Sports

Patience pays off for high school runners

From the good-things-happen-to-those-who-wait department, we bring you the New Balance Urban X-C Classic.

Held Wednesday at the Delaney Park Strip, the high school cross-country meet rewarded a number of runners whose patience had been tested in the weeks and months leading up to it.

For runners from Kodiak, who grabbed victories in two of the day's eight varsity races, the meet marked the first time in three weeks the Bears managed to get off the island. Bad weather kept them from flying to a couple of previous meets, leaving them with one home meet since Aug. 23.

In lieu of road trips to multi-team meets, Kodiak made do with Saturday practices and intrasquad races. "So this feels real good," said Kodiak sophomore Keith Osowski, the winner of one of Wednesday's races.

For junior Jacob Walsh of Eagle River, another of the day's winners, the race was his first since fracturing a bone in his foot more than a month ago.

"I missed five straight meets," he said, "so I wanted to know where I was" compared to other runners in the region.

And for Morgan Lash of South, the meet ended a year-long wait for redemption. She took a wrong turn in last year's race and was disqualified at the finish line, costing her the win. This year she made all the right moves and got to keep her victory.

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"Ever since I was disqualified I wanted to do this again so I could get it right," Lash said. "I've been waiting a long time for this."

Lash and Kodiak's Levi Thomet recorded the fastest times of the day. Lash, a junior who is one of the top runners in the Cook Inlet Conference, finished in 11 minutes, 10 seconds, and Thomet, a senior who is the defending state champion, ran a smoking 9:15.

The unusual location — downtown Anchorage — and the offbeat format makes the race one of the more interesting of the season.

The course follows a serpentine route on the west end of the Park Strip, putting runners on grass instead of dirt trails and making them visible for the entire three kilometers (1.86 miles).

Schools entered two boys and two girls in each of four flights. Runners were flighted based on past results, with each team's seventh- and eighth-ranked runners racing the first flight, the No. 5 and 6 runners going in the second flight, and so on, so that the fourth and final flight featured each team's two fastest boys and two fastest girls. That was the flight dominated by Thomet and Lash.

As a final touch, race organizers put a half-dozen obstacles on the course — three hay bales and three other barriers. The barriers didn't do much to break Thomet's pretty stride, and they delighted Lash.

"I love jumping," she said. "I watch American Ninja Warrior, and I like this course because of the obstacles."

The meet is the rare high school event with a sponsor — New Balance — and race director John Clark, who interviewed each winner between flights, did an admirable job fitting in references to the sponsor.

As he interviewed Walsh and Eagle River's Veronica Stewart after their first-flight victories, he noted that both were wearing New Balance shoes. Clark's interview with Osowski after the third flight ended with a similar observation — "By coincidence, he happens to be wearing New Balance spikes."

West, Kodiak, South and Eagle River each produced two winners.

Eagle River swept the first flight behind Walsh, who finished in 10:09 for 11th overall, and Stewart, who clocked 12:16 for 21st overall. Second-flight wins went to South's Derek Steele (10:07) and West's Fiona Fick (11:49, ninth overall). Third-flight wins went to Osowski (9:49, seventh overall) and West's Kayle Blackmore (11:54, 11th overall). The fourth flight belonged to Thomet and Lash.

Wednesday's meet was the final low-pressure meet of the season, which concludes with three straight high-stakes 5-Ks. Two quad meets Saturday — four CIC schools will run at Chugiak and four will run at Service — represent the final tuneup before the region championships and the state championships.

"We have three more meets coming up, and they're all really important," West assistant coach Dylan Peterson said.

New Balance Urban X-C Classic

3 kilometer

Boys

Team scores

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Kodiak 36, South 54, West 70, Dimond 143, Eagle River 143, Chugiak 152, East 170, Bartlett 181.

Top 15 overall

Boys — 1) Levi Thomet, Kodiak, 9:15 (fourth flight winner); 2) Levi Fried, Kodiak, 9:35; 3) Ty Jordan, Chugiak, 9:38; 4) Chandler Lokanin, Dimond, 9:46; 5) Spencer Mitton, South, 9:49; 6) Finn Walker, West, 9:49; 7) Keith Osowski, Kodiak, 9:49 (third flight winner); 8) Foster Birnbaum, West, 9:52; 9) Hamish Wolfe, South, 9:57; 10) Derek Steele, South, 10:07 (second flight winner); 11) Jacob Walsh, Eagle River, 10:09 (first flight winner); 12) Jack Hannah, Kodiak, 10:09; 13) Luke Meiwes, South, 10:10; 14) Michael Parnell, Kodiak, 10:13; 15) Luke Jager, West, 10:13.

Girls

Team scores

West 40, Eagle River 71, South 78, Chugiak 97, East 122, Kodiak 134, Dimond 168.

Top 15 overall

1) Morgan Lash, South, 11:10 (fourth flight winner); 2) Molly Gellert, West, 11:28; 3) Peyton Young, Eagle River, 11:35; 4) Zoe Bigley, Kodiak, 11:43; 5) Victoria Mayer, West, 11:45; 6) Aislinn Waite, Service, 11:46; 7) Nikole Boggs, Eagle River, 11:49; 8) Erica Heil, Dimond, 11:49; 9) Fiona Fick, West, 11:49 (second-flight winner); 10) Hannah Brown, South, 11:50; 11) Abby Amick, East, 11:51; 12) Megan Fink, East, 11:52; 13) Fiona Pedrick, Bartlett, 11:53; 14) Kayle Blackmore, West, 11:54 (third-flight winner); 15) Lydia Blanchet, West, 11:58.

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