Sophomore Sadie Tuckwood needed every inch of her 5-foot-4 frame to pull off a win Saturday.
The 2016 girls state cross country champion used a leaning finish to defeat West Valley’s Kendall Kramer at the Palmer Invitational 5-kilometer race. Tuckwood’s swift 18 minutes, 9.95 seconds finish on Palmer’s Michael Janecek Running Trails was a mere 0.32 seconds ahead of Kramer.
Kramer took the lead from Tuckwood late in the race, but the nimble sophomore reeled her in on the final 200 meters.
“I don’t think I usually sprint like that at the end, but this time I really had to,” Tuckwood said via cellphone from Palmer.
Kramer finished 13 seconds behind Tuckwood at the state meet at Bartlett High School last year.
The JDHS girls finished eighth overall in the meet, which attracted some of the top teams in the state, including West Valley, West Anchorage and Chugiak.
Anna Iverson ran a 19:53 to finish 16th overall. The Crimson Bears’ Jasmin Holst (33rd, 21:16), Miriam Stitz (53rd, 22:15), Sosan Monsef (56th, 22:33) and Katie McKenna (63rd, 22:57) finished behind Iverson.
The Juneau-Douglas boys team — rejuvenated with the return of senior Shadrach Stitz — claimed fifth place in the boys standings. Arne Ellefson-Carnes once again led the way for the Crimson Bears. After winning the Capital City Invitational last week, the shaggy-haired junior ran a 16:35 to finish fifth overall in Palmer.
Ellefson-Carnes said the statewide competition brought out the best in his running.
“It was a constant pull and push,” he said of the meet, which attracted 95 boys runners.
West Anchorage’s Luke Jager won the race in 16:05, beating out Chugiak’s Max Hartke (16:10) and Eagle River’s Nick Carl (16:28).
Stitz and teammate Clem Taylor-Roth finished just 0.31 seconds apart from one another. Taylor-Roth (29th, 17:27) gained the slight edge on his teammate at the finish line.
“The main thing I wanted to do was finish second for my team,” Taylor-Roth said. “I knew Shadrach was going to be on my tail.”
Tim McKenna (55th, 18:08), Finn Morley (63rd 18:35), Aaron Blust (87th, 19:50) and Aiden Hopson (91st, 19:59) made up the rest of the boys team’s finishes.
Boys Team Scores
1. West Anchorage 60
2. West Valley 79
3. Chugiak 82
4. Wasilla 163
5. Juneau-Douglas 178
6. Lathrop 199
7. East Anchorage 199
8. Eagle River 201
9. Colony 209
10. South Anchorage 222
11. Soldotna 237
12. Palmer 268
13. Kenai Central 272
14. North Pole 427
Girls Team Scores
1. West Valley 43
2. Kenai Central 65
3. Chugiak 116
4. Eagle River 126
5. West Anchorage 163
6. South Anchorage 145
7. Palmer 154
8. Juneau-Douglas 159
9. Colony 190
10. Lathrop 242
11. Soldotna 277
Haines Invitational
The JDHS junior varsity and Thunder Mountain varsity and junior varsity ran on Saturday in the Haines Invitational.
With Sitka and part of JDHS’ team absent, the TMHS girls stole the spotlight — finishing 1-2-3-4-5 in the 5-kilometer race around Southeast State Fairgrounds. The Falcons dominant race earned them a perfect score of 15.
Freshman Hannah Deer — who finished second in the Capital City Invitational — won the girls race in 21:09.
JDHS came in second with 47 points, ahead of Haines (76 points) and Mt. Edgecumbe (107).
The Haines Glacier Bears won the boys race (44 points), eclipsing second-place TMHS by 10 points. Skagway’s Danny Brady ran an 18:16 to finish first. Falcons’ Shafer Suzuki and Tucker Kelly were fifth and sixth respectively.
Girls Team Scores
1. Thunder Mountain 15
2. Juneau Douglas 47
3. Haines 76
4. Mt Edgecumbe 107
5. Skagway 140
Boys Team Scores
1. Haines 44
2. Thunder Mountain 54
3. Juneau Douglas 66
4. Skagway 89
5. Mt Edgecumbe 132
6. Hoonah 144
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
