Ostrander, Thomet repeat Tsalteshi Invite wins

With the amount of success that Kenai Central senior Allie Ostrander has had on the prep cross-country running scene, the question has become, how does she do it?

The answer is hanging on the wall in her room, a poster of one of the greatest American distance runners, Steve Prefontaine. And in Prefontaine fashion, Ostrander cruised to another dominating victory in the girls varsity race at the 25th annual Tsalteshi Invite on Saturday at Skyview Middle School.

“I have this saying in my head, ‘To give less than your best is to sacrifice the gift,’” Ostrander said, quoting Prefontaine. “Whenever I’m feeling tired or just wanna stop, I think of that and this awesome gift that God gave me.

“It just pushes me to keep going, and all the coaches, my family and the spectators are all behind me and I wanna do something good for them.”

It’s Ostrander’s fourth win in four years at the five-kilometer event, which hosts almost every school in the state every year. It was also her fastest Tsalteshi race with her time 16 minutes, 44.3 seconds, which would have placed her 15th among the boys.

Kodiak senior Levi Thomet won the varsity boys race for a third straight year, starting slow and finishing fast to win in 15:41.4, beating Chugiak’s Ty Jordan by 12 seconds.

In fact, about the only thing different with this year’s race — besides the event’s name being changed from Skyview Invitational to Tsalteshi Invitational — were the new racing singlets that Kenai debuted, which deviated from the usual dominant red of the school colors to mostly black.

“We got new uniforms to replace the ones from the sixties,” Ostrander quipped. “We decided if we wanted to race, we had to look good.”

The Colony girls won the team title, placing three runners in the top 15 to score 95 points, while runner-up West had 102.

The next three girls teams were Peninsula squads, as Homer, Soldotna and Kenai went 3-4-5, respectively. Homer — a Class 1-2-3A school — put three runners in the top 24, led by Megan Pitzman in sixth. Homer coach Bill Steyer was pleased, especially since varsity runner Lauren Evarts was missing. Evarts ran the open race due to not having enough practices.

Soldotna was led by Olivia Hutchings in fifth place with a time of 19:12.5.

Ostrander led the field of 108 runners into the forest and the next time she emerged, her lead has grown to nearly a minute. Running to the tune of her trademark steady pace, Ostrander continued to grow the gap, and by the finish, Glennallen’s Briahna Gerlach was over two minutes behind.

“I wanted to break 17 (minutes) the whole time, so I was going for under 3:24 per kilometer,” Ostrander said. “My first kilometer was 3:22, which was a really good start, because I tend to go out too fast and get ahead of the competition right away. This year I just kept an even pace and that helped me in the later kilometers to not bonk.”

On the boys side, Kenai finished highest among Peninsula schools in sixth, placing three runners in the top 13, led by Jonah Theisen in third and his brother Jordan in fifth. West narrowly edged Kodiak by a single point to win the boys team title with 85 points. Daniel Shuler led the SoHi boys in 58th with a time of 18:03.1.

Jonah, a senior this year, finished with a personal-best of 15:56.1, and said he did everything he could to hang with Thomet and Jordan, but the finishing kick on the soccer field grass relegated him to third.

“At one and a half (kilometers), I went ahead farther, because I knew they would try to kick and if they passed me, I would try to stay with them,” Theisen said. “(Thomet) passed me and he just went sprinting by.”

The Kodiak boys team utilized their same strategy as last year, holding back in the early stages of the race before making their move after the 2K point. The first kilometer saw the lead group take charge with no Kodiak runners, as the leading Golden Bears held steady around 15th to 20th place.

“Our last two people ran hard the first 2K, just to get them up front leading, so they can get a feel for leading and getting faster,” Thomet said.

Thomet’s personal best in a 5K race is 14:42, set last fall at the George Fox Invitational in Oregon, and he said he took the lead just past the halfway point.

“It’s pretty much how I wanted it to go,” Thomet said. “I was thinking that the Theisen brothers would be going out hard because I was thinking that they wanted to get PRs, but they also kinda stayed back at the beginning.

“We have this duel with Kenai and West Valley and some other schools, so we try to run the race as good as we can.”

Theisen said he realized trying to beat Thomet would be a tall order, so he instead set his sights on Jordan.

“He was my main goal,” Theisen said. “I saw his time from the Bartlett meet, and he ran under 16 minutes, so I wanted to stay with him. I just couldn’t kick it at the end.”

Tsalteshi Invitational

5 kilometers

Girls

Team scores

1) Colony 95, 2) West 102, 3) Homer 110, 4) Soldotna 115, 5) Kenai 124, 6) South 170, 7) East 186, 8) Eagle River 189, 9) Chugiak 208, 10) Service 218, 11) Kodiak 259, 12) Grace Christian 316, 13) Dimond 340, 14) Palmer 349, 15) Bethel 427, 16) Nome 451.

Individual varsity results

1) Allie Ostrander (Kenai) 16:44.3; 2) Briahna Gerlach (Glennallen) 18:50.4; 3) Bowker Jill (Colony) 18:56.5; 4) Alex Mathis (Colony) 19:08.4; 5) Olivia Hutchings (Soldotna) 19:12.5; 6) Megan Pitzman (Homer) 19:25.4; 7) Acadia Graham (East) 19:28.6; 8) Riley Burroughs (Wasilla) 19:29.3; 9) Aislinn Waite (Service) 19:32.2; 10) Maggie York (West) 19:34.5; 11) Kayle Blackmore (West) 19:34.9; 12) Megan Fink (East) 19:35.7; 13) Peyton Young (ER) 19:37.1; 14) Zoe Bigley (Kodiak) 19:39.3; 15) Cathelyne Powers (Colony) 19:43.1; 16) Molly Mitchell (Homer) 19:45.8; 17) Morgan Lash (South) 19:46.5; 18) Erica Heil (Dimond) 20:01.8; 19) Hannah Brown (South) 20:02.1; 20) Victoria Mayer (West) 20:03.3; 21) Sadie Fox (Soldotna) 20:07.2; 22) Dani McCormick (Soldotna) 20:10.9; 23) Sara Hartke (Chugiak) 20:12.2; 24) Aurora Waclawski (Homer) 20:13.1; 25) Ruby Woodings (Palmer) 20:13.8; 26) Ithaca Ann Bergholtz (Kenai) 20:15.0; 27) Daisy Nelson (Soldotna) 20:15.4; 28) Riana Boonstra (Kenai) 20:16.7; 29) Addison Gibson (Kenai) 20:17.1; 30) Elisabeth Bowker (Colony) 20:18.4; 31) Cheyenne Applegate (Grace) 20:21.1; 32) Brynn Kruchoski (Chugiak) 20:26.3; 33) Alex Mosley (Homer) 20:31.7; 34) JoJo Fleischman (West) 20:33.7; 35) Summer Frazier (ER) 20:35.0; 36) Hannah Booher (Chugiak) 20:39.8; 37) Fionia Fick (West) 20:46.6; 38) Emily Evans (South) 20:47.0; 39) Melissa De Guzman (Kodiak) 20:47.8; 40) Ziza Shemet Pitcher (Homer) 20:49.1; 41) Jalee Martushev (Homer) 20:50.1; 42) Emma Tvelia (ER) 20:55.8; 43) Harmony Wayner (Grace) 21:04.3; 44) Margeaux Bailey (East) 21:04.6; 45) Nikole Boggs (ER) 21:05.1; 46) Christine Buffas (Nome) 21:05.2; 47) Meagan Bauer (Service) 21:05.6; 48) Alex Bergholtz (Kenai) 21:06.3; 49) Molly Erickson (Soldotna) 21:08.5; 50) Abbigail Osgood (South) 21:12.6; 51) Coleen Geraghty (Colony) 21:14.5; 52) Jocelyn Kopsack (Colony) 21:18.3; 53) Claire Walker (West) 21:19.6; 54) Mary Burr (East) 21:26.1; 55) Bryn Waite (Service) 21:26.7; 56) Theresa Fernette (South) 21:27.6; 57) Naomi Kiekintveld (South) 21:30.5; 58) Quyanna Whittaker (Service) 21:33.9; 59) Sarah Souders (Service) 21:36.0; 60) Audrey Rosencrans (Homer) 21:36.4; 61) Alisa Aist (Service) 21:36.7; 62) Clare Cook (Chugiak) 21:40.2; 63) Peggy Mathis (Colony) 21:44.7; 64) Tessa Heagy (ER) 21:44.9; 65) Kaylee Manwaring (Chugiak) 21:48.3; 66) Gloria Jacobsen (Glennallen) 21:52.6; 67) Allison Qualls (Palmer) 21:53.8; 68) Mallory Arnold (Kodiak) 21:53.8; 69) Halaia Barnett (Kodiak) 22:03.8; 70) Liesel Von Imhof (Dimond) 22:05.1; 71) Sage Romey (Service) 22:12.6; 72) Katie McWilliams (Bethel) 22:26.1; 73) Emily Werner (Soldotna) 22:27.5; 74) Dani Owens (ER) 22:29.5; 75) Sarah Brown (Galena) 22:31.6; 76) Sarah Laker (Grace) 22:32.9; 77) Haley O’Brien (Bethel) 22:36.7; 78) Katie Cooper (Kenai) 22:37.7; 79) Rya Berrigan (Palmer) 22:38.3; 80) Rachel Fischer (East) 22:40.1; 81) Jania Tumey (West) 22:44.7; 82) Anna Campbell (South) 22:45.4; 83) Honey Rose Macatuno (Kodiak) 22:48.7; 84) Tamara Brabson (ER) 22:52.5; 85) Sarah Cosgrave (Grace) 22:56.5; 86) Lauren Devine (Chugiak) 22:59.6; 87) Briannah Pugh (Dimond) 23:02.8; 88) Allie Epke (Dimond) 23:07.6; 89) Raen Barcelon (Kodiak) 23:09.0; 90) Olivia Mueller (Chugiak) 23:18.4; 91) Mackenzie Lindeman (Kenai) 23:25.6; 92) Eva Bingham (Palmer) 23:28.8; 93) Allison Gonzales (East) 23:33.1; 94) Ally Carney (Dimond) 23:35.9; 95) Kellie Arthur (Soldotna) 23:39.2; 96) Sophie Swope (Bethel) 24:04.0; 97) Lauren Tsao-Wu (Grace) 24:06.6; 98) Arielle Himelbloom (Kodiak) 24:17.9; 99) Heather Jensen (Dimond) 24:29.1; 100) Sophie Poe (Bethel) 24:37.7; 101) Britney Boney (Bethel) 25:02.5; 102) Bianca Trowbridge (Nome) 25:17.2; 103) Emily Wright (Palmer) 25:28.0; 104) Cameryn Norris (Dimond) 25:39.2; 105) Dorothy Bukowski (Bethel) 25:48.6; 106) Alexis Hutson (Nome) 26:24.3; 107) Katie Kelso (Nome) 28:38.7; 108) Janelle Trowbridge (Nome) 31:16.3.

Boys

Team scores

1) West 85, 2) Kodiak 86, 3) South 98, 4) Wasilla 129, 5) Service 140, 6) Kenai 162, 7) Colony 181, 8) Palmer 228, 9) Grace Christian 239, 10) Homer 293, 11) East 296, 12) Chugiak 297, 13) Dimond 320, 14) Eagle River 344, 15) Soldotna 403, 16) Houston 426, 17) Nome 468, 18) Bethel 544.

Individual varsity results

1) Levi Thomet (Kodiak) 15:41.4; 2) Ty Jordan (Chugiak) 15:53.2; 3) Jonah Theisen (Kenai) 15:56.1; 4) Finn Walker (West) 16:11.8; 5) Jordan Theisen (Kenai) 16:14.4; 6) Levi Fried (Kodiak) 16:19.0; 7) Spencer Mitton (South) 16:30.6; 8) Hamish Wolfe (South) 16:32.7; 9) Tracen Knopp (Colony) 16:33.2; 10) Keith Osowski (Kodiak) 16:34.0; 11) Kaleb Korta (Galena) 16:34.9; 12) Riley Howard (Service) 16:36.4; 13) Travis Cooper (Kenai) 16:42.0; 14) Gillean Szweda-Mittelstadt (Service) 16:42.2; 15) Zach Young (Grace) 16:47.0; 16) Will Balcao (South) 16:51.9; 17) Luke Jager (West) 16:54.0; 18) Foster Birnbaum (West) 16:54.6; 19) Paul Butera (West) 16:57.3; 20) Colton Pulver (Wasilla) 16:57.4; 21) Luke Meiwes (South) 17:01.3; 22) Dakota Peterson-Thompson (Colony) 17:04.1; 23) Hunter Thompson (Service) 17:08.6; 24) Quincy Fuller (Wasilla) 17:09.5; 25) Andrew Spencer (Houston) 17:14.0; 26) Karl Greathouse (Wasilla) 17:16.0; 27) Alec Smith (ER) 17:16.5; 28) Dawson Knopp (Colony) 17:18.5; 29) Justin Gentz (Wasilla) 17:18.9; 30) Jack Hannah (Kodiak) 17:23.0; 31) Brycen Lynch (West) 17:27.2; 32) Daniel VanderWeide (Grace) 17:29.0; 33) William Mans (West) 17:29.5; 34) Nate Graves (East) 17:31.2; 35) Lane Reed (Wasilla) 17:31.4; 36) Hayden Foster (Palmer) 17:33.2; 37) Joaquin Monterrosa (West) 17:33.2; 38) Josiah Alverts (Palmer) 17:33.9; 39) Ryan Kavalok (Palmer) 17:35.4; 40) Justin Carpenter (Service) 17:37.8; 41) Richie McKinney (Kodiak) 17:37.9; 42) Anthony Rubina (Kodiak) 17:38.1; 43) Jared Brant (Homer) 17:41.4; 44) Jordan Beachy (Homer) 17:44.1; 45) Trent Fritzel (Grace) 17:48.4; 46) Cameron Jensen (Palmer) 17:50.2; 47) Michael Parnell (Kodiak) 17:50.3; 48) Wilson Hoogendorn (Nome) 17:54.0; 49) Luke Twenhafel (South) 17:55.2; 50) Isaak Bell (Wasilla) 17:55.6; 51) Jacob Davis (Homer) 17:55.7; 52) Callum Toohey (Dimond) 17:57.4; 53) Michael Altenbury (ER) 17:58.3; 54) Tyler Daniel (Colony) 17:58.3; 55) Jack Ginter (Chugiak) 17:59.4; 56) Will Garrod (Service) 18:02.4; 57) Bailey Milani (Service) 18:02.7; 58) Daniel Shuler (Soldotna) 18:03.1; 59) Nick Snow (Grace) 18:03.4; 60) Paul Matyas (East) 18:08.2; 61) Aden Haywood (East) 18:09.4; 62) Charlie Latimer (Chugiak) 18:11.8; 63) Dylan Jones (South) 18:13.2; 64) Fisher Rodgers (Service) 18:15.0; 65) Jae Ham (Dimond) 18:17.4; 66) Zephan Ozturgut (East) 18:18.1; 67) James Janezich (Dimond) 18:18.6; 68) Derek Stone (Dimond) 18:19.0; 69) James Butler (Kenai) 18:21.9; 70) Andrew Hull (South) 18:23.6; 71) Brandon Beachy (Homer) 18:24.8; 72) Kamber Lucas (Colony) 18:25.9; 73) Thane Barta (Dimond) 18:27.1; 74) Johnie Burton (Palmer) 18:31.5; 75) Karl Danielson (Kenai) 18:31.7; 76) Robert Haan (Colony) 18:38.0; 77) Alek Heil (Dimond) 18:40.6; 78) Josh Klina (Palmer) 18:41.8; 79) Logan Hemphill (Chugiak) 18:42.2; 80) Peter DeStefano (East) 18:42.7; 81) Michael Thomas (ER) 18:43.8; 82) Tristan Landry (Kenai) 18:47.1; 83) Zach Montoya (East) 18:47.7; 84) Aaron Swedberg (Soldotna) 18:48.5; 85) Jens Knutson (Houston) 18:49.6; 86) Alex Schuerch (East) 18:50.3; 87) Koby Vinson (Soldotna) 18:51.7; 88) Addison Downing (Soldotna) 18:55.9; 89) Denver Waclawski (Homer) 18:57.7; 90) Brian Sweeney (Dimond) 18:58.9; 91) Josh Shuler (Soldotna) 19:02.7; 92) Randol Denney (ER) 19:05.3; 93) Ethan Isaacson (Grace) 19:06.7; 94) Vince Sanderson (Colony) 19:11.5; 95) Levi Gionet (Grace) 19:14.1; 96) Christian Fabacher (ER) 19:14.1; 97) Alexander Smith (Bethel) 19:15.1; 98) Etienne Kinne (Houston) 19:20.1; 99) Bradan Tobin (ER) 19:28.8; 100) Lief Erikson (Nome) 19:29.0; 101) Harrison Moore (Nome) 19:30.6; 102) Tobin Karlberg (Grace) 19:34.0; 103) Liam Baez-Terry (Chugiak) 19:41.4; 104) Tommy McCormick (Chugiak) 19:44.5; 105) Ryan Dearborn (Chugiak) 19:46.1; 106) Sean Verg-in (Soldotna) 19:49.8; 107) John Sarmiento (Homer) 19:54.7; 108) Kade Taylor (Houston) 20:05.7; 109) Connor Kurth (ER) 20:38.5; 110) James Horner (Nome) 20:48.4; 111) Thomas Dyment (Bethel) 21:23.3; 112) Avery Hoffman (Bethel) 21:46.3; 113) Joshua Klejka (Bethel) 22:26.7; 114) John Wade (Nome) 22:44.3; 115) Benjamin Bitler (Houston) 22:54.7; 116) Jarius Allain (Bethel) 23:22.8; 117) Thomas Daniel (Bethel) 23:25.2.