Anchorage Daily News

The annual Steel Bucket Cup is usually just a warmup meet between Dimond and West to start the cross-country running season.

But on a glorious Tuesday afternoon, things turned quite serious when a charter bus full of fit kids sporting neon yellow jackets with a big letter K on the front showed up ready to run at Valley of the Moon Park.

Trevor Dunbar and the two-time defending Class 4A state champion Kodiak Bears made an appearance here on their week-long Southcentral road trip and, suddenly, changed the 11th annual Steel Bucket Cup into a party for three.

Kodiak won the meet, but the Bears didn't take home the bucket trophy. That was saved for West, which swept Dimond for the second straight season.

"This definitely made our event bigger," West coach Joe Alward said. "Kodiak is a team people want to come see."

And Dunbar, Alaska's two-time defending 4A champion is a runner people want to watch. After all, this is his senior year, a season in which he wants to punctuate with another individual state title in October.

If so, Dunbar would become the second boy in Alaska cross-country running history to capture three straight individual state championships. Chris Gilbert of Wasilla won three in a row from 1986-88.

So how good is this fleet of foot who hails from The Rock?

Dunbar runs so well, the 17-year-old hasn't lost a cross-country race in Alaska since he placed seventh at the state meet his freshman year.

"He always wins," teammate Sam Salus said. "It'll be hard to break his streak."

Salus, who finished fourth at the state meet last year, has a lot of respect for his speedy teammate. So much he set a goal to finish runner-up behind Dunbar at the state meet.

"Or at least within 20 seconds of Trevor," Salus laughed. "I just want to beat (South's) Aaron Fletcher this year."

Dunbar's biggest goal this season -- other than winning another state title -- is to break a Kodiak Island record that has stood for 16 years.

In 1992, Miguel Gomez, a former two-time state champion for West, once ran the course at Fort Abercrombie in 15 minutes, 24 seconds.

The hilly course in a historical park that hugs the shoreline of the Gulf of Alaska is just shy of five kilometers, Kodiak coach Marcus Dunbar said.

His son has two attempts to break the record: Labor Day Weekend when West visits the island and the weekend before regions when the Bears host Grace Christian.

In the meantime, Kodiak continues its road trip with an appearance at the Skyview Invitational on Saturday at the Tsalteshi Trails in Soldotna.

It started with a 13-hour ferry ride from Kodiak to Homer. The Bears race at Bartlett's meet last weekend and found an opening date in their schedule on Tuesday.

"We just came in as a guest here," Dunbar said. "It's team bonding before school starts."

Find Kevin Klott online at adn.com/contact/kklott or call 257-4335.

11th Annual Steel Bucket Cup

Boys Top 10

1) Trevor Dunbar, Kodiak, 7:19; 2) Sam Salus, Kodiak, 7:33; 3) Ryan Hanley, Dimond, 7:38; 4) Dylan Anthony, Kodiak, 7:48; 5) Alex Odegaard, West, 7:57; 60 Noah Hagen, Dimond, 8:06; 7) tie, Nick Treinen, West and Chavin Davidson, Kodiak, 8:08; 9) Ethan Zinck, West, 8:10; 10) Scott Wheeler, West, 8:18.

Team Results -- 1) Kodiak (Jake Salus, Justin Blott, Chavin Davidson, Trevor Dunbar), 32:26; 2) Kodiak (Patrick Schneider, Corey Munk, Dylan Anthony, Sam Salus), 32:27; 3) West (Ethan Zinck, Alex Odegaard, Nick Treinen, Scott Wheeler), 32:33; 4) Dimond (Noah Hagen, Jake Alward, Kyle Carpenter, Ryan Hanley), 32:33; 5) West (Taylor Rulien, Alex Kubitz, Dylan Anthony, Sam Salus), 35:01; 6) Dimond (Luke Adams, Ben Richardson, Cameron Ginochio, David Owens), 35:09; 7) West (Trey Chenier, Ryan Bergerson, Harry Liu, Dexter Allen), 39:02; 8) Kodiak (Thomas Long, Carlo Portillo, Jordon Fogle, Arne Schick), 39:52; 9) Kodiak (James Osowski, David Peterson, Jesse Swearingin, Erin Blott), 40:24; 10) Kodiak (John McDonald, Jonathon Peterson, Alvy Lounmala, Mitchell Tacata), 41:08; 11) Kodiak (Karsten Schick, Derrek Deal, Shane Trout, Mitchell Davidson), 41:09; 12) Kodiak (Grady Pengilly, Caleb Nymeyer, Brandon Gilbert, Hannah Dunbar), 42:00; 13) Kodiak (Michael Gilbert, Kristian Donohue, Lee Bonburant, Cimone Trout), 42:01; 14) West (Alex Zinck, Jonathon Peterson, Olin Blackmore, Erik Williams), 43:24.

Top 10 Girls

1) Chloe Ivanoff, Kodiak, 9:08; 2) Letitia Luch, West, 9:09; 3) Delia Luch, West, 9:18; 4) Marcelyn Luch, West, 9:33; 5) Annie Liotta, West, 9:34; 6) Danielle Gerik, West, 9:43; 7) Lauren Wilson, Dimond, 9:45; 8) tie, Robin Stramp, Dimond and Sophie Wiepking-Brown, West, 9:53; 10) Jaymi Bethea, Kodiak, 9:55.

Team Results -- 1) West (Sophie Wiepking-Brown, Annie Liotta, Danielle Gerik, Letitia Luch), 38:19; 2) West (Delia Luch, Marcelyn Luch, Sarah Schuh, Stacy Wheeler), 39:19; 3) Kodiak (Jaymi Bethea, Amelia Egle, Katie Strong, Chloe Ivanoff), 39:37; 4) Dimond (Lauren Wilson, Ashley Strauch, Brittany Hippe, Robin Stramp) 41:27; 5) West (Grace Johnson, Morgan Weimer, Amanda French, Amber Weimer), 42:49; 6) Dimond (Kate Hoen, Raina Rooney, Jasmine Reed Katie Owen) 44:31; 7) Kodiak (Jenni Fried, Samantha Haight, Annalise Delos Santos, Gloria Roe), 45:00; 8) Kodiak (Christy Roe, Allie Smith, Natalie Warner, Karly Sternberg) 45:54; 9) West (Erin Zimmer, Anna Wichorek, Sammy Neeno, Astrid Watsjold), 49:45; 10) West (Taylor Zimmer, Rachael Pierce, Kalie Burgan, Denali Blackmore) 50:45; 11) Dimond (Jacqui Mouck, Christina Seidler, Rebekah Skinner, Elika Roohi), 53:42.

Colony wins meet

The Knights won the team title in the Colony Twilight Meet on Tuesday over Palmer and Wasilla.

The Moose's Wylie Manglesdorf was the fastest boys runner. On the girls side, Colony's Maria Wick won as the Knights had six of the seven top finishers.

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