The Juneau-Douglas High School girls cross country team came out on top in Saturday’s Sitka Invitational.
The 5-kilometer race through Totem Park and the Sitka National Historical Park featured JDHS, Thunder Mountain High School, Sitka and six other regional schools. The Petersburg girls came in second place, followed by Ketchikan and TMHS. Sitka won the boys’ meet despite strong individual performances by the Crimson Bears and Falcons. The Wolves scored 33 points, nipping JDHS by just eight points. TMHS placed sixth.
Arne Ellefson-Carnes (16 minutes, 19 seconds) and Sadie Tuckwood (18:23) were the overall winners. Both runners, who were undefeated in Southeast races last season, lead improved varsity squads this season. Anna Iverson of JDHS crossed the tape just two spots back of Tuckwood and ran over 30 seconds faster than her time in the Douglas Island Mini-Meet with a 19:47 showing.
“I’m hoping to beat my time from freshman year, which is 19:30,” Iverson said. “I’m already closer to that than I was last year or my freshman year so hopefully that will happen or I’ll start to progress with each race.”
Katie McKenna was right behind Iverson for a fourth-place finish.
“I was just hoping to stay as close to Anna and Maia (Cowen) as possible and try and start off with them and try to stick with them as much as possible,” McKenna said. “I was hoping I might be able to break 20 (minutes) and I got around 20:16-ish so I slowed down in the last half of the race but I’ll take that with me as I’m moving forward into Skagway and Palmer.”
Freshman Kiah Dihle came in sixth overall to lead the Falcons girls. Dihle was a standout runner at Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School, posting runner-up finishes in three meets last season.
“I just wanted to start off strong but not too fast,” Dihle said.
TMHS’ top runner, Tucker Kelly, finished in fifth place and fended off JDHS’ No. 2 and No. 3 runners, Finn Morley and Ronan Davies. All three runners set new personal-best times.
Morley and Davies dueled with one another all the way to the finish line. Davies took a lead in the last 100 meters of the race, but Morley got it back from him just before crossing the finish line.
“I didn’t really have anything left, but I just pushed through it,” Morley said.
Boys Team Scores
1. Sitka 33
2. JDHS 41
3. Ketchikan 101
4. Haines 131
5. Petersburg 142
6. TMHS 147
7. Skagway 160
8. Thorne Bay 58
9. Wrangell 243
Girls Team Scores
1. JDHS 25
2. Petersburg 74
3. Ketchikan 79
4. TMHS 96
5. Haines 116
6. Wrangell 139
Boys Results
1. Arne Ellefson-Carnes, Juneau-Douglas, 16:19
2. Dominic Baciocco, Sitka, 16:34
3. Skyler McIntyre, Sitka, 16:38
4. Joe Pate, Sitka, 16:57
5. Tucker Kelly, Thunder Mountain, 17:07
6. Siyel George, Haines, 17:18
7. Finn Morley, Juneau-Douglas, 17:25
8. Ronan Davies, Juneau-Douglas, 17:28
9. Tolin Eddy, Petersburg, 17:37
10. Tabor Buxton, Sitka, 17:50
11. Danny Brady, Skagway, 17:51
12. Clem Taylor-Roth, Juneau-Douglas, 18:01
13. Ambrose Bucy, Juneau-Douglas, 18:06
14. Derek Bartlett, Sitka, 18:06
15. Bryce Knudsen, Kake, 18:17
16. Brent Capps, Ketchikan, 18:22
17. Koby Goldstein, Juneau-Douglas, 18:22
18. Owen Squires, Juneau-Douglas, 18:23
19. Wyatt Belisle, Skagway, 18:26
20. Kobi Weiland, Sitka, 18:34
21. Max Dapcevich, Juneau-Douglas, 18:37
22. Jacob King, Ketchikan, 18:39
23. Charlie Blair, Ketchikan, 18:40
24. Phillip Smith, Ketchikan, 19:01
25. Dwight King, Ketchikan, 19:02
26. Kirby Faverty, Haines, 19:03
27. Mark Davis, Haines, 19:05
28. Samuel Holst, Juneau-Douglas, 19:14
29. Hahlen Behnken, Sitka, 19:23
30. Aaron Blust, Juneau-Douglas, 19:24
31. Colton Johns, Juneau-Douglas, 19:28
32. Jonah Brown, Thunder Mountain, 19:30
33. Stockton Schwab, Thorne Bay, 19:31
34. Uriah Lucas, Petersburg, 19:34
35. Koren Sperl, Petersburg, 19:37
36. Jon Barron, Ketchikan, 19:45
37. Silas Myers, Skagway, 19:46
38. Tias Carney, Juneau-Douglas, 19:46
39. Carson Crager, Haines, 19:47
40. Chase Lister, Petersburg, 19:48
41. Aidan Hopson, Juneau-Douglas, 19:48
42. Hunter Mathews, Ketchikan, 19:54
43. Riley Sikes, Thunder Mountain, 19:57
44. Noah Blackmon, Sitka, 19:58
45. Aubrey Hekkers, Juneau-Douglas, 19:59
46. Aiden Hollingsworth, Juneau-Douglas, 19:59
47. Ethan Sellers, Juneau-Douglas, 20:07
48. Jacob Congdon, Thorne Bay, 20:09
49. Sahil Bathija, Juneau-Douglas, 20:09
50. Isaiah Unzicker, Thunder Mountain, 20:11
51. Jonah Comstock, Wrangell, 20:11
52. Micky Lapinski, Ketchikan, 20:18
Girls Results
1. Sadie Tuckwood, Juneau-Douglas, 18:23
2. Maia Cowan, Petersburg, 19:31
3. Anna Iverson, Juneau-Douglas, 19:47
4. Katie McKenna, Juneau-Douglas, 20:17
5. Kendra Coonrad, Petersburg, 20:59
6. Kiah Dihle, Thunder Mountain, 21:03
7. Morgan Elerding, Ketchikan, 21:16
8. Annika Schwartz, Juneau-Douglas, 21:17
9. Jasmin Holst, Juneau-Douglas, 21:22
10. Trinity Jackson, Juneau-Douglas, 21:22
11. Melanie Chase, Petersburg, 21:36
12. Avery Williamson, Haines, 21:53
13. McKenna McNutt, Juneau-Douglas, 22:01
14. Sally Thompson, Thunder Mountain, 22:25
15. Ruby McCue, Ketchikan, 22:29
16. Paige Boehlert, Ketchikan, 22:36
17. Linnea Lentfer, Juneau-Douglas, 22:36
18. Hannah Boron, Haines, 22:40
19. Elizabeth Knapp, Thunder Mountain, 22:47
20. Ashly Cyr, Ketchikan, 22:47
21. Liana Carney, Wrangell, 22:52
22. Gretchen Neal, Juneau-Douglas, 23:00
23. Ella Lubin, Sitka, 23:04
24. Sosan Monsef, Juneau-Douglas, 23:08
25. Jing O’Brien, Wrangell, 23:10
26. Lillian Borromeo, Hydaburg, 23:21
27. Marina Lloyd, Juneau-Douglas, 23:35
28. Maggie Boehlert, Ketchikan, 23:36
29. Lily Otsea, Juneau-Douglas, 23:43
30. Eva Lenhard, Petersburg, 23:55
31. MariroseEvenden, Haines, 23:59
32. Lila Quigley, Juneau-Douglas, 24:05
33. Laura Knight, Ketchikan, 24:09
34. Jade Balansag, Wrangell, 24:13
35. Breanna Gentry, Ketchikan, 24:24
36. Rachel Knight, Ketchikan, 24:29
37. Natanya Reed, Juneau-Douglas, 24:30
38. Becky Grubb, Juneau-Douglas, 24:33
39. Kenai Holien, Klawock, 24:51
40. Grace Sikes, Thunder Mountain, 24:58
41. Sidra Gregoire, Juneau-Douglas, 25:01
42. Shelby York, Juneau-Douglas, 25:02
43. Audrey Saiz, Sitka, 25:06
44. Tawny Smith, Sitka, 25:23
45. Jaylin Martinez, Mt Edgecumbe, 25:24
46. Lauryn Campos, Juneau-Douglas, 25:37
47. Haley Boron, Haines, 25:43
48. Willow Jackson, Kake, 25:54
49. Liliana White, Metlakatla, 25:56
50. Skye Raymond, Ketchikan, 26:10
51. Ava Brown, Juneau-Douglas, 26:32
52. Anna Frazier, Thunder Mountain, 26:37
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.
