24:11; 10. senior Krista Howland, HNH, 24:21; 11. senior Macy Alander, Hydaburg, 24:32; 12. sophomore Maria Chang, KAK, 24:40; 13. freshman Kourtney Barnes, WRG, 24:52; 14. sophomore Bella Ritchie, WRG, 25:30; and 15. freshman Kailyn McCutcheon, WRG, 25:46.
JDHS will compete on the Bartlett High School Trails in Anchorage this coming Saturday for the 2024 ASAA Cross Country Running State Championships.
Meyer placed sixth in state as a sophomore and fifth last season.
“I am going to go there and just do my best,” she said. “Just focus on every moment before state. Do my best every day. I am just going to focus on recovering for the next few days, then at state just focus on the moment I am in and just let it all play out.”
Complete Region V Championship results are at https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/248258/info.
