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Capital City Invitational begins with record marks
- Klas Stolpe
- 1 hour ago
- 7 min read
JDHS' Mangaccat, Taualo-Tasi, PHS’ Flint, Anderson, Sitka’s Kubik, Skagway's Borst all win
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé junior Kaia Mangaccat is used to being a pain in competitors' sides, but she faced her own “stitch” during her 3,200 meters win during the first day of the Capital City Invitational on Friday at the Thunder Mountain Middle School Falcons Field.
“I felt really good on the first half,” Mangaccat said. “But at five laps in I got a side stitch so I had to slow down. But I am still happy with it because I PR’d.”
Mangaccat ran a personal best time of 11 minutes 50.2 seconds and was unchallenged in the eight-lap race.
“Right now I am starting to taper,” Mangaccat said. “So I need to eat a lot and rest a lot. I am still running, I just don’t want to wear myself out.”
Of the side ache she said, “Usually it happens in longer races, like 5Ks. This is the first time in the 3,200. It stayed. It hurts a lot to run with it definitely, but a PR is encouraging. I am happy because now I know that I am more in shape and I can go faster next time.”
The day featured four event finals.
Sitka junior Derek Wilson won the boys 3,200 with a personal best time of 10:30.00.
“Just wanted to have fun,” Wilson said. “I wanted to experiment, like push myself, but I didn’t really push myself so I just had fun. Now going into regions I need to work with my coach, she is the best coach in Alaska…I need to work on endurance. I know I just had a whole season. But after the first mile I feel great, and I can just keep going. But I have to work on muscle too because my legs, I think they are too weak. So I have to work on my muscle so I don’t die off so fast.
JDHS junior Zacheriah Bos challenged Wilson throughout but could not close the five-foot gap and finished with a PR 10:37.00.
“PR was always a goal this race,” Bos said. “We talked it over, Carson (Kautz) and I. We kind of planned out what we were going to do in the race. But overall, I was just praying the whole time for a good race, and it went really well. Trainingwise I think I need to up tempo. Like, it has been a lot of different times for training in splits, because constantly PRing and moving up. So I guess just training, bringing times down a little bit more. Derek is in a different division so I might not be racing against him. He has got a great kick every time, but it will be good.”
Kautz placed fourth in a PR 10:58.00, just behind Ketchikan sophomore Isaac Evison with a PR 10:47.76.
Petersburg sophomore Cadence Flint and Sitka senior Emma Heuer were the final two jumping for the girls high jump. Flint hit a personal best height of four feet nine inches for the win with Heuer reaching 4’6. Flint’s height was one inch off the meet record of 4’10 set by Ketchikan sophomore Kaia Michalsen in 2014.
“This is a PR by one inch from my jump last year at regions,” Flint said. “So I am super excited to see if I can jump higher at regions and perform better under the pressure that comes with competing there. I am definitely going to be working on taking off closer to the bar because something I really struggled with was jumping from too far away. I think other than that I have been working all season long to perfect my jump.”
JDHS sophomore Addie Hartman was third with 4’4 high jump, junior Moira Bahn and sophomore Harper Larkyn Woltring tied for sixth with 4’0.
Skagway senior Royce Borst set the state’s “highest” mark of the season as he cleared the bar with a personal best six feet three inches in the boys high jump. Sitka junior Ashton Peterson was second with 5’8. JDHS junior Orion Paden tied for third at 5’4 with Sitka freshman Boyd Branch, Haines sophomore Wade Lloyd and Skagway junior Luca Tronrud.
“It felt good, it felt good,” Borst said. “At the Ketchikan meet I got the state record and a kid tied me. So now I am back at number one after the 6’3 jump. Honestly now, going into regions, I just need to keep my body in shape. Don’t go too hard in the practices because I will start hurting. Just rest and keep it steady. I definitely need to work on my arch and dropping my head at the top height. If I want to get those higher heights I have to arch my back more so I can get over the bar.”
Borst’s jump was also a new meet record, eclipsing the 6’2 set by Sitka senior Garrison Lass in 2019.
Petersburg sophomore Emilia Anderson won the girls shot put with a personal best throw of 29’6.5.
“Just really focusing on not trying to focus too hard on it,” Anderson said. “Not get in my head about everything. And also separation when I throw. Going into regions I am just kind of going over everything. Make sure I have everything down. I really want to focus on spin this coming week and hopefully do good on that. I will be spinning for disc. I have not worked on shot a lot this year and so I think I am going to start spinning the shot next year.”
JDHS senior Isabelle Martin placed second with a PR 28’8.5 and classmate Meliame Tupou was third with 28’3.5.
“Just work hard in practice and, honestly, just have fun,” Martin said. “Just work hard. Work on grunting, no, just kidding. Just work on throwing it. Getting a little more power behind it, sometimes I just have to ease off throws that just don’t go far. I, specifically, have a problem. I am supposed to have one of my legs, like, kind of offset. So then my legs don’t kind of get tangled up when I spin to throw. Other than that I have the form down, as I have been throwing for four years now. So pretty much work on not getting my legs tangled up.”
JDHS sophomore Leonidas Taualo-Tasi won the shot put with a new meet record throw of 49’5 for a personal best. Ketchikan senior Jack Dunn was a distant second with 42’6.25 and Sitka senior Shane Tincher third with 41’9. The previous mark was 47’7.75 by Gustavus senior Matthew Tua’au set in 2018.
“Yes sir, strength and motivation,” Taualo-Tasi said. “My family and everybody around me that cheers for me motivates me. Now for regions it is practice, practice, practice is all I need to do. And just, like, work harder at school, practice and everything else. I need to work harder on my spin, yes sir.”
JDHS junior Isaiah Galletes-Fale placed fourth with 39’10.5, senior Walter Haube-Law fifth with 38’11.75, sophomore Heleman AitaotoTela sixth with 38’0.5, senior Ames Patterson eighth with 36’10.5 and senior Richard Tupou ninth with 36’9.25 among the 34 throwers competing.
Sitka senior Jadelynn Kubik had the longest jump of the day at 15’3 for the girls but scratched by less than a quarter inch. She still won the finals with a 14’8 from a previous jump, edging Haines senior Sarah Jones with 14’5.75. JDHS sophomore Madeline Tingey was 10th with 11’5.5.
“For long jump, specifically, going into regions I really need to start keeping my head up,” Kubik said. “Because I tend to look down at my feet a lot and that is what collapses my jump. So I am trying to focus on something on the horizon. My PR is a 15 flat. That was the most frustrating part. The key is if you have a good push start that really helps. You want almost like a good bound push off when you start your run and then maintaining your speed throughout is the most important part.”
Sitka senior Cole McLaughlin won the boys long jump with a personal best 20’7, just edging JDHS freshman Vince Nizich who had a personal best 19’0.5.
All other events were preliminary races. Saturday finals begin at 9:30 a.m. Discus, triple jump, hurdles, relays and 100-1,600 distances will be completed throughout the day.
The girls 100 meet record of 12.3 (JDHS sr Cosley Bruno, 2022) and 200 meet record of 25.93 (Sitka sr Joei Vidad, 2019) could be broken as JDHS sophomore Bella Connally ran a 100-meter time of 12.52 on Friday and a 200 time of 26.27.
Sitka sophomore Andrew Mullin ran a boys 200 time of 23.26. The meet record is 22.6, held by James Connally (JDHS sr, 2022), Wilder Dillingham (JDHS sr 2024) and Jason Lorig (KTN sr 2025).
• Contact Klas Stolpe at sports@juneauindependent.com
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