Juneau runners eager to face state's best at Palmer Invite

After playing the role of a big fish in the small Southeast pool the past two weeks, the Juneau-Douglas High School cross country team will leap into an ocean of stiff competition this weekend as it heads north for the Palmer Invitational.

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The Crimson Bears dominated the Sitka Invitational on Aug. 24 and their home meet last Saturday against familiar Region V opponents. But this Saturday, the Crimson Bear varsity squad will take on tough teams from across the state at the Palmer meet, which is the largest high school meet in Alaska besides the state meet.

Since the Palmer Invitational takes place on the same trails used by the state meet on Sept. 28, most of Alaska's top runners will be at this weekend's meet.

The Crimson Bear runners said they are anxious to match up against top teams from Anchorage, Fairbanks and elsewhere around the state.

At last weekend's meet - held on a hilly, tough Treadwell Mine trail course - many Juneau runners matched or bettered their times from the flatter, gentler Sitka course.

Tristan Knutson-Lombardo, who won the boys individual titles at the Sitka and Juneau meets, said Palmer will provide a good test of the team's training and improvement. Juneau's Molly Krehlik won the girls individual titles at the Sitka and Juneau meets.

"It'll be a huge meet for us to show what we're made of this year," Knutson-Lombardo said.

The Palmer Invitational features 11 races, including events for junior high/middle school runners, high school open runners (C team and unattached runners), junior varsity, Class 1A-2A-3A varsity, Class 4A varsity runners and an invitational race for adult community members and coaches. The Juneau girls will run in the girls Class 4A varsity race at 2 p.m., with the Juneau boys run in the boys Class 4A varsity race at 2:45 p.m.

Saturday's high school meet will be followed by an open community race that will include a collegiate race featuring runners from the University of Alaska Anchorage and UA Fairbanks.

Juneau has already gone north once this season - for the Bartlett Relays on Aug. 17. But that meet was as much an obstacle course as a race, and it was the first event for a squad with a lot of young faces. The Bartlett Relays were held on a course shorter than the standard 5-kilometer high school cross country course, and the relay teams were mixed-gender squads.

"We saw a little bit (of statewide competition) at Bartlett, but Bartlett was a little confusing as a team," team co-captain Philip Dierking said. "We've bonded (since then), we've really gotten things organized. It'll be great."

While Juneau's varsity is in Palmer, the Juneau junior varsity team will travel to the Haines Invitational today to face other Southeast schools.

After the Palmer and Haines meets this weekend, the team comes back together for the Petersburg Invitational on Sept. 14. The Region V meet is scheduled for Sept. 21 in Ketchikan, and the state meet follows a week later.

Andrew Krueger can be reached at akrueger@juneauempire.com.