Miriam Trujillo
The Nome-Beltz cross country team attended its state championship and wrapped up its 2021 season in Anchorage this past weekend. Nome-Beltz went to state at the ASAA State D2 Race.
In the girl’s race, Freshman AwaLuk Nichols lead the Nome-Beltz runners, clocking in at 23 minutes and five seconds. Overall, she placed 24th. Besides Nichols, two other girls from the Bering Strait Region ran in the state championships. Natallie Tobuk, a Nome Junior, placed 32nd with a time of 24:35.1. Della Medlin, a senior from Nome placed 38th overall. Her time was 25:12.9 seconds.
In the same race, representing Kotzebue were two runners. Zaida Baldwin, a senior from Kotzebue took 42nd, finishing with a time of 25:39.7. Sophomore Katelyn Piper, also from Kotzebue She finished 49th with a time of 26:5.3 seconds. Representing Galena were runners Sable Scotten, a senior who finished 50th with a time of 26:13.7 seconds, and Jade Thurmond, a sophomore with a time of 31:8.4 seconds. She finished 59th.
For the boys’ race, Nome athlete, sophomore Son Erickson led the Bering Strait Region athletes to the finish line. He placed 34th overall with a time of 19:6.3 seconds. Immediately behind him was Nome athlete, freshman Orson Hoogenderon, placing 35th with a time of 19:9.7. Coming quickly behind him, in 37th place, was Nome Freshman Finn Gregg, finishing the race with a time of 19:17 seconds. Nome senior, Colin McFarland was the next of the Bering Strait athletes to finish. His time was 19:59.7 seconds, putting him at 46th overall. Jon Smith, a sophomore from Nome, placed 50th, timing the race at 20:14.1. Paris Heble, a Nome Senior placed 53rd with a time of 20:21.4. Nome’s Hayden Leeper, a sophomore, placed 56th overall. His time was 20:35.8.
The Nome-Beltz boys, as a team, had a strong finish to the season. They placed 6th overall in the state.
Kotzebue’s own Ezra Jones finished in 48th place, clocking in at 20:8.3. Runners from Galena, Preston Kopp and Caedon Merriner placed 32nd and 33rd with the same time of 19:4.6 seconds. Also from Galena were runners Finn Hornfischer, placing 43rd with a time of 19:41.7 seconds, Paytyn Cleaver, with a time of 22:7.1 seconds, and Cassidy Huntington with a time of 22:21:8 seconds. Cleaver and Huntington placed 61st and 62nd respectively.
Image at top: Runner from state championship (2020). Image courtesy of Cory Kralovetz, used with permission.
A previous published version of this story implied that Kotzebue is part of the Bering Strait Region. This is not the case and KNOM regrets any confusion this may have caused.
