26 athletes from across western Alaska traveled to the ASAA Cross Country Championships last weekend, with one young competitor repeating as state champion.
Fresh off of a first-place finish at the Bering Strait School District conference meet just the week before, Unalakleet’s star junior Ourea Busk returned to the state Division III meet to take home the title. The now two-time state champion finished with a time of 20:05, that’s about a six and a half minute mile pace. Busk was joined at the event by her older sister, Cedar Busk who finished in 36th and freshman Isabella Eller who finished seventh.
Bering Strait School District also sent three boys for the Division III race. Shaktoolik’s Seth Paniptchuk took home sixth place, followed by 51st place finisher Norman Stenek of Shishmaref and Derrick Smith of Golovin, who finished 55th.
Nome-Beltz had two-top-ten finishers in the Division II, with seniors Orson Hoogendorn and Wookie Nichols finishing fifth and sixth, respectively. For the boy’s event, Hoogendorn was joined by Ben Milton, who finished 39th. In the girls event, Nome-Beltz’s KJ West finished in 15th.
Bethel’s Ned Peters also finished in the top ten of the division II race with an eighth place result. His freshman teammate, Cole Iverson finished just outside of the top ten, in eleventh. As the team champion from the Big West Regional Meet the previous week, Bethel sent seven runners, six of which finished in the top 40 of the race, earning them fourth in the team score.
Two athletes from Kotzebue qualified for the state meet. Senior Xiimara Salazar finished in 27th in the girls race and junior Ben Marcus finished 41st in the boys event.
As cross country season comes to a close, many athletes are shifting their attention to basketball season. Come next spring, several are expected to put their running shoes back on for track and field.
For the full list of results, visit athletic.net.
