There was never a time in Arne Ellefson-Carnes’ life that wasn’t connected to the Juneau-Douglas High School cross country team. His mom, Merry, became the team’s assistant coach when Arne was almost 1 year old.<\/p>\n
The team soon turned into a sort of extended family for Ellefson-Carnes, babysitting him in various Southeast outposts while his mom’s hands were tied with coaching. Merry’s husband and Arne’s dad, Wayne, was away two weekends every month as an Alaska Marine Highway System captain. More often than not, Ellefson-Carnes traveled with his mom and the team wherever they went.<\/p>\n
The team culture of support and teamwork the youngster grew up in has fostered a love of the sport for the now JDHS senior captain, who will race in his final home meet on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Sandy Beach for the Region V Cross Country Championships.<\/p>\n
The meet starts at 10:45 a.m. with a blessing and Tlingit acknowledgment of ancestral land. The Girls Division II race is at 11:45 a.m. followed by the Girls Division I race at 12:30 p.m., Boys Division II race at 1:15 p.m. and Boys Division I race at 2 p.m..<\/p>\n
Ellefson-Carnes said he wasn’t sold on cross country — specifically racing — when he first entered high school.<\/p>\n
While on the Juneau Community Charter School running team, Ellefson-Carnes vomited in several races. A confidence-building 3-kilometer time trial and meeting new friends during his freshman year helped to ease his racing anxiety. He went on to have a breakout season, posting the second fastest freshman time (17:28) at the state meet at Bartlett High School. Prior to the season, he just hoped to finish a 5K in under 20 minutes.<\/p>\n
“I just remember realizing like, ‘Wow, this is a strength, this is something I’m good at,’” Ellefson-Carnes said. “And this is something where the community of people around me is just so fun. It’s a win-win situation, and so I just started to really enjoy running.”<\/p>\n
Ellefson-Carnes continued to improve over the next two seasons, but only marginally. He improved his 5K time by 10 seconds his sophomore year and two his junior year, but took another big leap this season, improving by close to 30 seconds.<\/p>\n
“The part of the race I look forward to is when you just can’t run any faster and it’s all based on how hard you can push yourself mentally after that,” he said. “I know when it comes down to that, I know I can break people, I have a confidence in my mental will to break people.”<\/p>\n