Sunday was a great day for the Sundog Racing Kennel, and a not so great day for sprint musher Michael Tetzner.
Jen Sterling and Nathan Sterling, a Chugiak couple who operate the Sundog kennel, finished 1-2 in the Raven Electric 10-dog Championship at Tozier Track.
Jen dominated Sunday's heat to go 3-for-3 in the three-day race and Nathan vaulted from third place to second -- at Tetzner's expense.
Jen won the final 10-mile heat in 31 minutes, 39 seconds, beating her husband by 31 seconds.
Nathan's run of 32:00 moved him past Tetzner, who had trailed Jen by just seven seconds coming into Sunday's action but had problems on his final run, posting a 35:58.
Jen's three-day total time was 1:33:01. Nathan followed at 1:37:09, with Tetzner third at 1:37:37, five seconds ahead of Rob Worden.
Raven Electric 10-dog sprint championship
3-day total times
1) Jen Sterling 1:33:01, 2) Nathan Sterling 1:37:09, 3) Michael Tetzner 1:37:37, 4) Rob Worden 1:37:42
5) Evelyn Beeter 1:38:49, 6) Mari Wood 1:39:39, 7) Kris Rasey 1:39:43, 8) Debora Summers 1:39:47, 9) Hyunchul Seo 1:41:33, 10) Kim Wells 1:44:10, 11) Kari Skogen 1:52:22, 12) JP Norris 1:53:14
Charley's the champ
Colene Charley and her team of seven sprint dogs cruised to the Junior World Championship sled dog title Sunday by dominating for the third straight day at Tozier Track.
Charley won Sunday's 8.2-mile heat in 27 minutes, 3 seconds, beating runnerup Alea Robinson by nearly two minutes.
The run gave Charley a three-day total time of 1:24:49, almost 10 minutes better than Robinson's effort.
Junior World Championships
3-day total times
2 dogs, 2.3 miles -- 1) Mackenzie Martiny 26:39, 2) Zack Barnhart 26:58, 3) Makayla Lindsey 27:24, 4) Sierra Sterling 27:55, 5) Sophie Bacon 28:53, 6) Emily Mckenzie 28:55, 7) Josh Smolden 31:37, 8) Shannon Wellmann 35:13. 3 dogs, 3.5 miles -- 1) Kenzie Barnhart 36:57, 2) Nicholas Cole 37:51, 3) Aila Berrigan 39:46, 4) Stacy Sterling 42:57, 5) Zachary Maruskie 55:34. 5 dogs, 5.8 miles -- 1) Zada Maruskie 1:04:03, 2) Rya Berrigan 1:04:47, 3) Ali Bacon 1:07:43, 4) Reanna Brinks 1:08:29, 5) Kaelyn Charley 1:08:47, 6) Rachel Oswald 1:09:36. 7 dogs, 8.2 miles -- 1) Colene Charley 1:24:49, 2) Alea Robinson 1:34:22, 3) Andrew Noble 1:50:11.
Anchorage Daily News