Juneau-Douglas High School’s Sadie Tuckwood and Arne Ellefson-Carnes repeated as Division I Region V Cross Country Running Champions Saturday in Ketchikan.
The duo won their respective 5-kilometer races at the Ward Lake Recreational Area — their fourth sweep of a Southeast Alaska meet this season.
They will now head to the state meet next week in Anchorage, and they won’t be going alone, either.
The Crimson Bears boys finished 1-2-3-4 and totaled a striking 19 points to win the region title.
The girls side scored 23 points to deny Thunder Mountain their first region title in four years.
“We’re all pretty confident and we knew that if we went in with confidence then that would reflect on the results,” JDHS sophomore Sosan Monsef said.
Thunder Mountain High School qualified four of their own to the state meet: Hannah Deer, Erin Wallace, Reece Bleakley and Shafer Suzuki.
Wallace delivered her fastest race of the season to finish fifth overall and qualify for her fourth state championship. Meanwhile, Suzuki will be running in his first-ever state meet.
Suzuki was on the bubble for state qualification. The senior had been finishing as the No. 10 runner among Division I runners (JDHS, TMHS and Ketchikan) over the past couple of meets. Only the top-10 finishers at the regional meet qualify for state as individuals.
“It was a little more spacious this race so we were able to advance more and get some (personal records),” Suzuki said.
Even with Thunder Mountain girls finishing 3-5-9, they weren’t able to pull off the upset and dethrone JDHS.
For Ellefson-Carnes, he said there’s more work to be done this season. His team is shooting for a top-five finish at the state meet next weekend in Anchorage.
“We’re all really tired of getting last or second to last the couple of years,” he said.
Boys Team Scores
1) Juneau-Douglas 19
2) Ketchikan 39
3) TMHS 75
Boys 5-Kilometers
1, Arne Ellefson-Carnes, JDHS, 16:51. 2, Shadrach Stitz, JDHS, 17:20. 3, Clem Taylor-Roth, JDHS, 17:22. 4, Tim McKenna, JDHS, 17:32. 5, John Coss, Ketchikan, 17:42. 6, Paul Almendinger, Ketchikan, 17:52. 7, Leif Stephens, Ketchikan, 17:52. 8, Phillip Smith, Ketchikan, 17:54. 9, Ronan Davies, JDHS, 18:11. 10, Shafer Suzuki, TMHS, 18:22. 11, Tucker Kelly, TMHS, 18:27. 12, Tim Deneger, JDHS, 18:47. 13, Henry Clark, Ketchikan, 18:51. 14, Dwight King, Ketchikan, 18:57. 15, Hunter Mathews, Ketchikan, 19:06. 16, Max Dapevich, JDHS, 19:12. 17, Jacob Babcock, TMHS, 19:16. 18, Riley Sikes, TMHS, 19:21. 19, Elias West, TMHS, 19:28. 20, Jonah Brown, TMHS, 19:46.
Girls Team Scores
1) Juneau-Douglas 23
2) TMHS 41
3) Ketchikan 62
Girls 5-Kilometers
1, Sadie Tuckwood, JDHS, 18:24. 2, Anna Iverson, JDHS, 20:06. 3, Hannah Deer, TMHS, 20:10. 4, Jasmin Holst, JDHS, 20:39. 5, Erin Wallace, TMHS, 20:56. 6, Miriam Stitz, JDHS, 21:07. 7, Morgan Elerding, Ketchikan, 21:09. 8, Elizabeth Knight, Ketchikan, 21:14. 9, Reece Bleakley, TMHS, 21:22. 10, Sosan Monsef, JDHS, 21:29. 11, Sally Thompson, TMHS, 21:33. 12, Katie McKenna, JDHS, 21:38. 13, Elizabeth Knapp, TMHS, 22:10. 14, Ashley Cyr, Ketchikan, 22:22. 15, Linnea Lentfer, JDHS, 23:10. 16, Rachel Knight, Ketchikan, 23:49. 17, Breanna Gentry, Ketchikan, 24:07. 18, Cassandra Stout, Ketchikan, 24:14. 19, Veronica Salter, TMHS, 24:41. 20, Bella Hannah, TMHS, 25:12. 21, Sydney Nichols, Ketchikan, 25:33.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
Thunder Mountain High School’s Jacob Babcock, left, runs down the trail Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017, during the Region V Cross Country meet at Ward Lake in Ketchikan. (Taylor Balkom | Ketchikan Daily News)
Thunder Mountain’s Erin Wallace finishes her race Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017, during the Region V Cross Country meet at Ward Lake in Ketchikan. (Taylor Balkom | Ketchikan Daily News)
