Bears roll to easy wins in first meet

The Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears cross country team opened the season with a dominant performance in Sitka over the weekend, sweeping both the boys and girls meets by wide margins.

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Ryan Long / Courtesy Photo

Juneau-Douglas defeated second-place Sitka by 23 points, 21-44. Ketchikan came in third with 77 points, Haines fourth with 100, and Petersburg fifth with 142.

Three-time defending state champion Leah Francis (18:59) picked up her first win of the season, a full 31 seconds ahead of teammate Annika Ord, who came in second (20:30). Sid Browning (20:44) made it an all-JDHS top three, and Melissa Skan (21:52) and Alice Ottoson-Mckeen made it five Bears in the top 10 even though JDHS had a couple of injured runners.

"Karissa Jackson, one of our varsity runners, and Aubrey Brisco is also battling injuries, so our goal now is to get healthy as we move forward in the season, but it's always good to get the first one under your belt," girls' coach Merry Ellefson said. "It was really nice for Sid and Annika to work so well together and for all of them to see how they are doing individually, and as a team. We're looking forward to building on that in Wrangell this week."

The JDHS boys finished first with 26 points, followed by Sitka (62), Ketchikan (70), Craig (108), Haines (126), Thunder Mountain (151) and Wrangell (175).

The Bears had two of the top three finishers with Sage Thibodeau (16:27) crossing the finish line three seconds behind Ketchikan's Isaac Updike (16:24). Zach Bursell (16:37) was 10 seconds behind Thibodeau. Juneau-Douglas' Robin Woodby (17:35), Jesse Miller (17:36) and Tal Norvell (17:37) finished seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively.

"The kids really ran well," boys' coach Guy Thibodeau said.

TMHS boys take sixth in first-ever meet

While the Crimson Bears were staging an impressive start to defending their Region V crowns, Thunder Mountain competed for the first time in school history.

Girls' duo Rhyan Holmes and Ashlynn Kay finished in a tie for 38th (26:20), and Andrew Gianotti, the lone experienced Falcon, finished 27th (19:46).

"For us, it was a great weekend," coach Scott May said. "We didn't focus on the places. We used it to establish our base times. I'm hoping that everybody comes back next year, and our goal would be to do significantly better than we did this time time-wise. Next year in Sitka, we'll look to make vast improvements on the times we just had with experience and training.

"We had a lot of fun, despite the weather," he continued. "It was a great team-building experience."

Girls' Team Results:

1. JDHS 21; 2. Sitka 44; 3. Ketchikan 77; 4. Haines 100; 5. Petersburg 142.

Individual Results:

1. Leah Francis, JDHS, 18:59; 2. Annika Ord, JDHS, 20:30; 3. Sid Browning, JDHS, 20:44; 4. Shelayne Greaves, KTN, 21:07; 5. Kari Paustian, SIT, 21:25; 6. Melissa Skan, JDHS, 21:52; 7. Jennifer MacIntyre, SIT, time not reported; 8. Bailey Brady, SIT, 22:09; 9. Amanda Jensen, SKAG, 22:10; 10. Alice Ottoson-Mckeen, JDHS, 22:17; 11. Kathryn Medinger, SIT, 22:36; 12. Aubrey Briscoe, JDHS, 22:43; 13. Alison Delabruere, JDHS, 22:47; 14. Sarah Donahoe, JDHS, 22:52; 15. Marnie Rasmussen, HNS, 22:55; 16. Sarah Rasmussen-Rekopf, SIT, 22:59; 17. Jolene Lemeiux, HNS, 23:08; 18. Brianna Guenther, KTN, 23:20; 19. Geneva Peters, KTN, 23:21; 20. Fran Daly, HNS, 23:30; 21. Alissa Weberg, KTN, 23:32; 22. Justine Webb, SIT, 23:33; 23. Courtney Galloway, KTN, 23:45; 24. Janessa Porter, KTN, 23:46; 25. Mikayla Rooney, WRG, 24:14; 26. Alaire Hughey, SIT, 24:29; 27. Lucy Ortiz, KTN, 24:30; 28. Mary Claire Jurczak, SIT, 24:31; 29. Alyson Lovett, SIT, 24:33; 30. Hillary Hunter, PSG, 24:37; 31. Talea Davis, WRG, 24:38; 32. Hannah Parson, KAK, 24:51; 33. Rique Hill, KTN, 25:10; 34. Melissa Elliott, KTN, 25:13; 35. Jess Giddings, HNS, 25:16; 36. Lia Domke, JDHS, 25:42; 37. Slena Barejas, KTN, 25:52; 38. Rhyan Holmes, TMHS, 26:20; 39. Ashlynn Kay, TMHS, 26:20; 40. Hillary Scherrer, PSG, 26:32; 41. Hannah Carson, KTN, 26:55; 42. Jenna Williams, KAK, 27:23; 43. Tia Heywood, HNS, 27:33; 44. Ellse Dolan, SGY, 28:51; 45. Kersten Lewis, PSG, 29:12; 46. Maura Sulivan, PSG, 30:20; 47. Minica Ashenfelter, JDHS, 29:21; 48. Courtney Haggard, WRG, 29:27; 49. Xayirah Atchley-Ramirez, PSG, 30:20; 50. Margaret Jones, HNS, 35:55; DN - Martina Miller, JDHS.

Boys' Team Results:

1. JDHS 26; 2. Sitka 62; 3. Ketchikan 70; 4. Craig 108; 5. Haines 126; 6. Thunder Mountain 151; 7. Wrangell 175.

Individual Results:

1. Isaac Updike, KTN, 16:24; 2. Sage Thibodeau, JDHS, 16:27; 3. Zach Bursell, JDHS, 16:37; 4. Lucas Updike, KTN, 16:50; 5. Niko Friedman, SIT, 16:54; 6. Mickey Wilson, SGY, 17:34; 7. Robin Woodby, JDHS, 17:35; 8. Jesse Miller, JDHS, 17:36; 9. Tal Norvell, JDHS, 17:37; 10. Quinn Weber, SGY, 17:43; 11. Stephen MacIntyre, STI, 17:44; 12. Ryan Baxter, CRG, 17:45; 13. Quinn Asquith-Heinz, HNS, 18:05; 14. Andre Bunton, JDHS, 18:15; 15. James Kahler, SIT, 18:23; 16. Daniel Coffey, CRG, 18:27; 17. Dave Nelson, CRG, 18:29; 18. Ian Andrews, JDHS, 18:39; 19. Logan Weber, SGY, 18:57; 20. George Jones, SIT, 18:58; 21. Cooper Gale, SIT, 19:03; 22. Corey Piper, HNS, 19:11; 23. Tore Singstad, KTN, 19:18; 24. Dawson Walker, JDHS, 19:19; 25. Keegan Lervick, KTN, 19:29; 26. Arnold Gillaspie, SIT, 19:44; 27. Andrew Gianotti, TMHS, 19:46; 28. Benjamin Tamone, JDHS, 19:51; 29. Cody Updike, KTN, 20:05; 30. Chris Olsen, HNS, 20:16; 31. Kyle Groshong, WRG, 20:20; 32. Christopher Cummins, JDHS, 20:22; 33. Adam Nesheim, JDHS, 20:27; 34. Marco Torres, KTN, 20:30; 35. Alec Panknow, KTN, 20:33; 36. Danny Moore, SGY, 20:47; 37. Derec Steinman, TMHS, 20:52; 38. Willy Brand, CRG, 21:04; 39. Jacob Potts, KTN, 21:08; 40. Hugh Fleming, PSG, 21:17; 41. Kent Johnson, WRG, 21:21; 42. Martin Woodby, JDHS, 21:27; 43. Hugh Watts, TMHS, 21:31; 44. Gabe Potts, KTN, 21:37; 45. Nick Bursell, TMHS, 21:40; 46. Ethan Bowman, KTN, 21:44; 47. James Steeves, TMHS, 21:53; 48. Hunter Badgley, HNS, 22:05; 49. Devin Braaten, HNS, 22:12; 50. Alex Buness, WRG, 22:27; 51. Justin Mull, TMHS, 22:29; 52. Pat Quigley, CRG, 22:48; 53. Yoshua Gonzales, WRG, 22:55; 54. Tyler Lantiegne, PSG, 23:15; 55. Elijah Comstock, WRG, 24:22; 56. Jalen Vantrease, KAK, 26:01; 57. Jesse Adams, KAK, 26:44; 58. Kaleb Spragg, PSG, 26:58.