Daily Sitka Sentinel

Wolves Take Second in Cross Country Final

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor

After months of training and competition, Sitka High’s cross country runners finished the season on a steep and muddy course at the state championship meet in Anchorage Saturday.

Sitka’s boys team took second place in the Division II event.

For Wolves freshman Trey Demmert, the meet was a positive closing event for the season.

“It was pretty surprising. I was not expecting to be running the times I am and I think a big part of it is our coaches and the whole team is very supportive and so it’s very exciting and surprising to me… I was in a very good mood that day. I loved the way the course was set up,” Demmert told the Sentinel by phone. “And when people are there I get more excited and there were a lot of people out there cheering and it really helped my mindset.”

Demmert took 17th place in 18:22 on the five-kilometer course at Bartlett High School. All told, 65 boys from Division II schools ran.

Unlike Sitka’s National Park course, the freshman noted that Bartlett’s trail involves significant climbing.

“Bartlett, you start on the football field and then it’s a really nice start… You go in and you hit a turn and you go into the woods and then it was very seasonal fall, there were orange and yellow leaves on the ground. And it’s just two loops. It’s a smaller one and a bigger one and very hilly,” Demmert said.

Sitka High cross country runners Anna Prussian, left, and Clare Mullin, right, run side by side mid-way through the state championship 5k race, Saturday in Anchorage. Prussian finished second and Mullin took 12th place. (Photo provided)

Junior Hank Maxwell said the muddy course slowed him down, but he was happy with his performance.

“The competition was very good. They were all very, very fast. I feel like a lot were faster than me. The course was very muddy this year… It was pretty hard not to slip running down the hills because it was just constantly hill after hill after hill,” Maxwell said. He ran the course in 18:36 to take 22nd place.

He thinks Sitka’s boys have improved greatly over the last year.

“It was a lot faster of a team, I feel, this year. There were definitely very fast freshmen this year… This year we traveled for meets and we had other teams. This time there was a lot more competition, a lot more packed,” he said.

Next year, Maxwell hopes to bring his 5k under 17 minutes.

Sitka’s top finisher, Silas Demmert, said he sees hills on a course as chances to pass other runners.

“I enjoy the hills, I see it as an opportunity to pass someone, and seeing those puddles, you kind of just get that out of your head. A puddle, the mud, the slipping, it’s not your focus in a race. It’s the guy in front of you. So just pushing through the puddles and staying persistent was my goal,” the junior said.

He took seventh place in 17:10. Four of the runners ahead of him were from Anchorage’s Grace Christian School. Demmert said he focused on keeping up with the leading runners.

“I was really happy with it. From my freshman and sophomore years those guys (Grace Christian) are known for their big time pack running, and they work well as a team to push each other and place well and run great times,” he said.

With cross country done for the year, Trey Demmert is already looking forward to the track and field season in the spring. He particularly enjoys time spent with his teammates.

“I know a majority of the team that’s on cross country will be doing track. And I’m excited for that, just having another season with them… It’s really not what I kind of expected it to be, the upperclassmen, the lower classmen. The first couple of days were a little odd because I didn’t know anyone, but then everyone just got really close as a team and... everyone was supportive and everyone’s super nice,” he said.

His older brother agreed.

“We were all super supportive of each other,” Silas Demmert said. “This year we have a really, really good team, and sportsmanship-wise we’re trying to motivate each other. We’re trying to get each other fired up.”

On the girls side, Sitka didn’t have enough runners to field a scoring team but the Lady Wolves ran to their limits – and a bit beyond.

For Sitka’s fastest girls, Anna Prussian and Clare Mullin, the race began well.

“The beginning of the race was definitely a lot of energy going into it, and we started the race and pretty soon after the start you go up a hill,” Prussian recalled, “and Clare and I took the lead early and stayed shoulder to shoulder... I feel like now looking back on it, we might have gone out too fast.”

As the duo hit the second loop, Prussian and Mullin split apart and lost the lead. Prussian remembered feeling dazed in the final stretch of the race.

“The last half mile, for me at least, it definitely started to deteriorate. My vision started to go a bit blurry, and the cold, my mouth felt numb… and I started getting pretty dizzy and the last 100 meters were a struggle to stay upright,” the junior said.

Despite significant difficulty, Prussian held on to second place and crossed the finish line in 20:10, beaten only by Kenai Central’s Jayna Boonstra. 

Prussian noted that her experience in the race was her first time becoming dizzy while running.

“I have never felt like that in a race, I’ve definitely felt like, ‘Wow I gave that a lot.’ But the feeling sitting in the medical tent, I felt absolutely drained of energy,” she remembered, “and the last half mile I felt like my eyes were closing, it was a struggle to keep my eyes open. And the hills, they were excruciating to go up... It feels like it goes on forever.”

Prussian wasn’t the only Sitka runner who struggled in the final leg of the race. Mullin said her recollection of the end of the race is fragmented.

“Anna and I went out in the lead pack and by the time we had turned the first corner, we were stride for stride in the lead and I don’t know how she was feeling, but I felt really good through the first lap and most of the second lap,” the freshman said.

In the final loop, Mullin said fatigue overcame her and she fell.

“I remember (Boonstra) passing us and I started to get really tired and really tight and I honestly don’t remember much at the end. It’s kind of just like a blur in my mind… I remember getting onto the track and I don’t remember falling at all. But when I could remember again I was on my hands and knees and I remember trying to get up a couple times and falling down. And I kind of – I can see it in snapshots in my mind – I remember standing and crossing the finish line, but I don’t remember ending up in the medical tent,” Mullin said.

She pushed herself to the finish line by instinct.

“I just had to keep my eyes on the finish line,” she said. “I don’t know – it was all instinct... I have felt kind of like that tunnel vision kind of thing before in my race in Wrangell but not to that extent,” she said.

Mullin was appreciative of the offers of help from her teammates.

“I am really grateful for all of the help everyone gave me when I was down and I wasn’t feeling good. So many people asked if I was OK, if I needed anything. It was really great to see it didn’t matter how I placed necessarily, people were happy I just crossed the finish line,” she recalled. Though she struggled to complete the course and even traversed some of the final stretch on her hands and knees, Mullin propelled herself across the finish line in 21:43 and took 12th place out of 60 runners.

Prussian, Mullin and many of their teammates will run again in the spring for the track and field season.

Boys Results

1. David Sliwinski 16:44.9 Grace Christian

2. Seth Lochmann 16:48.7 Grace Christian

3. Josh Brower 16:49.0 Anchorage Christian

4. Aiden Zingone 16:57.2 Grace Christian

5. Ben Thatcher 17:02.5 Grace Christian

6. Gregory Fallon 17:07.7 Kenai Central

7. Silas Demmert 17:10.0 Sitka

8. Ty Elliott 17:10.7 Grace Christian

9. Seamus McDonough 17:14.4 Homer

10. Annan Weiland 17:17.4 Sitka

11. Robbie Annett 17:18.0 Grace Christian

12. Preston Merchant 17:22.9 Anchorage Christian

13. Preston Wethington 17:27.7 Grace Christian

14. Jack Laker 17:39.9 Kenai Central

15. Nolan Warren 18:17.5 Anchorage Christian

16. Joe Hamilton 18:19.3 Kenai Central

17. Trey Demmert 18:22.1 Sitka

18. Lance Seneff 18:24.5 Homer

19. Asa Dow 18:24.6 Sitka

20. Adams Veldstra 18:28.4 Homer

21. Landon Smith 18:35.5 Bethel

22. Hank Maxwell 18:36.7 Sitka

23. Armands Veksejs 18:41.4 Kenai Central

24. Brock Barth 18:46.4 Homer

25. Colton Ewers 18:47.3 Sitka

26. Tyler Hippchen 18:47.7 Kenai Central

27. Jody Goodrich 18:48.4 Homer

28. Damon Weisser 18:52.6 Homer

29. Connor Hitchcock 18:56.5 Sitka

30. Micah Tedrick 19:00.2 Anchorage Christian

31. Gabriel Angaiak 19:03.5 Monroe Catholic

32. Preston Kopp 19:04.6 Galena

33. 12 Caedon Merriner 19:04.6 Galena

34. 10 Son Erikson 19:06.3 Nome-Beltz

35. Orson Hoogendorn 19:09.7 Nome-Beltz

36. Gabe Haas 19:11.1 Delta Junction

37. Finn Gregg 19:17.0 Nome-Beltz

38. Peter Crow 19:20.9 Bethel

39. Elliott Evans 19:21.0 Hutchison

40. Jacob Friske 19:23.0 Mt Edgecumbe

41. Landon Varga 19:36.7 Mt Edgecumbe

42. Stryder Kronberger 19:39.1 Anchorage Christian

43. Finn Hornfischer 19:41.7 Galena

44. Felix Prim 19:47.1 Hutchison

45. Nathan Haakenson 19:51.1 Kenai Central

46. Colin McFarland 19:59.7 Nome-Beltz

47. Jaden Andrew 20:06.8 Mt Edgecumbe

48. Ezra Jones 20:08.3 Kotzebue

49. Daniel Szepanski 20:12.7 Anchorage Christian

50. Jon Smith 20:14.1 Nome-Beltz

51. Rafe Caruthers 20:17.0 Valdez

52. Seth Burke 20:19.0 Hutchison

53. Paris Hebel 20:21.4 Nome-Beltz

54. Aiden Brost 20:23.1 Homer

55. George Wright 20:30.2 Kenai Central

56. Hayden Leeper 20:35.8 Nome-Beltz

57. William Benes 20:41.0 Valdez

58. Elijah Szepanski 20:43.1 Anchorage Christian

59. Landon Ogburn 21:31.1 Ben Eielson

60. Aidan Bullard 21:53.7 Delta Junction

61. Paytyn Cleaver 22:07.1 Galena

62. Cassidy Huntington 22:21.8 Galena

63. John Bauer 23:01.2 Monroe Catholic

64. James Kignak 23:32.6 Hutchison

65. Wesley Hulbert 29:20.2 Hutchison

Girls Results

1. Jayna Boonstra 19:47.0 Kenai Central

2. Anna Prussian 20:10.5 Sitka

3. Megan Nelson 20:24.0 Grace Christian

4. Kai Waythomas 21:04.0 Grace Christian

5. Hailey Ingalls 21:24.8 Seward

6. Mya Campbell 21:31.9 Redington

7. Eryn Field 21:31.9 Homer

8. Debbie Brower 21:36.5 Anchorage Christian

9. Sophia Coverdell 21:38.4 Grace Christian

10. Georgia Thatcher 21:38.4 Grace Christian

11. Leah Fallon 21:40.4 Kenai Central

12. Clare Mullin 21:43.8 Sitka

13. Elena Badajos 21:47.0 Homer

14. Emilee Wilson 21:53.0 Kenai Central

15. Faith Mondeel 21:54.5 Grace Christian

16. Katie Bast 21:55.9 Monroe Catholic

17. Jeannie Cook 22:03.6 Monroe Catholic

18. Elise Metzger 22:15.0 Grace Christian

19. Frida Renner 22:18.7 Homer

20. Rebekah Annett 22:26.3 Grace Christian

21. Summer Foster 22:36.4 Kenai Central

22. Adelyn McCorison 22:38.6 Homer

23. Faith Carter 22:38.7 Anchorage Christian

24. AwaLuk Nichols 23:05.0 Nome-Beltz

25. Bea McDonough 23:11.3 Homer

26. Payton Boney 23:51.1 Bethel

27. Addie Poulson 23:58.9 Sitka

28. Gabriella Tews 23:59.4 Kenai Central

29. Fiona Phelan 24:16.0 Bethel

30. Emily Moss 24:18.3 Kenai Central

31. Autumn Vanderlugt 24:21.0 Monroe Catholic

32. Natallie Tobuk 24:35.1 Nome-Beltz

33. Grace Pearson 24:41.2 Delta Junction

34. Abby Timmcke 24:42.4 Anchorage Christian

35. Jordan Timmcke 24:46.5 Anchorage Christian

36. Jelsey Gologergen 25:09.3 Mt Edgecumbe

37. Caroline Bohlman 25:12.2 Anchorage Christian

38. Della Medlin 25:12.9 Nome-Beltz

39. Mya Taylor 25:27.1 Kenai Central

40. Anika Palomar 25:28.2 Valdez

41. Leah Dunn 25:3Homer

42. Zaida Baldwin 25:39.7 Kotzebue

43. Miranda Wilkerson 25:42.0 Monroe Catholic

44. Aries Bioff 25:42.2 Mt Edgecumbe

45. Nadia Chernich 25:49.9 Monroe Catholic

46. McKenna Black 25:53.7 Homer

47. Jordan Klejka 26:02.7 Bethel

48. Cadence Cedars 26:03.5 Bethel

49. Katelyn Piper 26:05.3 Kotzebue

50. Sable Scotton 26:13.7 Galena

51. Erin Hendricks 26:29.9 Monroe Catholic

52. Maitlin Young 26:47.7 Sitka

53. Sarah Bahnke 26:57.5 Mt Edgecumbe

54. Maya Komulainen 27:05.9 Bethel

55. Alqaq Small 27:05.9 Bethel

56. Sarah Nanouk-Jones 27:28.0 Mt Edgecumbe

57. Morgan Hamilton 27:46.7 Valdez

58. Anya Simard 29:07.3 Monroe Catholic

59. Jade Thurmond 31:08.4 Galena

60. Beth Hensley 32:05.0 Bethel