Juneau-Douglas’ Sadie Tuckwood takes an early lead in the girl’s 3200-meter run at the Region V Track and Field Championships at Thunder Mountain High School on Friday, May 17, 2019. Tuckwood had three top-five finishes at the state track and field meet. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)

Juneau-Douglas’ Sadie Tuckwood takes an early lead in the girl’s 3200-meter run at the Region V Track and Field Championships at Thunder Mountain High School on Friday, May 17, 2019. Tuckwood had three top-five finishes at the state track and field meet. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)

Juneau girls relays excel at state track meet

JDHS, TMHS just miss out on top-10 placings

The Juneau-Douglas: Yadaat.at Kalé’s girls distance team and Thunder Mountain’s girls sprinting team make a mean combination.

The two factions compiled five different top-five individual and relay finishes at the ASAA/First National Bank state track and field meet on Friday and Saturday at Palmer High School.

The Division I and II boys meets were won by Chugiak and Anchorage Christian Schools, respectively, while South Anchorage in Division I and Kenai Central in Division II were the top girls teams. Sitka boys came in right behind Anchorage Christian Schools for second-place honors.

The JDHS boys and girls both placed 11th overall in Division I.

[Party like it’s 2011: Juneau team sweeps region meet for first time in eight years]

Juneau-Douglas’ 4×800 relay and Thunder Mountain’s 4×100 relay shined on Saturday.

In the former, Sadie Tuckwood, Anna Iverson, Katie McKenna and McKenna McNutt covered eight laps around the track in 9 minutes, 57.51 seconds, for second place. It was nearly a 50-second improvement from their time at the regional meet in Juneau the weekend before.

“They got second by some really gutsy races,” JDHS coach Janette Gagnon said. “They just laid it all out there on the track. It was really fun to watch.”

McKenna said the team was motivated to surprise their competition, all of whom were seeded ahead of them.

“We wanted to prove that we could do better than (being) seeded eighth,” McKenna said.

Iverson said the relay group tried to rekindle the excitement that helped them win a cross country state championship in the fall.

“We were all really fired up from the cross country season,” Iverson said. “I feel like we all felt we could all channel some of the energy from our races up north for cross country into that race.”

Several hours later, it was showtime for TMHS’ Hannah Deer, Tzadi Hauck, Sophia Harvey and Reece Bleakley. The quartet set a new school record in the 4×100 relay, going one lap around the track in a hair-raising 51.78 seconds. Chugiak won the relay in 49.12 seconds.

“I told them that they would do a really good job and set another school record if they could get their handoffs right,” TMHS coach Duskin Duskin said. “So they dropped almost a full second off of the time they got at regions. That was pretty cool.”

Tuckwood finished with fifth-place showings in the 3200 and 1600-meter runs. The junior ran a 5:04.69 in the latter, over 10 seconds faster than her time at the Region V meet. Senior Bailey Wery Tagaban placed second in the long jump by going 15 feet, 11 inches.

Deer also set a personal best in one of her races, taking home the silver in the 400-meter dash, an improvement from third place last year. Deer’s time of 1:00.07 is a new school record.

“I just told her not to change anything and just to remember to focus on finishing strong because that’s what she’s been doing all season,” Duskin said.

“I was pretty proud of her,” Duskin added. “I didn’t know she got second until the end of the meet, so when I found out I probably got more excited than she was.”

Juneau boys with notable performances included JDHS’ Arne Ellefson-Carnes in the 1600 and 3200 runs. Ellefson-Carnes was third in the 3200 meters with his personal-best time of 9:45.47, and eighth in the 1600 with his time of 4:35.09.

JDHS unified team of Steven Ireland-Haight and Gabe Cannon got second place in shot put.

ASAA State Track and Field Championships

Friday, Saturday at Palmer

Division I

GIRLS

Team scores — 1. South, 88; 2. Dimond, 60; 3. Chugiak, 56; 4. West Valley, 46.33; 5. Soldotna, 42; 6. Eagle River, 40; 7. West, 36; 8. Kodiak, 31; 9. Palmer 30; 10. East, 24; 11. Juneau, 23; 12 (tie). Bartlett, Service, 20; 14. North Pole, 18.33; 15. Wasilla, 16; 16. Thunder Mountain, 13.33; 17. Lathrop, 6; 18. Ketchikan, 4; 19. Colony, 3.

100 – 1. Sarah Robinson, Sou, 12.76 seconds; 2. Teeana Nicholai, Pal, 12.78; 3. Paige Searies, Sou, 12.89; 4. Ellie Scherffius, Chu, 13.13; 5. Shaylee Griffin, Chu, 13.14; 6. Autumn Blair, Ser, 13.35.

200 – 1. Damecia Jones, Bar, 25.95; 2. Paige Searles, Sou, 26.03; 3. Sarah Robinson, Sou, 26.09; 4. Ta’zhay Wyche, Wes, 26.78; 5. Reilly Hall, Chu, 27.09; 6. Brittany Taylor, Sol, 27.38.

400 – 1. Damecia Jones, Bar, 58.94; 2. Hannah Deer, TM, 1:00.07; 3. Ta’zhay Wyche, Wes, 1:00.11; 4. Kaitlyn Backman, Wes, 1:00.56; 5. Brittany Taylor, Sol, 1:01.03; 6. Linh Bui, Sou, 1:01.07.

800 – 1. Allison VanPelt, Was, 2:18.95; 2. Emily Walsh, ER, 2:20.20; 3. Naomi Bailey, WV, 2:20.20; 4. Ava Earl, Sou, 2:23.54; 5. Kylie Judd, Dim, 2:24.24; 6. Lucy Young, Sou, 2:25.26.

1,600 – 1. Kendall Kramer, WV, 4:56.15; 2. Ava Earl, Sou, 4:57.23; 3. Allison VanPelt, Was, 5:01.31; 4. Emily Walsh, ER, 5:03.80; 5. Sadie Tuckwood, Jun, 5:04.69; 6. Kylie Judd, Dim, 5:05.52.

3,200 – 1. Kendall Kramer, WV, 10:27.18; 2. Ava Earl, Sou, 10:51.28; 3. Grace Fahrney, Ser, 10:59.28; 4. Emily Walsh, ER, 11:01.48; 5. Sadie Tuckwood, Jun, 11:16.60; 6. Breanna Day, Chu, 11:43.11.

100 hurdles – 1. Morgan Bolin, ER, 15.06; 2. Brooklynn Gould, Chu, 15.46; 3. Hailee Blair, Kod, 16.06; 4. Denisha Snow, Wes, 16.81; 5. Sheridan Blasey, WV, 17.18; 6. Hannah Villaroya, Kod, 17.53.

300 hurdles – 1. Brooklynn Gould, Chu, 45.54; 2. Hailee Blair, Kod, 45.96; 3. Hannah Villaroya, Kod, 47.75; 4. Ada Odden, Ket, 48.53; 5. Maria Cvancara, Dim, 48.91; 6. Maria Peters, Chu, 49.50.

400 relay – 1. Chugiak, 49.12; 2. Palmer, 50.51; 3. South, 50.55; 4. Dimond, 51.17; 5. Thunder Mountain, 51.78; 6. Soldotna, 52.73.

800 relay – 1. Chugiak, 1:43.12; 2. South, 1:44.12; 3. West, 1:46.73; 4. Dimond, 1:51.82; 5. Soldotna, 1:53.51; 6. Palmer, 1:54.07.

1,600 relay – 1. West, 4:06.44; 2. Palmer, 4:11.26; 3. Dimond, 4:16.12; 4. Soldotna, 4:19.82; 5. West Valley, 4:22.90; 6. Service, 4:25.13.

3,200 relay – 1. Eagle River, 9:41.50; 2. Juneau, 9:57.51; 3. South, 10:06.48; 4. Soldotna, 10:12.47; 5. Chugiak, 10:20.20; 6. West Valley, 10:23.99.

High jump – 1. Khadijah Morgan, Eas, 5 feet, 3 inches; 2. Aliann Schmidt, Sol, 5-0; 3. Hanna Henrie, Sou, 5-0; 4. Kendall Lovell, WV, 4-10; 5. Kristin Pollen, WV, 4-10; 6. Olivia Maisey, Sou, 4-10.

Long jump – 1. Jocelyn Chanonto, Ser, 16-8.25; 2. Bailey Wery Tagaban, Jun, 15-11; 3. Olivia Berg, NP, 15-9; 4. Breeauna O’Rear, NP, 15-7; 5. Kylie Ness, Sol, 15-4.5; 6. Danae Stokes, Dim, 15-3.5.

Triple jump – 1. Danae Stokes, Dim, 33-5.25; 2. Olivia Berg, NP, 33-.5; 3. Harlie Lewallen, Dim, 32-6; 4. Chloie Garber, ER, 32-1; 5. Kylie Ness, Sol, 32-.5; 6. Maris Soland, Sou, 31-11.

Shot put – 1. Alissa Pili, Dim, 42-9.25; 2. Ituau Tuisaula, Sol, 41-4.5; 3. Laila Tosi, Eas, 39-10; 4. Ahlissa Timu, Kod, 38-7.5; 5. Teeana Nicholai, Pal, 37-2; 6. Hanna Tennesen, Col, 36-1.

Discus – 1. Alissa Pili, Dim, 122-01; 2. Laila Tosi, Eas, 116-4; 3. Maya Pelayo, Lat, 114-3; 4. Ahlissa Timu, Kod, 108-8; 5. Willow Oswald, Sou, 107-1; 6. Sheridan Blasey, WV, 106-11.

BOYS

Team scores — 1. Chugiak, 123; 2. West Valley, 100; 3. Bartlett, 63; 4. Dimond, 47; 5 (tie). East, Soldotna, 42; 7 (tie). Service, Lathrop, 30; 9. Eagle River, 29; 10. Wasilla, 15; 11 (tie). Colony, Juneau, South, 12; 14. Kodiak, 12; 15. West, 6; 16. Palmer, 4.

100 – 1. Colton Herman, Eas, 10.94; 2. Jeremiah Wilson, Chu, 11.20; 3. Jacob Jines, Ser, 11.31; 4. Treyone Suber, Bar, 11.32; 5. Justin Cummings, WV, 11.43; 6. Griffen Roder, Lat, 11.55.

200 – 1. Colton Herman, Eas, 22.11; 2. Jeremiah Wilson, Chu, 22.41; 3. Treyone Suber, Bar, 22.99; 4. Zaci Charles, Eas, 23.37; 5. Ben Booth, Sol, 23.43; 6. Tyler Suber, Bar, 23.86.

400 – 1. Carter Gladwill, ER, 50.30; 2. Austin Cargill, Bar, 51.26; 3. Nathaniel Lyken, Ser, 51.75; 4. Rian King, Bar, 52.08; 5. Nolan Rand, Ser, 52.30; 6. Zane Vrvilo, Col, 52.95.

800 – 1. Camron Herron, WV, 1:55.48; 2. Carter Gladwill, ER, 1:57.47; 3. Hyrum Nelson, Chu, 2:01.03; 4. Daniel Bausch, Chu, 2:01.11; 5. Issac Dammeyer, Wes, 2:01.49; 6. Santiago Prosser, Dim, 2:02.23.

1,600 – 1. Daniel Bausch, Chu, 4:13.60; 2. Hyrum Nelson, Chu, 4:15.48; 3. Santiago Prosser, Dim, 4:18.08; 4. Camron Herron, WV, 4:20.06; 5. Everett Cason, Wes, 4:31.18; 6. Dallin Gardiner, Dim, 4:32.17.

3,200 – 1. Daniel Bausch, Chu, 9:21.78; 2. Hyrum Nelson, Chu, 9:37.96; 3. Arne Ellefson-Carnes, JD, 9:45.47; 4. Dallin Gardiner, Dim, 9:52.62; 5. Kaleb Beloy, Sou, 9:56.18; 6. Fred Rygh, Dim, 9:58.00.

110 hurdles – 1. Logan Mathieu, Chu, 15.66; 2. Kevin Johnson, Lat, 15.86; 3. Adrian Velasco, Dim, 15.86; 4. Wyatt Helton, Was, 15.95; 5. Wyatt Rohde, Chu, 16.32; 6. Felix Robertson, Col, 16.36.

300 hurdles – 1. Terrell Johnson, WV, 40.28; 2. Wyatt Rohde, Chu, 40.73; 3. Avery Weston, WV, 40.90; 4. Kevin Johnson, Lat, 42.12; 5. Logan Mathieu, Chu, 42.43; 6. Adrian Velasco, Dim, 42.58.

400 relay – 1. Chugiak, 43.71; 2. West Valley, 44.13; 3. Soldotna, 45.24; 4. Dimond, 45.38; 5. Wasilla, 45.51; 6. Juneau, 46.43.

800 relay – 1. West Valley, 1:30.79; 2. Chugiak, 1:31.45; 3. East, 1:31.47; 4. Lathrop, 1:33.66; 5. Dimond, 1:34.03; 6. Wasilla, 1:34.50.

1,600 relay – 1. West Valley, 3:28.88; 2. Service, 3:31.59; 3. Dimond, 3:34.24; 4. Chugiak, 3:34.94; 5. Eagle River, 3:36.28; 6. Palmer, 3:38.90.

3,200 relay – 1. Dimond, 8:18.10; 2. Eagle River, 8:25.16; 3. Service, 8:26.54; 4. Juneau, 8:33.79; 5. Kodiak, 8:35.45; 6. Chugiak, 8:46.58.

High jump – 1. Terrell Johnson, WV, 6-3; 2. Kaleb Swank, Sol, 6-2; 3. Julian McPhail, Col, 6-0; 4. Dylan Jeffus, Was, 5-10; 5. Keegan Daoust, WV, 5-10; 6. Tyler Morrison, Sol, 5-10.

Long jump – 1. Terrell Johnson, WV, 21-3.5; 2. Colton Herman, Eas, 21-2.75; 3. Quincy Heartwell, Sou, 20-9; 4. Zaci Charles, Eas, 20-4; 5. Trenton O’Reagan, Sol, 20-1.25; 6. Thomas Christian, Sou, 19-4.75.

Triple jump – 1. Rian King, Bar, 44-0; 2. Ellis Alston, WV, 41-8.75; 3. Keeshaun Rowland, Bar, 41-8.75; 4. Owen Lewis, Chu, 40-5; 5. Jhon Rones, Lat, 40-4.75; 6. Justin Nevells, Chu, 40-3.5.

Discus – 1. Thomas Sio, Bar, 163-8; 2. Jace Henry, Lat, 145-1; 3. Merrick Stacy, WV, 143-2; 4. Torrin Girard, Chu, 142-11; 5. Galen Brantley III, Sol, 141-2; 6. Kenny Huffer, Chu, 137-8.

Shot put – 1. Thomas Sio, Bar, 58-5.5; 2. Galen Brantley III, Sol, 51-10.5; 3. Yasuhiro Yamashita, Kod, 49-10.5; 4. Cody Nye, Sol, 48-10.5; 5. Shaistin Naufahu Gaspar, Bar, 47-1.5; 6. Aaron Faletoi, Sol, 45-7.


• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.


More in Sports

A Rufous hummingbird hovers near a glass hummingbird feeder filled with homemade liquid food. Keeping the feeder clean is important to prevent mold, bacteria and disease. (Photo by Kerry Howard)
Hummingbirds buzz back to Juneau

How to care for backyard feeders.

Clairee Overson (#8) kicks the ball downfield for Thunder Mountain High School during Monday’s game against Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé at Adair-Kennedy Field. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Undefeated JDHS girls soccer team defeats winless TMHS 8-1

Crimson Bears’ second-half scoring spree gives both teams lessons to learn from and build on

The Juneau Capitals after winning the 12-and-under Class A Alaska State Hockey Association state championship. (Steve Quinn / For the Juneau Empire)
Juneau Capitals win six straight to claim 12U-A state hockey title

Backed by a powerful offensive lineup, strong defensive play and timely goaltending,… Continue reading

A beach marmot carries nest material to its den. (Photo by Jos Bakker)
On the Trails: Spring is really happening

A spate of fine, sunny weather in mid-April was most welcome. Those… Continue reading

La Perouse Glacier in Southeast Alaska retreats from a campsite in summer 2021. (Photo by Ned Rozell)
Alaska Science Forum: Number of Alaska glaciers is everchanging

A glaciologist once wrote that the number of glaciers in Alaska “is… Continue reading

An outdoor basketball hoop is seen in Bethel in October 2022. Alaskans will be able to play only on sports teams that match their gender at birth through college if a new bill becomes law. (Photo by Claire Stremple)
Alaska House committee advances, expands proposal to bar trans girls from girls sports

Bill adds elementary, middle school and collegiate sports to limits in place for high school.

Utah’s Alissa Pili, right, poses for a photo with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected eighth overall by the Minnesota Lynx during the first round of the WNBA basketball draft on Monday in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Alaska’s Alissa Pili selected by Minnesota Lynx as eighth pick in WNBA Draft

Two-time All-American is fifth Alaskan to be drafted, third to go in the top 10.

Pseudoscorpions are very small predators of springtails and mites. (Photo by Bob Armstrong)
On the Trails: Intertidal explorations

A bit of exploration of the rocky intertidal zone near Shaman Island… Continue reading

The author’s wife fights a steelhead while the author contemplates fly selection. (Photo by Jeff Lund)
I Went to the Woods: The fear of missing fish

Student: “You know, FOMO, the Fear Of Missing Out” Me: “I know… Continue reading

Most Read