For one day, it was like old times again.
Boise State runner Allie Ostrander was reunited with former Kenai Central High School running mates Jordan and Jonah Theisen for the Skinny Raven Laird Prosser Memorial Mile held Saturday at the annual Big C Relays in Anchorage.
Sporting old Kenai Kardinals singlets from their racing days, the 2015 Kenai grads raced with a crowd of current collegiate and prep runners from Alaska, including Kodiak alumni Levi Fried and Keith Osowski, who had many memorable races against the Theisen twins in their high school days. Fried is also a current teammate with both Theisens at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota.
Jordan Theisen won the invitational mile Saturday with a new personal best of 4 minutes, 7.73 seconds, while Jonah finished second in 4:11.56. Fried led a close pack of runners across the line in 4:12.07 as third through sixth finished within a second of each other.
Ostrander clocked in at 4:41.03, first among two women in the race. Anchorage’s Hallidie Phillips finished behind in 5:25.43.
Since their glory years at KCHS, the peninsula runners have had continued success on the college level. Ostrander is a two-time Division I champion in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase competing for Boise State, and Jonah Theisen is a Division II men’s steeplechase champion competing for Blacks Hills State.
Ostrander’s fastest mile time running for Kenai was 4:47.86, but has since posted a collegiate PR of 4:35.79 earlier this year at the UW Invitational in Seattle.
The Big C Relays also saw many current prep peninsula athletes strut their stuff early in the season.
The biggest waves came from the throwing events, where Soldotna junior Ituau Tuisaula and Homer senior Anna Brock both posted runner-up finishes in the shot put and discus, respectively.
Tuisaula reached a new PR distance of 40 feet, 1/4 inch, in the shot, finishing second to Dimond senior Alissa Pili (41 feet, 9 1/4 inches). In the discus, Brock took second with a toss of 111 feet, 10 inches, while Pili won with a mark of 129 feet, 10 inches. Brock also finished fifth in the shot put.
Peninsula athletes made up three of the top five in the discus, and five of the top nine. Behind Brock’s silver, SoHi junior Rachel Spence was fourth with a toss of 102 feet, 4 inches, Tuisaula was fifth with a throw of 95 feet, 4 inches, Nikiski junior Kaitlyn Johnson was seventh with a toss of 92 feet, 10 inches, and SoHi junior Bailey Leach was ninth at 90 feet, 7 inches.
In the girls high jump, SoHi senior Danica Schmidt secured a tie for third with a leap of 4 feet, 8 inches, just 2 inches behind the winning leap. Behind Schmidt, teammates Brittany Taylor and Kylie Ness tied for seventh with leaps of 4 feet, 4 inches.
In the girls long jump, Homer sophomore Laura Inama took sixth with a leap of 15 feet, 6 1/4 inches, while Soldotna sophomore Mikayla Leadens was ninth with a leap of 15 feet, 2 1/4 inches.
The girls sprints saw Kenai senior Hayley Maw take third in the 100-meter dash at 12.82 seconds. Later, in the 400 meters, SoHi senior Brittany Taylor opened her season with a 10th-place result at 1:04.79.
Kenai senior Jaycie Calvert led the way for the peninsula in the distance races with a 10th in the girls 800 at 2:29.85 and sixth in the 3,200 at 11:52.82. SoHi sophomore Erika Arthur also placed well in the 3,200 with an eighth-place finish in 12:44.87.
Kenai junior Savanna Wilson notched a pair of top-10 finishes in the girls hurdles, starting with a third-place result in the 100 hurdles in 16.90 seconds and finishing with a seventh-place finish in the 300 hurdles at 51.39. Soldotna senior Sophie Thomas took eighth in the 300 event.
Kenai senior Jarett Wilson was sixth in the boys 110 hurdles at 19.28 seconds, then took eighth in the 300 hurdles at 46.3 seconds. SoHi junior Wyatt Medcoff just beat him in the 300 event, getting seventh place in 45.0 seconds.
The SoHi boys notched a strong result in the 400-meter sprint relay with a fourth-place run, only 1.64 seconds behind the winning Chugiak team. Ben Booth, Christopher Edelman, Eli Cravens and Aaron Faletoi formed the team.
SoHi junior Melvin Lloyd posted a fourth-place throw in the boys shot put with a PR distance of 46 feet, 1 inch. In the boys discus, Soldotna senior Cody Nye took sixth with a PR throw of 120 feet, 7 inches.
In the boys long jump, Soldotna sophomore Trenton O’Reagan took ninth at 18 feet, 1 3/4 inches, while junior Tyler Morrison was right behind in 10th at 18 feet, 1/4 inch.
