Sports

Banner day for South girls, rare tie for Dimond boys in CIC track

Ever since the third grade, Jordan Tufaga and C.J. Parker have been close. Never this close though.

The two Dimond High seniors tied for first place in the boys 100-meter dash Saturday at the Cook Inlet Conference track and field championships, an occurrence so rare it's believed to be the first first-place tie since automated timing replaced hand-held timing two decades ago.

"I thought he won it, and he thought I won it," Tufaga said. "It was the perfect ending. I PR'd and I tied with my best friend."

Both runners finished in 11.077 seconds.

Larry Whitmore, the retired Bartlett coach who is one of the city's most respected track authorities, said he thinks it's the first time in the automated-timing era that a race at the region championships ended in a first-place tie.

The Tufaga-Parker duel was one of two photo finishes on a rainy day at Dimond Alumni Field, where the Dimond boys and South girls collected team titles.

In the girls 400-meter relay, South's Haley Hakala came from behind in the final leg and leaned hard at the finish line to lift her team to victory over Chugiak. South finished in 51.27 seconds, edging Chugiak by .003 of a second, according to officials.

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Hakala teamed up with Katie Hines, McKenzie Christian and Elissa Esplin to win two relays – the Wolverines also won the 800 relay – and Hines, Amy Yi and Morgan Lash all won individual titles to contribute to a big day for South.

Make that a banner day.

By claiming the girls team championship, South – a school that has excelled in many sports since it opened in 2004 -- secured its first region title in track and field.

"If you look at the banners at our school, there are no banners for track," Hines said. "We've been working hard to put up a banner, because track is the only sport with nothing at all."

Hines swept the 100 and 200, Yi took the shot put on Friday and the discus on Saturday and Morgan Lash topped the 800 for the Wolverines.

Hines and Hakala finished 1-2 in the two sprint races, with Hines remembering to lean at the finish to post decisive victories.

"Last year I lost the state 200 title by a lean," Hines said. "So I've heard a lot about leaning."

Hines ran the 200 and 400 last season at regions and state, because going into the region meet her times in the 400 were more competitive than her times in the 100. This year things have flip-flopped and she's in the 100 instead of the 400, much to her delight.

"I prefer the 100 hands-down. The 400 hurts," she said. "I'm very happy to be back in the 100."

The South girls piled up 132 points to beat runner-long the tup Dimond by 27.

Lynx senior Chrisalyn Johnson added titles in the triple jump and 100-meter hurdles to her Friday triumph in the long jump to finish as the only athlete to win three individual events.

She was also the only record-setter. Johnson soared 36 feet, 9 inches in the triple jump to replace another Dimond athlete, Tiffany Weatherton, in the record book. Weatherton jumped 36-6.25 in 1994.

"I wasn't able to compete last year because of a knee injury," Johnson said. "I wanted to come back my senior year and be proud of what happens on the track."

Johnson, who will play volleyball next fall for UAA, said she wasn't expecting to set a record in the rain.

"Yesterday I felt great, because the sun was out and I love the heat," she said. "Today I thought, 'Wow, it's gonna be hard just to get to 36 (feet)."

Joining Johnson, Hines and Yi as the winner of multiple girls' events was Bartlett's Fiona Pedrick, who won the 1,600 Saturday and the 3,200 Friday.

The Eagle River girls celebrated wins in three events – the 400 (Nikole Boggs), 300 hurdles (Jordan Bruce) and 1,600 relay. The 3,200 relay title went to West.

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Two boys went home as double winners – Service's Jack Martenson (200, 400) and Ty Jordan (800, 1,600).

Martensen knocked off a couple of faster qualifiers to take the 200, while Jordan won the 1,600 by holding off Dimond's Chandler Lokanin, who won Friday's 3,200.

"I saw him creeping up on me in the last 150 meters and that was fun, because I had someone to race," Jordan said. "It spurs you on."

The West Eagles swept the boys' hurdles titles, with Chardo Elliott winning the 110s and Mark Fisher topping the 300s. The East Thunderbirds picked up wins in two field events, with Tarini Tosi ruling the shot put and Chase Hawk prevailing in the triple jump.

The Dimond boys won the 800 relay, the Chugiak boys won the 400 relay and Bartlett twice showed its depth, racing to wins in the 1,600 and 3,200 relays.

The Golden Bears looked sleek in new uniforms that included long compression shorts.

"We sold a lot of doughnuts," relay runner Jacob Obrigewitch said. "400 dozen."

Bartlett finished with 92 points to finish second in the team standings to the Dimond boys, who won with 125 points. The team title was the third straight and 16th since 1975 for the Lynx.

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All of the CIC champions will advance to the state meet Friday and Saturday at Dimond, and many others are bound to qualify. The state meet includes winners from each region plus the 12 individuals and eight relay teams that register the best non-winning marks statewide.

Providing the perfect showcase for Dimond's dominance was the 100 meters.

The race started with a false start. The second attempt produced a clean start – and a too-close-to-call finish between teammates Parker and Tufaga.

"No one really knows who wound up with the win," Parker said shortly after the finish.

For a while, it was believed that Tufaga was the winner. A star football player for the Lynx who will suit up for Central Washington in the fall, Tufaga was excited that he may have won. He said he hadn't won a 100-meter race since his freshman year and hadn't beaten Parker at any distance since his sophomore year.

"Track is his sport," Tufaga said of Parker, who is headed to Montana State to run track. "If he wins, good for him. If I win, I'm just gonna tease him about it."

Once the two friends were declared co-champions, Tufaga remained happy with the outcome.

"I think a tie's still worth teasing," he said.

Cook Inlet Conference championships

Dimond Alumni Field

Saturday's results

BOYS

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Final team scores – 1) Dimond, 125; 2) Bartlett, 92; 3) Chugiak, 77; 4) Service, 64; 5) East, 61; 6) West, 56; 7) South, 51; 8) Eagle River, 39

100 meters – 1) (tie) Jordan Tufaga, Dim, and C.J. Parker, Dim, 11.077 seconds; 3) Dillon Pratt, Chu, 11.18; 4) Brendan Walsh, Bar, 11.41; 5) Denzel Hogan, Ser, 11.45; 6) James Curro, West, 11.50.

200 – 1) Jack Martensen, Ser, 22.79; 2) C.J. Parker, Dim, 22.85; 3) Jordan Tufaga, 22.99; 4) Dillon Pratt, 23.01; 5) Brendan Walsh, Bar, 23.06; 6) Michael Altenburg, ER, 23.37

400 – 1) Jack Martensen, Ser, 49.40; 2) Ty Jordan, Chu, 50.63; 3) Bentiu Panoam, Bar, 50.78; 4) Cadarian Brunelle, Dim, 51.11; 5) C.J. Parker, Dim, 51.59; 6) Michael Maddox, ER, 52.47

800 – 1) Ty Jordan, Chu, 1:59.23; 2) Miguel Obregon, Bar, 1:59.90; 3) Chandler Lokanin, Dim, 2:01.08; 4) Atticus Everett, West, 2:01.32; 5) Spencer Mitton, Sou, 2:01.91; 6) Derek Steele, Sou, 2:02.17

1600 – 1) Ty Jordan, Chu, 4:18.04; 2) Chandler Lokanin, Dim, 4:27.03; 3) Derek Steele, Sou, 4:27.06; 4) Miguel Obregon, Bar, 4:32.82; 5) Brian Durr, Bar, 4:33.54; 6) Spencer Mitton, Sou, 4:33.72

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110 hurdles – 1) Chardo Elliott, West, 15.49; 2) Alex Grullon, Bar, 15.96; 3) Chase Hawk, East, 16.25; 4) Mark Fisher, West, 16.27; 5) Osamu Jones, Dim, 16.89; 6) Kobe Smallwood, Bar, 16.93

300 hurdles – 1) Mark Fisher, West, 41.43; 2) Michael Williams, Chu, 42.07; 3) Osamu Jones, Dim, 42.54; 4) Chardo Elliott, West, 42.66; 5) Kobe Smallwood, Bar, 42.81; 6) Dax Cvancara, Dim, 43.52

400 relay – 1) Chugiak, 45.15; 2) Dimond, 45.52; 3) West, 46.71; 4) Service, 46.71; 5) South, 49.33

800 relay – 1) Dimond, 1:32.53; 2) Chugiak. 1:32.89; 3) Bartlett, 1:32.94; 4) West, 1:34.15; 5) East, 1:36.05; 6) Service, 1:36.25

1600 relay – 1) Bartlett, 3:29.94; 2) Eagle River, 3:33.95; 3) Service, 3:35.77; 4) South, 3:38.07; 5) West, 3:40.90; 6) Chugiak, 3:48.97

3200 relay – 1) Bartlett, 8:13.47; 2) Eagle River, 8:26.43; 3) Dimond, 8:43.60; 4) West, 8:46.46; 5) Service, 8:52.12; 6) South, 9:36.48

Shot put – 1) Tarini Tosi, East, 45 feet, 4.25 inches; 2) Maremy Mahe, Bar, 45-0; 3) Brandon Pili, Dim, 44-6; 4) Ralph Toleafoa, East, 41-6; 5) Jonathon Stephens, Ser, 41-4.5; 6) Cody Keith, Eagle River, 40-9

Triple jump – 1) Chase Hawk, East, 40-11.25; 2) David Schaffer, Dim, 40-0; 3) Paul Lindemuth, West, 39-2; 4) Anthony Parker, Dim, 38-3.5; 5) Alex Culbert, Chu, 37-11.25; 6) Bryce Hellman, Bar, 37-11

GIRLS

Final team scores – 1) South, 132; 2) Dimond, 105; 3) Eagle River, 80; 4) West, 76; 5) Chugiak, 72; 6) Bartlett, 51; 7) Service, 31; 8) East, 18

100 – 1) Katherine Hines, South, 12.40; 2) Haley Hakala, South, 12.69; 3) Malia Lyken, Dim, 13.11; 4) Hannah Babin, Chu, 13.13; 5) Ariana Davis, Chu, 13.21; 6) Cerina Bush, Chu, 13.24

200 – 1) Katherine Hines, Sou, 25.89; 2) Haley Hakala, Sou, 26.36; 3) Nikole Boggs, ER, 26.70; 4) Brooke Liland, Dim, 27.06; 5) Malia Lyken, Dim, 27.25; 6) Lauren Cuddihy, Ser, 27.38

400 – 1) Nikole Boggs, ER, 59.06; 2) Brooke Liland, Dim, 59.84; 3) Lauren Cuddihy, Ser, 1:00.58; 4) Emma Tvelia, ER, 1:01.25; 5) Gabrielle Thompson, West, 1:02.55; 6) Dreanna Owens, ER, 1:03.51

800 – 1) Morgan Lash, Sou, 2:25.29; 2) Emma Tvelia, ER, 2:25.74; 3) Fiona Fick, West, 2:27.28; 4) Ruth Cvancara, Dim, 2:27.38; 5) Kayle Blackmore, West, 2:30.22; 6) Megan Bauer, Ser, 2:30.54

1600 – 1) Fiona Pedrick, Bar, 5:18.06; 2) Emma Tvelia, ER, 5:20.61; 3) Fiona Fick, West, 5:24.68; 4) Lauren Devine, 5:28.53; 5) Meagan Bauer, Ser, 5:30.89; 6) Kayle Blackmore, West, 5:31.80

100 hurdles – 1) Chrisalyn Johnson, Dim, 15.63; 2) Mekayla Winchester, West, 15.68; 3) Gretta Pickett, West, 15.70; 4) Jordyn Bruce, ER, 16.04; 5) Hannah Babin, Chu, 16.09; 6) Elissa Esplin, Sou, 16.48

300 hurdles – 1) Jordyn Bruce, ER, 45.97; 2) Hannah Babin, Chu, 46.21; 3) Gretta Pickett, West, 47.91; 4) Elissa Esplin, Sou, 49.39; 5) Kelly McBryde, Chu, 51.67; 6) Jaidyn Kinneeveauk, Sou, 52.85

400 relay – 1) South, 51.27; 2) Chugiak, 51.27; 3) Dimond, 52.32; 4) Service, 52.43; 5) Bartlett, 53.12; 6) East, 53.85

800 relay – 1) South, 1:46.40; 2) Dimond, 1:49.07; 3) Bartlett, 1:52.68; 4) West, 1:52.86; 5) Chugiak, 1:53.31; 6) East, 1:53.36

1600 relay – 1) Eagle River, 4:12.16; 2) West, 4:14.31; 3) Dimond, 4:19.80; 4) Bartlett, 4:21.69; 5) South, 4:29.90; 6) Service, 4:32.43

3200 relay – 1) West, 10:03.78; 2) South, 10:13.99; 3) Eagle River, 10:27.71; 4) Dimond, 10:34.48; 5) Chugiak, 10:51.20; 6) Service, 10:57.55

Discus – 1) Amy Yi, South, 113-2; 2) Jenna Mixson, Dim, 108-6; 3) Junnette Launiuvao, Dim, 89-9; 4) Racquelle Toleafoa, East, 86-4; 5) Emagyn Anderson, East, 78-9; 6) Haylie Hellman, Sou, 77-5

Triple jump – 1) Chrisalyn Johnson, Dim, 36-9 (new meet record; old record: 36-6.25 by Tiffany Weatherton, Dimond, 1994); 2) Emma Nelson, 34-2.5; 3) Gretta Pickett, West, 33-11.5; 4) Tori Choi, Dim, 32-2.75; 5) Flurina Boslough, West, 31-9.25; 6) Kassidy Murfin, Chu, 31-9

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