West boys, West Valley girls repeat at Division I state cross country

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The boys head out to the trails in the Division I State Cross Country Championship at Bartlett High School in Anchorage, Alaska on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017. (Bob Hallinen / Alaska Dispatch News)

Well before West Valley's Kendall Kramer crossed the finish line as a state champ, the Wolfpack realized they would probably be crowning a second state champion Saturday.

As race updates blared across the loudspeakers, Kramer continued to build a gap in the Division I girls state championship race at Bartlett High. The sophomore finished with a 33-second victory in 18 minutes, 7 seconds for the second fastest girls 5K time in course history.

Teammate Ti Donaldson earned the boys championship in 16:07 and the West Valley girls won the team title for the second straight year to round out a dominant day for the Wolfpack.

A deep West boys team earned its third consecutive state championship, placing three runners in the top six.

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Kramer said Donaldson's win added extra motivation for her race.

"It was a double motivator for me because my teammate Ti Donaldson just won the boys race and the girls team won last year," Kramer said after giving her mom a hug at the finish line. "The girls and the boys teams are so amazing — we're all best friends."

Going into the race, Kramer hadn't beaten defending state champion Sadie Tuckwood of Juneau in two previous meetings. She said she had trouble quelling her pre-meet jitters.

"If I'm being honest, I kind of had a breakdown yesterday with how nervous I was," said Kramer, who sported gold glitter on her face and Wolfpack-red paint on her hands and legs. "It's really been a dream of mine ever since I started high school."

Kramer trailed Ava Earl of South for the first 600 meters of the race and then shared the lead with Tuckwood for the next 900 meters. Then, Kramer made her move and set a pace the others couldn't match.

Kramer ran alone through the final straightaway, well ahead of second-place Earl (18:40) and third-place Tuckwood (18:58).

West Valley's Bailey Roe (6th) and Maggie Druckenmiller (10th) joined Kramer in the top 10 to help bring the Wolfpack its 10th state championship since 1985.

A year ago, Kramer finished second in 18:29. Her 18:07 Saturday ranks her second to Allie Ostrander, a Kenai Central grad who owns the course record of 17:06.

In the boys race, Donaldson came from behind to win his first state title. The Wolfpack senior finished eighth at state a year ago and owned the fifth fastest Division I-time heading into the state meet this year.

Donaldson edged Dimond's Sonny Prosser by seven seconds. He stayed back for the first half of the race and then slowly worked his way into the lead. He made his final push on a grueling uphill, aptly named Separation Hill, in the race's final kilometer.

"(Prosser) was right with me and I knew I had to drop him before the finish because he could probably out-sprint me," Donaldson said. "I tried to haul it in from there."

Donaldson's victory helped the West Valley boys to a second-place team finish with 71 points, but the West Eagles were far and away the best DI boys team.

West placed five runners in the top 17, led by fourth-place Declan Dammeyer (16:18), fifth-place Everett Cason (16:22) and sixth-place Daniel Bausch (16:24). Ethan Davis placed 13th in 16:38 and Luke Jager, who led for portions of the race, finished 17th in 16:52.

"We started two years ago when we kind of came out of nowhere and won a state championship," Bausch said. "As our guys have (gotten older), we've become closer as a team and we just work together during the races.

"We lost a couple seniors last year and then a couple underclassmen stepped up to the plate and we managed to pull it off for the third year in a row."

Bausch said he gets a boost when he sees the familiar West orange jerseys running next to him during a race.

"When you're out there and then suddenly a teammate starts running next to you and starts going faster, you're right up there with them," he said. "On the trail, you'll see four or five West guys running as a pack, just crushing it. It's an amazing feeling."

West's huge pack of orange-clad runners was a contrast to the South girls team, which qualified only Earl and teammate Maggie Meeds.

Earl, a diminutive freshman, was more than content with her second-place finish in a race where often she was running alone. She crushed her main goal of breaking South's girls 5K record of 18:46, set in 2015 by Morgan Lash, by seven seconds.

"I definitely didn't expect that at all but I feel really happy," Earl said. "I wanted to beat that, so I set my goal for like 18:45, and I wrote the (kilometer) splits on my hand so I could focus on them."

ASAA/First National Bank state cross country championships

Division I boys

Team scores — 1) West 39; 2) West Valley 71; 3) Dimond 79; 4) Chugiak 94; 5) Service 127; 6) Wasilla 179; 7) Soldotna 190; 8) Lathrop 191; 9) Colony 215; 10) Juneau 220.

Individual 5K

1) Ti Donaldson, West Valley 16:07; 2) Santiago Prosser, Dimond 16:14; 3) Sebastian Sweda Mitttelstadt, Service 16:18; 4) Declan Dammeyer, West 16:18; 5) Everett Cason, West 16:22; 6) Daniel Bausch, West 16:24; 7) Nick Carl, Eagle River 16:24; 8) Joey Van Horn, West Valley 16:34; 9) Zephan Ozturgut, East 16:36; 10) Niko Latva-Kiskola, Dimond 16:38; 11) Maison Dunham, Kenai Central 16:38; 12) Arne Ellefson-Carnes, Juneau 16:38; 13) Ethan Davis, West 16:38; 14) Hunter Hayes, Wasilla 16:42; 15) Alexander Maurer, Service 16:44; 16) Michael Earnhart, Chugiak 16:48; 17) Luke Jager, West 16:52; 18) Isaac Hendrickson, Lathrop 16:52; 19) Kaleb Beloy, South 16:53; 20) Cameron Sheldon, Dimond 16:54; 21) Jacob Bradley, Eagle River 16:55; 22) Brenden Thompson, Kodiak 16:56; 23) Jack Cater, West Valley 16:59; 24) Miles Dennis, Chugiak 17:01; 25) Max Hartke, Chugiak 17:02; 26) Ari Endestad, West Valley 17:04; 27) Liam Baez-Terry, Chugiak 17:07; 28) Dallin Gardiner, Dimond 17:09; 29) Max Beiergrohslein, Chugiak 17:12; 30) Gavin Block, Colony 17:12; 31) Isaak Bell, Wasilla 17:13; 32) Camron Herron, West Valley 17:17; 33) Lane Meier, Colony 17:18; 34) Koby Vinson, Soldotna 17:22; 35) Hyrum Nelson, Chugiak 17:22; 36) Eli McKenzie, West 17:23; 37) George Cvancara, Dimond 17:25; 38) Josh Shuler, Soldotna 17:26; 39) Dayan Mitchell, West Valley 17:27; 40) Jack Winford, West Valley 17:29; 41) Jason Hlasny, Service 17:30; 42) Dakota Rygh, Service 17:31; 43) Nathan Sanches, Lathrop 17:32; 44) Sean Verg-In, Soldotna 17:33; 45) Clem Taylor-Roth, Juneau 17:35; 46) Braxton Gruner, Kodiak 17:35; 47) Paul Winegeart, Kodiak 17:37; 48) Jonathan Burrell, Lathrop 17:38; 49) John Coss, Ketchikan 17:38; 50) Davin Turney, Service 17:39; 51) Paul Allmendinger, Ketchikan 17:40; 52) McKinley Larson, Wasilla 17:41; 53) John-Mark Pothast, Soldotna 17:43; 54) Kaleb Greathouse, Wasilla 17:52; 55) Josh Taylor, Colony 17:53; 56) Jacob Belanger, Service 17:56; 57) Mitchell Guyer, Service 17:59; 58) David Ebel, Lathrop 17:59; 59) Bechler Metcalf, Soldotna 18:00; 60) Bryce Pintner, Dimond 18:00; 61) Baird Reynolds, Lathrop 18:04; 62) Tim McKenna, Juneau 18:05; 63) Sebastian Reed, West 18:07; 64) Phillip Smith, Ketchikan 18:08; 65) Chandler Wappett, Lathrop 18:08; 66) Kolby Torres, Colony 18:14; 67) Leif Stephen, Ketchikan 18:18; 68) Lazarus Porter, Lathrop 18:22; 69) Taft Steiner, Wasilla 18:25; 70) Bradley Walters, Soldotna 18:29; 71) Tim Degener, Juneau 18:32; 72) Fred Rygh, Dimond 18:34; 73) Ronan Davies, Juneau 18:37; 74) Samuel Logsdon, Wasilla 18:40; 75) Lance Chilton, Soldotna 18:41; 76) Landis Ewrin, Colony 18:43; 77) Jacob Lestina, Chugiak 18:51; 78) Shafer Suzuki, Thunder Mountain 18:51; 79) Norse Iverson, Colony 18:52; 80) Wesley Fraker, Wasilla 19:04; 81) Jacob Wojtacha, Colony 19:22; 82) Max Dapcevich, Juneau 20:29; 83) Shadrach Stitz, Juneau 2:10:15.

Division I girls

Team scores

1) West Valley 47; 2) Kenai Central 79; 3) Service 94; 4) West 113; 5) Eagle River 146; 6) Chugiak 161; 7) Juneau 161; 8) Palmer 189; 9) Colony 198; 10) Lathrop 241.

Individual 5K

1) Kendall Kramer, West Valley 18:07; 2) Ava Earl, South 18:40; 3) Sadie Tuckwood, Juneau 18:58; 4) Emily Walsh, Eagle River 19:01; 5) Grace Fahrney, Service 19:04; 6) Bailey Roe, West Valley 19:17; 7) Aubrey LeClair, West 19:18; 8) Jaycie Calvert, Kenai Central 19:23; 9) Adrianna Proffitt, Chugiak 19:35; 10) Maggie Druckenmiller, West Valley 19:37; 11) Riana Boonstra, Kenai Central 19:38; 12) Anne Iverson, Juneau 19:42; 13) Addison Gibson, Kenai Central 19:42; 14) Faith Widman, West Valley 19:42; 15) Brooke Satathite, Kenai Central 19:45; 16) Leola Atkinson, Bartlett 19:50; 17) Tatum Witter, Service 20:00; 18) Quincy Donley, West 20:07; 19) Caitlin Gohr, Service 20:15; 20) Rahab Porter, Lathrop 20:15; 21) Grace Marks, West Valley 20:23; 22) Emma Axelsson, West Valley 20:26; 23) Hannah Deer, Thunder Mountain 20:27; 24) Sam Starks, West Valley 20:28; 25) Sophia Nowers, Palmer 20:29; 26) Jill Bowker, Colony 20:36; 27) Maggie Meeds, South 20:36; 28) Kylie Judd, Dimond 20:40; 29) Breanna Day, Chugiak 20:40; 30) Garvey Tobin, Service 20:43; 31) Lydia Ortiz, Palmer 20:44; 32) Ivy Eski, West 20:53; 33) Kiara Sherman, Eagle River 20:54; 34) Claire Nelson, Eagle River 20:55; 35) Ryann Dorris, West 20:57; 36) Sofija Spaic, Colony 21:01; 37) Sophie Wright, Palmer 21:03; 38) Clare Howard, Service 21:06; 39) Lily Slatonbarker, West 21:06; 40) Lucca Duke, West 21:13; 41) Ithaca Bergholtz, Kenai Central 21:15; 42) Carly Glover, Kodiak 21:15; 43) Brooklynn Gould, Chugiak 21:16; 44) Maddie Christiansen, Kodiak 21:21; 45) Cinnamon Monterrosa, West 21:21; 46) Bonnie Perkins, Eagle River 21:23; 47) Erika Arthur, Soldotna 21:24; 48) Nicole Bell, Colony 21:24; 49) Maddy Maurer, Service 21:29; 50) Jasmin Holst, Juneau 21:29; 51) Randi Von Wichman, Service 21:29; 52) Lindsey Gerlach, Chugiak 21:31; 53) Clare Hanneman, Lathrop 21:32; 54) Nina Kalytiak, Palmer 21:35; 55) Mary Goodwin, Eagle River 21:38; 56) Emma Nelson, Chugiak 21:40; 57) Jazlynn Novelli, Colony 21:44; 58) Miriam Stitz, Juneau 21:44; 59) KayLee Manwaring, Chugiak 21:45; 60) Reece Bleakley, Thunder Mountain 21:49; 61) Erin Wallace, Thunder Mountain 21:50; 62) Ashley Walsh, Eagle River 21:51; 63) Elizabeth Knight, Ketchikan 21:53; 64) Morgan Elerding, Ketchikan 21:55; 65) Tjarn Bross, Lathrop 21:57; 66) Brynn Kruchoski, Chugiak 22:00; 67) Kylee Deering, Colony 22:08; 68) Sosan Monsef, Juneau 22:15; 69) Claire Smith, Colony 22:46; 70) Myah Smith, Eagle River 22:50; 71) Sarah Drury, Kenai Central 22:52; 72) River Wiseman, Lathrop 22:52; 73) Dareena Doyle, Kenai Central 22:57; 74) Izabella Block, Colony 22:57; 75) Zoe Copp, Palmer 23:01; 76) Vanessa Madruga, Palmer 23:04; 77) Carmen Sonnek, Lathrop 23:06; 78) Braydee Zweifel, Lathrop 23:20; 79) Aila Berrigan, Palmer 24:02; 80) Gwenneth Poe, Lathrop 24:17.