Junior Ari’el Godinez-Long led Glacier Bear runners at the Sitka Invitational cross country meet on Saturday, posting a time of 20:05 over the fast, flat course for a personal best time in a 5-kilometer event.
Glacier Bears faced their deepest field of the season at the meet, which coach Katie Russell said she encouraged runners to use as extra motivation to push through the fatigue. Russell said the strategy — as well as the accumulated training — seemed to pay off.
“Everyone ran their fastest time of the season, including 6 PRs (personal records).” she wrote in an email. “They all did a great job of finishing strong and giving it all they had, which makes me very proud.”
Russel said the heavy rains that hit much of Southeast Alaska in recent days abated during the meet, resulting in “perfect racing weather.”
She said there was only one downside of the event: the unavoidable smell of rotting fish coming from a river they ran across over a bridge.
Four girls and seven boys competed in the meet, held at Totem Park. Godinez-Long’s finish was less than a minute behind winner Ida Meyer of Juneau-Douglass Yadaa.at Kale, who finished in 19:08. Following Godinez-Long was Camelia Bell in 47th place, Ashlyn Ganey in 73rd and Raven Hotch in 81st out of 91 runners.
Robbie Annett of Grace Christian in Anchorage won the boys race in 16:26. Glacier Bears boys were led by Dalton Henry, who finished in 37th with a time of 19:09. Colin Aldassy finished in 19:24 for 43rd place. JC Davis finished in 50th, TJ Smith in 75th, Alex Weerasinghe in 92nd, and Will Davis in 93rd out of 150 runners.
Glacier Bears next meet is on Sept. 30 for regionals in Juneau.