A lot has changed, but much remains the same on the site of the ASAA State Cross Country Running Championships this Saturday along the Bartlett High School Trails.
Roughly 460 athletes will race across three divisions on an old course now revitalized to include more fan friendly, yet still athletically daunting, twists and turns, fatiguing climbs and burning flats.
“It has been a crazy few days,” state meet director Adam Hrnicek said of preparing the course that was changed before the start of this season. “I’ve been coaching in Alaska since 2012 and one of the things I have heard consistently of the Bartlett course is that it was too short.”
Hrnicek, who coached in Kotzebue, Kodiak and now at Bartlett, noted the original course was laid out prior to what standards the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and USA Track & Field (USATF) measured and was about 70-100 meters short.
“So we were looking to make it a true 5K,” he said. “And one that was simpler to manage…I had a lot of help designing the course…I talked to a lot of people.”
Longtime Anchorage runner, assistant Grace Christian coach Chris Waythomas, also helped with the redesign and measurements and provided the cartography map of the course for ASAA’s website.
Waythomas’ coaching start came at Bartlett with Marcus Dunbar in 1993. He has coached at Anchorage Christian which featured Jake Moe and Tristan Merchant. Merchant will team next year at Liberty University with Waythomas’ top senior runner this year, Robbie Annett who has hit 15:29. Waythomas is also heavily involved with USATF in Alaska. His wife, Kristy Klinnert Waythomas was a four-time Alaska State XC running champion at Kodiak.
“I made numerous measurements with a wheel to make sure that the distance was 5K as advertised,” Waythomas said. “None of the ‘K’ marks on the old course were located correctly. At this level everybody is looking at their watch at each K and need to know how fast they are running. That is part of race strategy. So that was objective number one. It took a number of attempts because with each measurement you don’t always take the same line. People sometimes forget to calibrate their wheel as well…I take course measurement and certification seriously. Cross-country is a bit like the Wild West, not everybody takes the time. A lot of people use their smartwatch, which are notoriously inaccurate — especially in Alaska — because of where we are when satellites are all to the south.”
The old course had two separate loops that crossed and a finish on the track after a large hill. The new course runs on one large loop repeated once with the start and finish on grass, minus that hill, for a faster flat to the end.
“The big thing I was looking at was spectator-friendly,” Hrnicek said. “And two loops on the same loop is a lot easier to manage than two very different loops, and I don’t like a track finish, totally a personal thing. Another big consideration was totally honoring the trails that were picked and chosen by the people who had designed it before me. So we are actually on the same trails, we didn’t go in different directions or do anything weird other than just kind of manipulate the loops a little different.”
Waythomas said the reaction at the recent State Preview Meet was generally positive.
“What I like about it is it is real cross-country,” he said. “You got rocky, you got hills, you got mud, you got grass, you’ve got a little bit of everything. So if you are a hill runner it doesn’t necessarily play to your strengths. If you’re a flat runner it doesn’t necessarily play to your strengths. It equalizes things out quite a bit which is what you want. I hope everyone will appreciate that the course is exactly as advertised.”
The state championship begins on the flat. The first kilometer of the race features a pack start on a large grassy field and a little mud section before hitting ‘Whitmores Way.’ This piece is named after 1970-90s Alaska Hall of Fame coach Larry Whitmore who established Bartlett H.S. as a preeminent track program in the state. He was also a phenomenal basketball coach.
“Ducky’s Climb” follows and runners reach its top 500 meters after 70 vertical feet — This is also known as “The Ramp” and is hit again at the 3K mark in the second loop. The total after 3K is roughly 200 vertical feet. “Pipers Corner” and “Beardsleys Bends” follow before the 1K mark.
“Ducky’s Climb” had been believed to be named after an old duck pond or as the nickname of an old Nordic ski coach who coached there. Waythomas, who lives near the trails, runs them every day.
“In the mornings I would bump into people walking their dogs,” he said. “This one guy had a Springer Spaniel that was amazing. He wouldn’t sit still for a second. His nose was working, jetting here and there, and that dog’s name was Ducky. I wanted to give some of the landmarks names and that is where that one came from. Pipers Corner is another one I added, it is the first name of a coordinator for middle school cross-country in Anchorage who I bumped into one day when I was making measurements and she was doing the same thing.”
“Beardsleys Bends” is in honor of lifelong Anchorage School District teacher, and Nordic skier, Steven Beardsley.
Just after 1K the steep and rolling hills of “Rascals Run” bite (and are repeated again in the second loop through 4K).
According to Hrnicek, ‘Rascals Run’ is named after a white wolf hybrid that used to frequent that set of rolling hills.
“He never caused any problems, he was just a little rascal hanging out,” he said.
Just after this is a 1/4-mile full downhill that hits a little mud before the end of 2K of racing. A flat and fast trail to football field grass leads runners around the football goalposts to, either, the second loop or a straight 155-meter shot to the finish.
Hrnicek said he would have a conservative approach on this course, knowing that the first mile, say 1,200 meters, has a huge elevation gain.
“I’m a big fan of conservative on the hills,” he said. “Strong and staying with the people around you and then using the energy to fly down those hills. Attacking the hills is a lot less common unless you have that raw strength.”
Waythomas noted that a benefit of the new course is seeing the runners more than just at the start and the finish.
“And there is some talent,” he said. “Some of these kids from some of the village schools and down in Southeast, man, they are diamonds in the rough…Busk from Unalakleet, Mullin from Sitka, Meyer from Juneau and this girl from Wasilla – sophomore Hailee Giacobbe — she ran low 18 minutes up in Wasilla last weekend…and some runners have been hurt or sick. Cross country goes by quickly, it is not the longest season in the world. If you are not really ready to go in August before you know it is regional and state time…”
DIII female junior Ourea Busk, from Unalakleet, is looking to break 19 minutes and Wrangell junior Boomchain Loucks is working on a low 16. They are both defending state champions and Loucks is looking to give Wrangell a team three-peat state title. Craig sophomore Aulis Nelson is on Loucks’ heels for a title and a possible Southeast sweep among the top five runners as Petersburg and Haines can challenge.
DII female senior Clare Mullin is looking to repeat and her Sitka classmate Marina Dill finished a spot below her last season. Grace male senior Robbie Annett is sporting a state-best time 15:29 in his repeat quest and the school’s string of consecutive team titles from 2018. Both Seward teams are strong enough to disrupt those wins with the girls seeking a three-peat team title. The Sitka boys have been team runners-up the past three seasons and senior Connor Hitchcock has the fifth fastest time in the state with 16:19.
The DI East girls qualified for state for the first time in 12 years but Chugiak is seeking a four-peat state team title and features defending champion junior Hannah Shaha.
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé have brought seven girls that can shake up the standings. Senior Ida Meyer has hit 19:04, freshman Nevah Lupro has broken 21, Sophomore Kaia Mangaccat and Juniors Lua Mangaccat, Siena Farr and Della Mearig are working low 21s with freshman Sunna Schane closing in.
“State is just another race,” JDHS co-coach Abby Jahn said. “They’ve put in all the work and are ready to just get out there, have fun, and see what they can do as a team. We have the potential to finish top four or higher as a team so will work with the girls to come up with a plan and which teams to hunt down during the race.”
The DI boys field is deep without a real break-a-way runner, which leads to exciting finishes.
East Anchorage sophomore Katahdin Staples, the lone Thunderbird qualifier, hit 16:15 and is ranked the top DI Anchorage male and East’s top-ranked runner since T-Bird great Don Clary in the ‘70s. Clary became Alaska’s first Olympic runner.
The South Anchorage boys team all run under 17:35, three in the 16s, but across the DI league are a number of runners under 17:30 that can have their way at the finish. Kodiak qualified as a team with three runners in the 16s, Service two, Colony one with three close and Wasilla one, among others.
“Our boys team is heading up there healthy, confident, rested and trusting their training,” JDHS co-coach Jon Stearns said. “We are peaking at the right time and really think that we have a shot of having a great showing at state. They are all focused on bringing home the title.”
JDHS senior Nick Iverson has hit 16:27, sophomore Erik Thompson 16:34 and senior Owen Woodruff 16:41, senior Sage Janes has a 17:17, sophomore Logan Fellman 17:30, senior Ferguson Wheeler 17:31 and junior Elias Schane 17:55. They have enough for a state team title.
“All they have to do now is execute the fundamentals like we’ve practiced,” JDHS co-coach Zack Bursell said. “Smart pacing, efficiency over the terrain and work together.”
The Bartlett Trails are popular year-round.
“I see individuals out on the trails daily,” Hrnicek said. “I see people walking and running. Chris (Waythomas) just lives a couple miles down away and has been running these trails for several decades.”
The state preview meet featured eight teams trying the new course, on Saturday the course will be made immortal.
“This week, on Monday I saw six teams out there,” Hrnicek said. “Tuesday I saw eight, yesterday was only five. I’ve seen Palmer, Wasilla and Colony… the only Anchorage team I haven’t seen this week is Eagle River…Juneau can shape things up. The hardest thing about Southeast running is that Nick Iverson and Erik Thompson and Ida Meyer only get to race the Anchorage or Fairbanks schools twice a year, once when they are able to get out of town and then state. So you never really know how well they are in comparison to the rest of the state.”
