A week after memorable performances at the state track and field meet, area athletes kept the memorable performances coming Friday and Saturday at the Brian Young Invitational at West Valley in Fairbanks.
The Brian Young Invitational is an all-star meet that takes place the week after state. It is such an accepted part of the prep track season that schools now allow state records to be set there. The meet also lets the best Division I and II athletes from the state match up, after they compete separately at state.
Kenai Central graduated senior Emma Beck set a school record with a toss of 131 feet, 3 inches, to win the discus.
Beck had won the Division II state title in the discus the week before at 124—5. That was short of the school record Emma’s sister, Abby Beck, set at 126—5 in 2016.
In the Brian Young Invitational last season, Emma had a toss of 126—9, but at the state meet last week, Emma said the school had still not decided if the mark would count.
The school has decided to count Emma’s mark of 131—3 as the new school record.
Beck missed coming away from the Brian Young Invitational with two new school records. In finishing second in the Division II state shot put, Beck had a mark of 36—6. The school record is 36—9.5.
At the Brian Young Invitational, Beck threw the shot put 35—7 to finish third.
Kenai Central graduated senior Greg Fallon also had a big meet, winning the 800 and 1,600 meters.
Fallon won the Division II state 800 with a time of 1:55.59, the school record. He won the Brian Young Invitational at 1:56.16.
Fallon did not run the 1,600 at state. He intended to qualify for regions in the event at the Kenai Peninsula Borough meet, but had to scratch from the race due to a knee issue.
So the 1,600 showdown with Grace Christian incoming senior Robbie Annett, the outstanding competitor at state for Division II boys, came at the Brian Young Invitational.
The duo did not disappoint, with Fallon winning at 4:18.21, Annett taking second at 4:18.41, and Division I 1,600 and 3,200 champ Tobias Buchanan taking third at 4:18.70. The top five finishers in the race all had personal bests.
The race was a highlight of the day, along with Division II girls outstanding competitor Clare Mullin of Sitka and Division I girls outstanding competitor Alliyah Fields of Chugiak matching up in the 800. The battle of incoming seniors saw Mullin win at 2:12.19, while Fields was second at 2:13.23. Both were personal bests.
Mullin also won the 1,600 at 4:58.40. For reference, the state record in the 800 in 2:10.42 by Wasilla’s Morgan Dampier in 2011, and the state record in the 1,600 is 4:48.31 by Kenai’s Allie Ostrander in 2015. State records can only be set at the state meet.
Graduated Kenai senior William Roberts, who won the Division II state discus, won the discus at Brian Young Invitational with a toss of 141—1.
Incoming senior Gracie Miotke of Homer gave the peninsula its final win by running 46.53 in the 300 hurdles. That was off the school-record 45.78 Miotke ran to win the Division II state hurdles title.
Incoming junior Tyce Escott gave Soldotna a highlight by finishing third in the 100 with a PR of 11.10. That sets a new sophomore record for the school.
Also for the SoHi boys, Gabriel Almeida was third in the 300 hurdles at 41.80, eighth in the 400 at 53.53 and 17th in the 200 at 24.44; Andon Wolverton was fifth in the 100 at 11.27, Leigh Tacey II was 10th in the 100 at 11.53 and fifth in the 200 at 22.84; and James Innes was 13th in the 100 at 11.68, 10th in the 200 at 23.43 and sixth in the 400 at 51.55.
For the SoHi girls, Sasha Brott was sixth in the 400 at 1:02.41 and 10th in the 800 at 2:31.30, while Annie Burns was seventh in the 800 at 2:26.40.
Also for Kenai, Roberts was fifth in the shot put at 39—8.25, while James Wright was sixth in the shot put at 39—6.25 and seventh in the discus at 94—2.
For the Homer girls, Jaelynn Kennon was seventh in the 100 at 13.14, 10th in the 200 at 28.02, fourth in the 300 hurdles at 50.58 and eighth in the high jump at 4—6; Beatrix McDonough was seventh in the 400 at 1:03.06 and eighth in the 800 at 2:29.87; Brightly Thoning was eighth in the 400 at 1:03.06 and seventh in the high jump at 4—8; and Auden Cress was fifth in the shot put at 31—11.25 and seventh in the discus at 101—10.
For Seward, incoming senior Ronan Bickling continues to drop time in the 100. He ran a PR of 11.38 to finish seventh, one week after winning the Division II 100 at 11.54.
Also for the Seward boys, Bengimin Ambrosiani was 10th in the 110 hurdles at 18.94, ninth in the 300 hurdles at 45.15 and sixth in the high jump at 5—6, while Nickolas Ambrosiani was 11th in the 300 hurdles at 47.28 and fifth in the high jump at 5—6.
There also is a version of meet scoring that inserts club runners into the results.
In that version, Seward middle schooler Olive Jordan was seventh in the 400 at 1:02.47, 13th in the 800 at 2:36.65, 10th in the 1,600 at 5:40.46 and 11th in the long jump at 13—11.
Homer middle schooler Myra Kalafut was 10th in the 400 at 1:10.65, 15th in the 800 at 2:49.71, 12th in the 1,600 at 6:02.69 and fourth in the 3,200 at 13:33.89.
Homer middle schooler Abigail Ostrom was sixth in the 100 hurdles at 20.69, 12th in the long jump at 12—7.5 and eighth in the triple jump at 30—10.25.
Homer incoming junior Tait Ostrom ran for a club and was 12th in the 300 hurdles at 47.56.
