The Haines Glacier Bears cross-country team launched their 2019 season Saturday at the Capital City Invitational. “We started stuff up with a bang,” said Junior Haley Boron. Thirty Glacier Bears toed the starting line, including ten athletes competing in their first high school cross-country meet. Of the returning Haines runners, nine set personal records (PRs) in the 5- kilometer run.
Both teams finished first among 2A squads. The boys placed fourth of twelve teams, trailing Juneau-Douglas, Sitka and Ketchikan. The girls finished second overall, behind only the defending state champion Juneau-Douglas team. In high school cross-country races, the top five finishers for each team score. While Coach Chandler Kemp was able to bring his entire team to Juneau, only the top seven runners for each team will compete in the next race this Saturday in Petersburg.
The Treadwell Park course on Douglas Island begins and ends on the shores of Sandy Beach. In the meantime, racers run three laps of a winding, hilly loop through a historic mining project.
First time cross-country racer Wesley Verhamme said, “When we started the race, I could just feel the power of this group of 130 runners. When we got to the first hill I could still see our whole team. I yelled, ‘Let’s kill the hills, boys!’ and a bunch of the guys hollered back. Man, the support on that course was great, with our team and the other teams and the crowd. When you passed someone, they were like, ‘Good job.’”
The boys were paced by Senior Siyel George, who placed second only to Sitka’s Dominic Baciocco, who set the course record for this well-trodden course with a blistering 15:56. George’s 16:39 surpassed his previous PR by 36 seconds. The next six Glacier Bears formed a formidable pack and finished within a minute of each other between 18:56 and 19:50. Mark Davis, Carver Culbeck, Luke Davis, Carson Crager, Brennan Palmieri and Jayden Hotch earned the opportunity to join George on the seven-man varsity squad who will represent Haines at this Saturday’s race in Petersburg.
In the girls race, two of the Glacier Bear freshman, Mackenzy Dryden and Grace Long-Godinez ran their first high school race astride of one another. They placed tops in the 2A division, finishing in 20:59 and 21:02, respectively. Sophomore Avery Williamson was next for the team in 22:04, followed by Haley Boron, Hannah Boron, Avari Getchell and Lydia Andriesen.
Haley Boron said, “The performance of the girls’ team was amazing to see. When I saw the results, my jaw just dropped. I was especially impressed by Lydia going from (a PR of) 26:09 to 23:29.” Haley set a new PR as did her sister Hannah.
Andriesen had this to say of her good time, “Cross-country is an amazing sport. It’s an individual sport, but it’s also a team sport. You’re racing against yourself, with other people. When I saw the scores and saw how well Mackenzy and Grace did and then I saw our team results, I was like, ‘Wow, I was a part of that.’
The Glacier Bears enjoyed the support of their team members as each team was cheered on by the other as they raced. Verhamme discussed the highlights: “When I got near the finish I heard the team cheering me on. I was tired, but it gave me the strength to pass this one guy I’d been behind. Then I was watching the girls race and Yzella was on her last hill. I could tell she was getting tired so I yelled, ‘Yzella, look up!’ She looked up and saw this Petersburg girl ahead of her and she passed her on the hill and stayed ahead of her.”
Miramontes finished four seconds ahead of Petersburg’s Alexus Sakamoto-Quezon.
While the varsity runners head to Petersburg, the rest of the team is preparing for their home meet on September 15. There is much training and racing to be done and the team is focused.
“When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I think about is cross-country,” Haley said.