Connally wins two events at high school all-star meet

Tupou earns a second, Mangaccat a third, all with personal best performances

The North Southeast All-Star team, from left, Sitka coach Jeremy Strong, Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé rising junior Bella Connally, 2026 Wrangell graduate Boomchain Loucks, Sitka rising senior James Nellis, JDHS rising senior Kaia Mangaccat, 2026 Sitka graduate Cole McLaughlin, Sitka rising junior Finn Mullin, Ketchikan rising senior Henry Vail, and JDHS coach Brandy Adams pose at the Brian Young Invitational on Saturday, June 6, 2026. (Photo courtesy Jeremy Strong)

By Klas Stolpe  

Juneau Independent

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé 2026 graduate Richard Tupou, JDHS rising senior Kaia Mangacat and rising junior Bella Connally achieved personal best results at last weekend’s Brian Young Invitational Track and Field meet held in Palmer. 

The trio was part of the North/Southeast All-Star team and competed against high school athletes who made up the Cook Inlet Conference and the South Central All-Stars.

Connally ran her fastest-ever 100 meters and 200 meters BYI times, winning both events in times of 12.45 and 25.39, respectively. The BYI record times for those events are held by Delta Junction’s Hailey Williams who ran a 12.05 100 in 2018 and 24.78 200 in 2019. Connally has an all-time PB in the 100 meters of 12.33 set in her runner-up finish at the Alaska School Activities Association State Track and Field Championships on Saturday, May 30, at Anchorage's Dimond High School.

Tupou placed second in the discus with a personal best BYI throw of 136.31 feet (first was Chugiak rising senior Benjamin Hiestand at 168 feet 8 inches, team Cook Inlet Conference). Hiestand also won the shot put with 51 feet 9 inches. The BYI discus record is 160’07 by Grace Christian’s Grant George in 2013, he also holds the shot put mark of 56’06. Tupou's PB discus toss is 150 feet set at the ASAA state championships on Friday, May 29.

“I think I was lucky,” Tupou said. “But I feel blessed to be able to compete. I hope to continue at BYU after my mission and I will try to fit in training during the mission, too.”

Mangacat placed second in the mile with 5:17.23 and fourth in the 800 meters with a personal best 2:23.84. In the mile, athletes were also given a time when they passed the 1,600-meter distance before finishing. Mangaccat had the fastest high school 1,600 time of 5:15.54 (slower than her state championships PB of 5:12.56), Gruening Middle School eighth grader Claire Shaha hit 5:08.98 at 1,600 meters en route to her winning mile time of 5:10.76 for the CIC team.

West Anchorage rising senior Kendall Barnett won the varsity 800 in 2:19.98, while Shaha hit 1:05.07 for Gruening. The BYI 800 mark of 2:12.19 and 1,600 mark of 4:51.05 are both held by Sitka’s Clare Mullin, set in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

Mangaccat also was part of the North/Southeast 4x400 relay team (2026 Delta Junction graduate Iris Haas, West Valley rising junior Miriam Armstrong, 2026 West Valley graduate June Breitenbach) that placed third with 4:16.41 (1. CIC 4:10.41 - 2026 South Anchorage graduate Anna Green, rising Service sr Attia Braham, rising Dimond sr Ellie Stull, rising West Anchorage so Chloe Hayner).

The North/Southeast team was coached by Sitka head coach Jeremy Strong and included Connally, Tupou, Mangaccat, 2026 Wrangell graduate Boomchain Loucks, Ketchikan rising senior Henry Vail and from Sitka, rising junior Finn Mullin, rising senior James Nellis and 2026 graduate Cole McLaughlin. 

“The Brian Young Invitational meet is an opportunity for athletes to break down the classification barriers,” Strong said. “The best athletes against each other for an opportunity to get best times without the pressure of the state meet looming. Often athletes are able to get personal bests and those performances allow them to qualify for other larger, more prestigious meets.”

The BYI meet is sanctioned by the United States Track and Field Association, and runs in conjunction with the USATF Alaska Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships. That means athletes can set qualifying times or marks for the JOs.

While Connally did not set a JO mark, she was invited to and plans to compete at the Nike Outdoor Nationals June 18-22, at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, in the 100 meters.

“All the coaches there were super nice and insightful,” Connally said. “Some takeaways from the meet were my 200-meter race and just hanging out with my team. I am excited to compete at one of the best tracks in the world and for the times I can run there. And with the help from my dad’s coaching I know I can run well there.”

The BYI is not sanctioned by the Alaska School Activities Association, so times and marks set are not Alaska high school region or state records or official school records. They are recorded by USATF Alaska, however, which covers youth through adult athletes and are registered as Alaska times and marks.

State and region records must be set in the ASAA state and region championships and school records during the season in ASAA-sanctioned meets.

Connally holds the JDHS 100-meter record time of 12.46. Her BYI 200 time of 25.39 would have been a JDHS record, as it is faster than the current time set by Janelle Billingslea, who ran a 26.03 in 1996. Billingslea holds the third fastest all-time Alaska women’s 400-meter time of 53.71 set in 1999 and fifth fastest 200 time of 24.42 set in 2000, both while running collegiately at Georgetown University. In 1999, Billingslea set a world junior indoor record in the women’s 500 with 1:11.69.

Connally ran “unsanctioned” at the BYI, but it is expected she will better both of her personal best times this coming season to break her own JDHS record and set another new event record.

“I think next season I can run a sub-12 for the 100 meters,” Connally said. “And a low-25 to high-24 for the 200.”

At the BYI, Wrangell’s Loucks won the 800 in 1:58.89, the true mile in 4:26.55 (passing the 1,600 meter mark in first place at 4:25.11) and the 3,200 in 9:46.56.

Ketchikan’s Vail was part of the winning 4x400 relay team (2026 West Valley graduate Landen Glynn, rising senior Merrick Zook, Nicholson) that ran 3:27.76. Vail also placed third in the 400 meters with 49.87 (1. jr Curtis Beck 48.73, unattached; 2. West Anchorage graduate Ansel Alexander 49.77, CIC) and eighth in the 200 with 23.03 (1. Beck 21.87, unattached; 2. Chugiak jr Ahmir Walker 22.36, CIC).

Sitka’s Nellis won the 300-meter hurdles in 41.52 and placed sixth in the 110-meter hurdles with 16.84 (1. East Anchorage sr Matthew Jackson 15.33, CIC)

Mullin was part of the third-place North/Southeast 4x100 relay team (including rising West Valley junior Noa Summerville, 2026 graduate Adam Massey and rising senior Tristin Nicholson) that ran 44.90; and the second-place 4x200 relay (Vail, Glynn and 2026 North Pole graduate Elijah Johnson) that ran 1:31.01. Cook Inlet Conference won both races in 44.10 (Chugiak’s rising jr Finn Larsen, rising jr Walker, 2026 graduate Ryker Putman, rising so Elijah Udall) and 1:29.14 (Udall, Walker, 2026 Dimond graduate Malachi Coski, 2026 Chugiak graduate Dausen Loughman), respectively. 

McLaughlin placed fifth in the triple jump with 40 feet 6.75 inches (1. Chugiak rising junior Finn Larsen 44.9.25 of Cook Inlet Conference) and placed sixth in the long jump with 19 feet 9 inches (1. 2026 Chugiak graduate Luke Poland 20’9.25 of CIC).

“The group from Southeast was truly an all-star group representing the region with poise and strong performances,” Strong said. “As a coach it was a pleasure to get to travel with such an outstanding group of young athletes.”

Also notable was the Southcentral 4x200 relay team (Bartlett rising sophomores Farrah Gamechuk and Mya Smothers, Chugiak rising sophomore Sienna Jonhson and South 2026 graduate Anna Green) that won in 1:42.55, the fastest prep time in Alaska history.

• Contact Klas Stolpe at sports@juneauindependent.com