“Kill the hill.”
That’s the mantra Haines cross-country captain Marirose Evenden repeated to herself during her run. The Glacier Bears were in Skagway for their second race of the season, a five-kilometer run which starts at the airport and crosses the river twice before finishing at Seven Pastures Park. “The hill” is the long, steep, rocky climb between Yakutania Point and the Dyea Road which dominates the first half of the course.
“That first hill was the worst one,” said Carson Crager. “The traction was tough. It was nice to get that first hill out of the way.”
At 11:30 a.m. on a windy Skagway Saturday, the starting gun fired, a trumpet blared, there were three shouts of “charge,” and the Glacier Bears set out to attack the most difficult section of terrain that they will face this season.
Siyel George ran the hill with the top pack of runners. He went on to finish third. “It was challenging,” said George. “It took a lot out of me.”
In the girls’ race, Avery Williamson held her own with a pack of front-runners and finished fifth.
At the finish line, the team reflected on the race. “That was a hideous hill, but I loved the race,” said Hailey Boron.
“The most important part of running, is running up the hill before you can run down it,” Hannah Boron said. “Its 25 percent physical, 75 percent mental.”
George echoed a similar race philosophy. “Keeping up with those guys was a mental game for me, trying to keep my head in the race.”
The northern Region 5 invitational alternates annually between Skagway and Haines. While most of the other small schools either compete at Metlakatla or take the weekend off, the Skagway meet featured many of the strongest runners in Southeast, with varsity squads from Juneau-Douglas, Thunder Mountain, Mount Edgecumbe, Hoonah, Skagway and Haines competing. In a field of 76 boys and 51 girls, Haines entered 10 boys and nine girls.
The course was radically different than the first race of the season, a smooth, flat run through Sitka’s Totem Park. The results reflect this. According to Haines Coach Chandler Kemp, the average time difference between the two races was 3:34 longer for the boys and 2:56 longer for the girls. Raine Winge had the best overall speed improvement by racing to within 1:01 of her Sitka time.
The Glacier Bears next race in Petersburg this Friday, before taking a week off to gear up for the Region 5 championship in Juneau the following Saturday.
At the midway point in the season, racer Caleb Hinson said, “There is true team spirit on this team.”
Avery Williamson echoed the sentiment. “The feeling on this team is that we are more of a family than a team,” Williamson said.
Race Results:
Boys
3 Siyel George 19:39
20 Carson Crager 22:00
38 Patrick Cunningham 23:18
41 Caleb Hinson 23:48
42 Eli Williamson 23:51
48 Brennan Palmieri 24:41
53 Logan Borcik 25:05
66 Kamakana Kanahele 27:48
69 Joseph Rossman 28:50
73 Dylan Chapell 31:08
Girls
5 Avery Williamson 23:56
21 Hannah Boron 26:54
26 Marirose Evenden 28:07
30 Sanona Sundberg 29:11
32 Haley Boron 29:20
37 Lydia Andriesen 30:28
41 Dori Getchell 31:34
45 Yzella Miramontes 32:43
48 Raine Winge 33:43