The Nome classic Invitational cross country meet this past weekend was a chance for Nome-Beltz runners to capitalize on their home field advantage. Runners from Teller, Kotzebue, Savoonga, White Mountain, Nome, and Elim competed, but the Nome-Beltz teams took home the win.
In the men’s and women’s varsity 5,000 meters events, the home team swept all of the top four positions. For the Nome-Beltz men, Wilson Hoogendorn took first with a time of 18:25, Aaron Rose placed second with 18:27, Jamie Yi was third with 18:36, and Ben Cross finished fourth with a time of 18:48.
For the Nome-Beltz women, Starr Erikson won the event with a time of 22:42, followed 3 seconds later by Mary Fiskeaux. Mallory Conger took third place with 24:26, narrowly beating Ava Earthman, who had a time of 24:28.
Official team scores were 17 for the varsity men, 15 for the varsity women, and 20 for the junior high team. The Nome-Beltz teams will travel to Kotzebue this weekend for their next competition.
