Success at the Region V Cross Country Running meet doesn’t equate to success at the state meet.
The Juneau-Douglas High School boys cross country team, which picked up its 28th regional championship on Saturday, has finished dead last in the team standings at the state meet in the past two years.
The team is hoping to change that pattern at the ASAA First National Bank Alaska Cross Country Running State Championships at Bartlett High School in Anchorage.
The JDHS boys’ 19 points at this year’s region meet is their best performance at regions since 2011.
They’ll carry that performance to Saturday’s state race at 12:45 p.m. The JDHS girls follow at 2:15 p.m.
After a fifth-place showing in the Palmer Invitational at the beginning of the month, Arne Ellefson-Carnes has a good perspective on his statewide competition.
“It’s hard to compare times with different courses, so going up to Palmer was really good,” Ellefson-Carnes said.
Ellefson-Carnes finished 15th in the state meet last season. Five of the top 10 boys finishers in the state meet have graduated, however, and last year’s champion, Gus Schumacher, is not competing.
There are also questions for the JDHS girls team leading up to the meet.
Sophomore Sadie Tuckwood stunned everyone except herself last season when she won the state meet as a freshman.
Sophomore Kendall Kramer of West Valley didn’t let her out of her sight the entire race — but never overtook her.
Earlier this month, Tuckwood beat her for a second time at the Palmer Invitational, but the competition was even closer.
“I knew Kendall got faster from track (season),” Tuckwood said.
“While we know that she is competitive and that she wants to do well, she is also able to separate that when its necessary,” JDHS co-coach Tristan Knutson-Lombardo said. “Like to not always be worried about every little thing that she does and affecting it her performance — she can relax and have fun.”
Tuckwood hasn’t disappointed this year, either. She became the first back-to-back Region V Champion since Sid Browning in 2010 and 2011.
Elsewhere, six other Class 4A teams from around the state won their respective regional meets.
The Service Lady Cougars won the Region VI or Cook Inlet Conference girls title. The defending state champion West Anchorage boys team won for their race.
Soldotna won the Region III Championship meet for the boys and Kenai won it for the girls.
West Valley won both the boys and girls Region VI titles in Fairbanks. Kramer and the Wolfpack were last year’s state champions.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
