Chugiak girls, Bartlett boys run off with CIC track titles

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Chugiak’s Ariana Davis wins the 4×100 meter relay for her team during the Cook Inlet Conference track and field championships Saturday, May 20, 2017 at Dimond High School. (Loren Holmes / Alaska Dispatch News)

Emma Nelson battled through wind and rain, a bad ankle and an event she may yet learn to love to lead the Chugiak girls to their second straight team championship at the Cook Inlet Conference track and field championships this weekend.

Nelson, a long-legged junior who is as gracious as she is graceful, was the only four-time winner during the two-day meet at Dimond Alumni Field.

She won the high jump and long jump on a rainy Friday and topped the triple jump and 400 meters on a windy Saturday.

"Thanks for pushing me," Nelson told third-place Damecia Jones of Bartlett after winning the 400 — an event she didn't even run until this season.

Nelson's 40 points, combined with a pair of wins from sprinter Ariana Davis, a hurdle win from Brooklyn Gould and victories in two relays, helped the Mustangs hold off Dimond in the race for the girls' team title. Chugiak scored 145 points to Dimond's 131.

On the boys side, the Bartlett Golden Bears repeated as champions with a well-rounded effort.

The Bartlett boys didn't make as many trips to the top of the podium as the Chugiak girls did — they had three individual champs and two relay victories — but they mined points in numerous events to outscore runner-up Service, 131-86.

"For the first time in a while, we're pretty rounded," said Bartlett coach John Schmitz, whose team scored points in the sprints, hurdles, mid-distances, jumping events and throwing events. "We were able to manufacture points in each of those disciplines."

Nelson racked up all of her points while wearing a wrap on her right ankle, which she said she recently sprained. She wasn't able to match her personal records in any of the jumping events, but she recorded back-to-back PRs in the 400.

Blessed with a long stride, the 5-foot-11 Nelson looked effortless in the 400, which is saying something given the torturous nature of the one-lap, all-out race.

"It's not my favorite race," she said. "… It's such a fight to keep going."

Long a star in the three jumping events, Nelson's fourth event last season was the 800 relay, but that changed unexpectedly this season, she said.

"They threw me in the 400 for one of the quad meets and I posted the fastest time in the state, so they stuck me in it," she said.

Nelson recorded a personal-best 60.92 in Friday's preliminaries and topped that with a 60.1 Saturday.

The 400 was her final event of the weekend — "Thank goodness," she said as she sat on the infield turf at Dimond, where athletes contended with some strong winds Saturday and rain Friday.

"It rained so hard the high jump pit was completely soaked," Nelson said. "It wasn't raining when we competed but every time you'd land, you'd get soaked."

Shamir Staten, a Bartlett sophomore who placed second in both the 100 and 200, said Saturday's wind wasn't too bad for the 200, "but in the 100 it was in your face," he said.

Staten was part of a strong sprint crew for the Golden Bears. Led by his runner-up finishes in both races, Bartlett went 2-3-5-6 in the 100 and and 2-5-7 in the 200 to pile up 31 points in the sprints.

The weight events were another profitable place for Bartlett, which collected 29 points in the shot put and discus. Nigel Pagofie and Thomas Sio placed 1-2 in the shot and Tony Sao spearheaded a 2-5 showing in the discus.

No one scored more points than Nelson, but five other athletes claimed multiple individual victories.

Service's Nathan Fromm swept the three jumping events and East's Colton Herman dominated in the 100 and 200 on the boys side. The Dimond girls boasted double winners in Alissa Pili (shot put and discus) and Ruth Cvancara (800 and 1,600), and Ariana Davis won the 100 and 200 for Chugiak.

Davis, a senior, also ran legs on both of Chugiak's winning relay teams, as did Cerina Bush and Reilly Hall. Brooklyn Gould, who won the 100 hurdles, ran a leg on the 800 relay team and Eden Johnson ran a leg on the 400 team.

A blazing anchor leg by Davis made the difference in the 4×100 relay. Chugiak trailed after three legs but Hall, who ran the third leg, said it was "very comforting" having someone like Davis to pass the baton to.

"I thought, 'She's always got it,' '' Hall said.

Davis admitted to thinking the same thing, even though she knew she had to make up ground.

"I love the chase," she said.

Davis, who won the 100 by more than half a second in 12.49, was similarly dominant in her anchor leg. She closed the gap in the first 50 meters and lifted the Mustangs to a .39-second win over Dimond.

Davis said the 400 relay is her favorite event, partly because of the team aspect. "We're always there to encourage each other," she said. "We're never upset."

The relays also proved valuable to the Bartlett boys, who cruised to a 6.52-second victory in the 3,200 relay and took a 1.15-second win in the 1,600 relay.

The same four boys ran both relays — Declan Reid (the winner of the 400), Isaac Larson (the winner of the 800), Jordan Davis and DeMario Moore. Moore, a freshman, anchored both teams.

For Davis and Moore, the 3,200 relay marked the second time either had run the two-lap distance. Schmitz said both boys were willing because they knew it might help their team.

"For them to say, 'Yeah, whatever it takes,' that was sort of the theme of the team this year," he said.

Girls

1) Chugiak 146, 2) Dimond 113, 3) Service 78, 4) South 60, 5) West 57, 6) Eagle River 49, 7) Bartlett 42, 8) East 29.

Top 3

100 – 1) Ariana Davis, C, 12.49; 2) Autumn Blair, Ser, 13.04; 3) Sarah Robinson, Sou, 13.08.

200 – 1) Ariana Davis, C, 26.61; 2) Autumn Blair, Ser, 27.91; 3) Cerina Bush, C, 27.34.

400 – 1) Emma Nelson, C, 1:00.1; 2) Brooke Liland, D, 1:00.7; 3) Damecia Jones, B, 1:01.0.

800 – 1) Ruth Cvancara, D, 2:23.77; 2) Shawna Lindsey, B, 2:31.01; 3) Clare Howard, Ser, 2:31.34.

1,600 – 1) Ruth Cvancara, D, 5:33.10; 2) Kylie Judd, D, 5:33.7; 3) Grace Fahrney, Ser, 5:34.17.

3,200 – 1) Grace Fahrney, Ser, 11:46.42; 2) Peyton Young, ER, 12:00.56; 3) Helen Wilson, ER, 12:07.92.

100 hurdles – 1) Ann Gebauer, Ser, 16.23; 2) Morgan Bolin, ER, 16.95; 3) Isabelle Dannenberg, W, 17.14.

300 hurdles – 1) Brooklyn Gould, C, 47.08; 2) Ta'zhay, W, 48.51; 3) Isabelle Dannenberg, W, 48.94.

400 relay – 1) Chugiak 51.05; 2) Dimond 51.44; 3) South 52.12.

800 relay – 1) Chugiak 1:47.46; 2) Dimond 1:49.4; 3) South 1:50.26.

1,600 relay – 1) West 4:14.5; 2) Bartlett 4:18.1; 3) Dimond 4:19.29.

3,200 relay – 1) Dimond 10:07.01; 2) Bartlett 10:18.14; 3) Chugiak 10:26.23.

Triple jump – 1) Emma Nelson, C, 35-4.5; 2) Brooklyn Gould, C, 34-0.24; 3) Rebekah Smith, C, 32-4.5.

High jump – 1) Emma Nelson, C, 5-4; 2) Ann Gebauer, Ser, 5-2; 3) Zoey Keene, Sou, 5-0.

Long jump – 1) Emma Nelson, C, 16-11.25; 2) Jocelyn Chanonto, Ser, 16-2.5; 3) Bonita Woods, E, 15-6.25.

Shot put – 1) Alissa Pili, D, 40-6.5; 2) Tava Fereti, D, 37-8; 3) Avery Brown, ER, 32-6.

Discus – 1) Alissa Pili, D, 131-0; 2) Sophia Mira, E, 93-11; 3) Skyler Campbell, Sou, 93-9.

Boys

1) Bartlett 131, 2) Service 86, 3) East 76, 4) Chugiak 68, 5) Eagle River 62, 6) West 61, 7) Dimond 50, 8) South 44.

Top 3

100 – 1) Colton Herman, E, 11.22; 2) Shamir Staten, B, 11.37; 3) Stephon Haymes, B, 11.56.

200 – 1) Colton Herman, E, 22.96; 2) Shamir Staten, B, 23.3; 3) Anthony Park, D, 23.72.

400 – 1) Declan Reid, B, 51.97; 2) Luke Mouracade, ER, 52.0; 3) Michael Maddox, ER, 52.3.

800 – 1) Isaac Larson, B, 2:03.56; 2) Ethan Davis, W, 2:03.65; 3) Faisai Ibrahuim, E, 2:05.68.

1,600 – 1) Daniel Bausch, W, 4:38.19; 2) Ethan Davis, W, 4:40.15; 3) Wyatt Dodge, Ser, 4:41.04.

3,200 – 1) Ethan Davis, W, 9:59.52; 2) Daniel Bausch, W. 10:00.64; 3) Zephan Ozturgot, E, 10:00.98.

110 hurdles – 1) Mason Wadsworth, ER, 15.79; 2) Wil Troxel, W, 16.02; 3) Daryl Bushness, E, 16.43.

300 hurdles – 1) Guy Rohde, C, 41,03; 2) Daryl Bushnell, E, 41.29; 3) Mason Wadsworth, ER, 42.13.

400 relay – 1) Service 44.9; 2) Dimond 45.27; 3) Bartlett 45.31.

800 relay – 1) Chugiak 1:32.24; 2) Service 1:32.27; 3) Bartlett 1:33.65.

1,600 relay – 1) Bartlett 3:35.34; 2) Eagle River 3:36.49; 3) South 3:40.15.

3,200 relay – 1) Bartlett 8:21.33; 2) South 8:27.85; 3) Chugiak 8:28.76.

Triple jump – 1) Nathan Fromm, Ser, 43-0.5; 2) Tristian Wilhoit, D, 41-4.5; 3) Austin Sayer, C, 39-6.75.

High jump – 1) Nathan Fromm, Ser, 6-2; 2) Mason Wadsworth, ER, 5-10; 3) Dallas Tellef, B, 5-8.

Long jump – 1) Nathan Fromm, Ser, 21-1.5; 2) Cephas Ekuase, D, 20-8; 3) Tristian Wilhoit, D, 20-1.
Discus – 1) Ralph Toleafoa, E, 136-2; 2) Tony Sao, B, 132-2; 3) Kenny Huffer, C, 130-9.

Shot put – 1) Nigel Pogofie, B, 49-5.5; 2) Thomas Sio, B, 49-3.75; 3) Tyler Farless, Ser, 42-7.