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Capital City Invitational ends with high state stakes set
- Klas Stolpe
- 14 hours ago
- 15 min read
Region V athletes jump, run, throw well, compete excellently
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
A number of high state marks were set or challenged as Region V athletes gathered at the Capital City Invitational Track and Field meet Saturday at Juneau’s Thunder Mountain Middle School’s Falcons Sports Stadium.
Division I Ketchikan junior Ryan Elerding got the morning started with a 30-foot, 9-inch win in the triple jump.
"I like the Juneau track a lot because people seem to PR on it often,” Elerding said. “So for this meet, I was hoping to jump a little better than I have been this season to prepare myself for regions to actually jump well. But to get to this meet for a lot of people on the Ketchikan team means that they will most likely be able to compete in regions, so it is a big deal.”
Elerding said the most difficult part of the triple jump is “getting on the board. This season it has not been good for me on that part because when I jump behind the board, it takes off inches I could have gotten. But the form matters, too. It is hard to do my hop-step-jump going forward instead of up. A lot of the time on my hop phase I go too high, but this time it made my jump better because I went more forward with it and I cycled my legs better when I landed so it pushed me to go further into the pit. So those would be the things to work on before regions for my triple jump."
"But for my other event — the 300 hurdles — I have to work on speeding up on the last 100. I normally have a great kick at the end and pass people, but when there are hurdles in the way I just get so tired and don't do as well. With this region’s meet, I am hoping to get first for triple because I have been working for it since freshman year."
Division II Sitka senior Natalie Hall won the girls 300-meter hurdles in 49.59 with DII Petersburg sophomore Lexie Tow second in 53.86 and Elerding third with 56.02. DI Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé senior Isabella Reyes-Boyer was fourth in 58.32 and freshman teammate Fiona Koelsch fifth in 58.34. At regions, the DI and DII teams will score for state separately.
One of the state’s most impressive times fell just after a lunch break as JDHS sophomores Addie Hartman, Shandiin Frommherz, Mya Hayes and Bella Connally feasted on the oval, eating up the turns and straight stretches in 51.01 seconds, to take the girls 4x100 relay record from the Homer Mariners, who had set a 51.02 earlier in the day at the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Invitational.
“My part in the relay as first leg is important because I am quick getting out of the blocks,” Hartman said. “I am good running the curves because I run the 400 meters, and I am really good at using the curve to gain speed.”
Frommherz ran the second leg and said, “My part is really important because I try my hardest to get a good handoff and give a good handoff. And I really push myself to the fullest to help get our team a good time.”
Of the third leg, Hayes said, “I really try to just gap everyone and just stay where I am at. The curves are really fun to try and pick up and see where you are going. I really just work hard to get a hand off to Bella so she can do her thing and take off and do what she does best.”
Connally’s thing was to pull away from the field.
“My part is really important because I am able to either haul people down or keep a good gap,” she said. “And use all of my strength and power to push through all the way.”
The four agreed they needed to get their handoffs down, something they work on at the end of each practice three times a week.
“We are all really close,” Hayes said. “We all bond together well. We just need to be quick with the handoffs.”
Connally also anchored the JDHS girls 4x200 relay win in 1:58.04. Senior Kaylee Koelsch ran the first leg, senior Melanie Shrader the second and Hayes the third.
Connally added the 200-meter win as well in 26.27. Haines senior Sarah Jones was second in 28.34 and JDHS’ Hayes third in 29.67. Connally raced the 100 on Friday, but in the boys race and did not advance to the boys finals. Her time of 12.52 was the fastest girls’ time in the meet — second fastest in the state this season (Chugiak freshman Sienna Johnson 12.50) — but was not counted.
“It was nice having that experience,” Connally said of the boys’ race. “Having people in front pushing me, having someone there to chase down. It is nice having these opportunities. I know I can run the times that will get me good places in state…I love competing with my teammates and afterwards just having fun, congratulating each other after the races.”
The boys 4x100 went to Sitka (senior Zander Dumag, junior Marc Tomas, senior Calder Prussian, sophomore Andrew Mullin) in 44.91, but Ketchikan (seniors Liam Woodward and Evan Dash and juniors Henry Vail and Blaine Garlick) made significant progress to place second in 46.30. Petersburg (seniors Brayden Tucker, Alex Holmgrain and Noah Pawuk, junior Jakob Preisler) finished third in a school record 46.41, and JDHS (freshman William Westmoreland, juniors Bryden Roberts and Krew Ridle, sophomore Sylvan Washington) fourth 48.09.
“Right now we have just been looking for a good handoff race,” Ketchikan’s Vail said. “Just good, smooth and quick. We have been having trouble with that. First meet we ever had we dropped it. And after that, small little mistakes. So it was really nice to be quick, smooth and everyone getting it through. Going into regions we will be working on how to get even faster as a team and make even more perfect handoffs. Just make it smoother.”
Added Ketchikan’s Dash, “Key was to just keep it legal, keep it clean. I have been struggling with that all season. We finally got it today so I am really happy going into regions.”
Petersburg’s 4x200 boys relay (senior Brayden Tucker, junior Nolan Lutomski, senior Noah Pawuk, junior Ben Kandoll) broke their school record with a first-place finish in 1:36.05. Ketchikan (freshmen James Armstrong and Nick Piazza, senior Evan Dash, junior Henry Vail) placed second in 1:37.75. JDHS (junior Isaiah Carrillo, sophomore Ethan Ward, freshman Cassius King, sophomore Lucas Wyatt) placed seventh in 1:50.42.
JDHS won the girls 4x400 relay (senior Melanie Shrader, junior Kaia Mangaccat and sophomores Shandiin Frommherz and Addie Hartman) in 4:30.87.
Sitka won the boys 4x400 (senior Francis Myers, Prussian, juniors Derek Wilson and James Nellis) in 3:40.66. JDHS was third in 3:53.63 (sophomore Jarry Maghinay, freshman Vince Nizich, senior Nolan Cruz, freshman William Westmoreland).
JDHS won the boys 4x800 relay team (junior Gage Keller and sophomores Lucas Nelson-Vallejo Emmett Hightower and Anderson Murray) in 9:22.94.
Sitka’s girls 4x800 (senior Marina Marley and freshmen Novah Schmidt, Grace Hall, and Lola Hitchcock) won in 11:48.03.
Sitka junior James Nellis won the boys 110-meter hurdles in 16.92 and the 300-meter hurdles in a personal best 43.93.
“Key for me was switching up my steps,” Nellis said of his 110-meter win. “I have been trying to learn the three-step. Last race it didn’t go well so, like today, I am more comfortable with four. So I need to work more on the three for regions to improve. Definitely learning it and getting more comfortable will help me a lot.”
Sitka senior Emma Heuer won the girls 100-meter hurdles in 17.69, edging JDHS’ Hartman in 18.01 and Sitka senior Natalie Hall in 18.21.
“Three stepping is very important,” Heuer said. “I don’t necessarily three-step, I am not quite there yet. It is something I am working on. But honestly, getting over the hurdles quick and being fast with your trail leg and attacking them hard is key. I probably won’t try my three-step at regions because I have been four-stepping for so long, so I am just trying to get a faster trail leg, get faster in between the hurdles and maybe even have a stronger start at the beginning.”
Sitka sophomore Andrew “Finn” Mullin won the 100 meters in 11.60, edging Petersburg juniors Jakob Preisler in 11.63 and Ben Kandoll in 11.80.
“Block starts are not my specialty,” Mullin said. “But I feel like I have a lot of top-end speed training. So as long as I can stay close to them I think I can always out-kick them.”
Mullin also ran a personal best 23.26 to win the 200-meter prelims on Friday, but was in a battle in the Saturday finals, placing second in 23.61 behind Ketchikan junior Henry Vail in 23.36, with Preisler placing third in 24.01.
Preisler noted for regions, “I will focus more on block starts. My sprinting is good, but my blocks need more training.”
Preisler is an exchange student from Germany. He has been in Petersburg for 10 months and leaves in June.
“I like the track team,” he said. “The coaches are nice. We have good practice. It is awesome and I am very happy to be in Petersburg.”
JDHS sophomore Shandiin Frommherz won the girls 400 meters in a personal best 1:04.87.
“I think I was just really trying to push myself,” Frommherz said. “Since after all these races I always knew I could push a little harder. And on the straights, getting to the 200-meter mark, 200 meters left, I realized that, dang, I could push even further. And then I saw my mom (Amber Frommherz) in the crowd because she is working. And I was like, dang, I kind of want to make her really proud. And so I dedicated this all to my mom. She is a huge runner and the one who got me the love for running. This run is making me really happy because I believe, I hope, that in regions I can get really close and maybe even shave off a couple extra seconds from my time.”
Ketchikan junior Henry Vail won the boys 400 in 51.46 with Sitka senior Calder Prussian second in 54.48 and Petersburg junior Ben Kandoll third in 56.12
JDHS junior Kaia Mangaccat won the girls 800 in a personal best 2:28.89, with Petersburg sophomore Arielle Tucker second in 2:40.92.
“I was just trying to go out hard on the first lap and kind of carry that through to the end,” Mangaccat said. She also won the 3,200 meters on Friday and had the fastest 1,600 girls time of the meet (5:15.15), but ran it in the boys race and did not place in the top eight. “I haven’t decided what I am going to run at regions, but I will probably choose two or three individual distance events. And then a relay race.”
Petersburg’s Tucker won the girls 1,600 meters with a personal best 5:48.54.
“I was trying to do roughly my time from last year,” Tucker said. “That has kind of been the whole goal this season. Just do my best. Going into regions it means I will be ranked pretty good and I will have a better chance at state I think. I think it would be pretty cool if I win regions. You just do your best, try your hardest and on the last lap push the most you can do.”
JDHS senior Sienna Farr ran her last meet for the Crimson Bears, placing first in one of two heats in the 1,600, and 13th overall, with a season-best time of 6:19.12.
“I haven’t raced all season,” Farr said. “I’ve been busy so I haven’t been to as many practices as I should have, so I didn’t have a seed time so was placed in this heat instead of the heat my friends are racing and my normal competitors. Something about me is that I really pace off other people and not really myself. It is hard for me to understand how to push myself. So I went to win and I achieved that, which was great. I thought my time was fine, but I wanted to see how far I could push myself on my own without any pacing. No watch today. No splits. My last meet. I have a lot going on.”
Farr will be attending Stanford University.
“I feel bad, but I know my teammates are going to crush regions absolutely,” Farr said. “And I know I did my part by practicing with them. Senior year meant having fun and making the biggest impact on my community that I could, whether that be running or the many other things that I do. I just wanted to leave a good impact on my school and my team. Sometimes that meant taking days off so I could do fun things with my friends and enjoy my last couple months here. But I think it meant positivity and helping out others.”
Sitka junior Zach Martins won the boys 800 meters in a personal best 2:07.42, edging Ketchikan senior Carter Phillips in a season best 2:07.47 and Sitka senior Francis Myers in a personal best 2:08.19.
“Just wanted to go out and have some fun,” Martins said. He trailed after lap one. “I just tried to catch my teammate and, yeah, I did. I didn’t know I would catch him, but it felt really good…I will probably be running this race at regions, I wasn’t planning on that at first. The 800 is not as long as the two mile. I have a little bit of sprint in me. We have a really good team this year. We are a younger team, we have some new upcoming juniors that are really good. So I feel like it is a building year for us.”
Craig junior Aulis Nelson won the boys 1,600 meters in a personal best 4:38.19.
“I set a goal and I was like, I have got to stick to it,” Nelson said. “So I did. My goal was 1:10 per lap. And I was able to go under so it felt really good. I think this means I could do better at regions. I could compete more. Maybe I get closer to Boomchain (Wrangell senior Boomchain Locks holds the state’s top 1,600 time of 4:18.62) who will be there. I have always wanted to be 4:30. That is my longtime goal. If I could get down to that it would be so huge.”
A personal best time doesn’t have to be first, and JDHS sophomore Lucas Nelson-Vallejo hit his in 5:26.46 for 19th place.
“I was just trying to get a new PR,” Vallejo said. “That was all I was focusing on. Maybe at regions I can get a new PR, just run faster. I just really enjoy running and I just want to improve.”
Sitka sophomore Kailee Brady won the girls discus with 82’10”. Petersburg sophomore Emilia Anderson was second with 82’9.5” and JDHS senior Isabelle Martin third with 82’4.5”.
JDHS senior Ricky Tupou put an exclamation point on the meet with his season-best discus throw of 141 feet, 10 inches, a mark that is the fifth best in the state.
“Since last year I have just been trying to PR,” Tupou said. “But injuries have been holding me back a little bit. I am happy with this result today. It is always good to get first, but I am working for more.” He was in a car accident a couple weeks ago, resulting in a shoulder injury.
Tupou had put another throw past 150 feet but scratched.
“I guess I just need to not scratch,” Tupou said. “I am lucky. Most teams in Southeast don’t have a throwing coach. I am lucky to have coach Brandi (Adams) and coach Tina (Martin). They are both really good at what they do. I just need to listen to them and everything will go good… Last year at regions I scratched all my throws, which was unfortunate. Every year I have never really done as good as I want at regions. I just have to stay humble and keep my head up.”
Tupou was recently honored with the Staveland Award, named after 2013 graduate Jonelle Staveland of now-defunct Thunder Mountain High School, for competing as a varsity athlete in four sports all four years of his high school career. Tupou is accomplished in football, wrestling, cheerleading and track. He also rises at 6 a.m., five days a week, to attend seminary and study scripture. He will be going on Mormon mission after graduation.
“After high school I plan to go on my mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” he said. “It brings me a lot of joy, and I see the blessings of it in my family and in my friends. It just makes me happy and that is why I want to go spread that happiness where I can. And after that I hope to throw collegiately.”
Sitka won the boys team scoring with 204.5, JDHS 132.5, KTN 113, PSG 89, SKG 55.5, HNS 34.5 and CRG 23. JDHS won the girls team scoring with 213, SIT 173, PSG 116.5, HNS 60, KTN 27, SKG 12, Gustavus 9.5 and CRG 9. The Region V championships are May 22-23 at Ketchikan.
The Capital City Invitational started Friday with finals in the 3,200, shot put, high jump and long jump.
The CCI meet results are here.
Friday also included senior night honors for JDHS’ R. Tupou, Farr, Meliame Tupou, Isabella Batty, Nolan Cruz, Eva Goertzen, Walter Haube-Law, Kaylee Koelsch, Zoë Lessard, Jonah Mahle, Lua Mangaccat, Isabelle Martin, Della Mearig, Ames Patterson, Zachary Prather, Bella Reyes-Boyer and Melanie Shrader.
“Track has been one of the most enriching sports I've ever done,” Bella Reyes-Boyer said. “I’ve gained community, a love for running, and friends whom I consider a second family. Being in track all four years of high school has been amazing. Being able to see my teammates grow and shine in this sport and helping new members out of their shells and celebrating every success no matter how small, has truly been inspirational. Track has helped me grow my confidence, outgoing personality, and helped me grow leadership through being a captain my junior and senior year. Track and field has provided me with so much and as sad as I am to see the season come to a close, I know that the lessons I have learned and the friendships I have made from this sport will carry on into my future…If I were to tell my freshman self anything about being a student-athlete it would be to keep going and don’t quit. Perfection isn’t automatic and it takes time, effort, and practice, so stick with it, and sometimes you won’t get there and that’s OK. Also, always make sure you are warmed up before practice, and avoid the long jump pit sophomore year so you don’t accidentally sprain your ankle.”
Walter Haube-Law said, “It means a lot to be on a team that has so many people who enjoy track and field. Everybody is friendly and supportive and it has made me enjoy the small things and cheer on people who I do not know and even just being on the team I have made a lot of friends. I would tell my freshman self, to not give up, be supportive, and just enjoy the trips and meets and don’t put yourself down just because you didn’t do good.”
Isabelle Martin said, “Doing track has meant a lot to me. The community is so close-knit and everyone is so friendly, and that part of track means everything to me. Working hard and getting to see the work you put in show up in competition is so exciting. Some advice I would give to my freshman self is to be friends with everyone even if you are scared what they will think of you.”
Melanie Shrader said, “Being a senior trying out track and field for the first time, it is bittersweet knowing that this will be both the first and last home meet in my high-school career. Being a part of the track team has been a great way for me to meet new people, learn new skills, and set and reach goals…I do not regret anything, although given the chance I would have liked to have started track earlier.”
Kaylee Koelsch said, “Being a part of the track team has meant everything to me. It is where I have met one of my closest friends, and I have made tons of unforgettable memories throughout all of the practices, trips, and meets. My advice would be to not forget your spikes, show up to practice even on the rainy days, and to have fun.”
• Contact Klas Stolpe at sports@juneauindependent.com.
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