Francis takes her third 4A state title
Junior leads JDHS girls runners to fourth place, boys grab sixth
Juneau-Douglas cross country runner Leah Francis has been perfect in state competition since she took to the 4A high school trails three years ago. That is, unless you ask her.
The junior grabbed her third state title in as many tries at Saturday's 2008 State Championships on Palmer's Mike Janecek Trails. She led the race wire-to-wire after sprinting ahead on the opening straight-away, finishing nearly 22 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor with a time of 18 minutes, 41.3 second. She even improved on her state-winning time from 2007 on the same trail by more than 10 seconds. Still, Francis would rather talk about the bright foliage aside and atop Palmer's trails and, believe it or not, how much more she wants to improve.
"Running is really important to me. I want to be fast - that's what motivates me," Francis said after Saturday's race. "There's always going to be someone faster than me somewhere else. Just because I won a state championship doesn't make me the best. I still have all the room in the world for improvement."
While celebrating with her teammates Saturday night, Francis' mind was already turning toward the Nike Team Nationals Northwest Regionals in Boise in November. Francis won the girls' championship at the race last year and hopes to move on to nationals this year.
"Our team did really good today. We ran as a pack, and it was really exciting," Francis said. "We'll lose a lot of good seniors from this year, but we have a lot of potential for growth next year, too."
Freshman Karissa Jackson will be part of that growth, as she was the Crimson Bears' second runner across the line in 27th place with a time of 20:16.2. Another JDHS freshman, Sid Browning, was the team's third runner, finishing 34th in 20:31.4. Junior Annika Ord was the team's fourth, finishing 41st overall in 20:41.6. Elisha Thibodeau, the team's lone senior was 65th in 21:38.2. Sophomores Alice Ottoson-McKeen and Aubrey Brisco finished 73rd and 74th, respectively, to round out the Juneau-Douglas team.
Sophomore Zach Bursell led the Crimson Bears boys to their sixth-place finish with a crowd-thrilling sprint to the finish to edge out Ketchikan's Isaac Updike for 10th place and All-State honors. Bursell finished the race in 16:49.1, just four-tenths of a second ahead of his Region V-rival Updike.
"People along the last stretch were yelling out positions, and I could hear (Updike) coming," Bursell said. "These last few races he's been a little ahead of me. I paced the race perfectly and barely got him at the end."
Another sophomore, Sage Thibodeau, was the second Juneau-Douglas runner across the line in 17th place with a time of 17:08.7. Senior Nolin Ainsworth stepped up in his final high school race as the team's third runner, finishing 39th in 17:41.2. Junior Robin Woodby was the team's fourth runner, finishing 54th in 17:59.6. Senior Daniel Stoops, who felt a little under the weather for much of the day, according to coach Guy Thibodeau, ran most of the race in the 30s before falling to 56th with a time of 18:02.6. Andre Bunton and Nick Waldo rounded out the boys' runners in 61st and 73rd place, respectively.
Ainsworth and Elisha Thibodeau were awarded with their teams' Sportsmanship Awards at the race's awards ceremony on Saturday afternoon.
"Those two really deserved it for their team efforts and overall sportsmanship throughout the season," Guy Thibodeau said.
• Contact sports editor Trent Makela at 523-2228 or sports@juneauempire.com.