Peninsula Teams Excel At State Track In Palmer

Peninsula area high schools participated in the Division 1 and Division 2 State Track Meet on Friday and Saturday at Palmer High School.

Soldotna competed in the Division 1 bracket – both teams finishing fourth overall.

Wyatt Faircloth won silver in the men’s 300m hurdles. Elijah Jedlicki, Jaren Nash, James Innes, and Leigh Tacey earned a second place finish in the 4x400m relay. Kevin Steger and Luke Miller took home second and third place finishes in shot put. Soldotna’s Emma Glassmaker finished fourth in the girls 100m dash. The state championship title in 300m hurdles went to Anaulie Sedivy with a PR of 47.91. Mandi Sisley, Emma Glassmaker, Angelina Chavarria, and Sarah Brown placed fourth in the 4x100m relay and Mandi Sisley, Emma Glassmaker, Anaulie Sedivy, and Sarah Brown fourth in the 4x200m relay. Bronze in the 4x400m relay went to Sophia Jedlicki, Annie Burns, Sasha Brott, and Anaulie Sedivy. Katelyn Morrison took home gold in the women’s high jump for Soldotna.

In Division 2 team scores, Kenai Girls placed second overall, Homer girls third, Seward tenth, and Ninilchik seventeenth. Homer, Kenai, and Nikiski boys finished fifth, sixth, and seventh, and Seward in ninth.

Kenai girls were on the podium for both track and field events. Malena Grieme, Sierra Hershberger, Sophie Tapley, and Emilee Wilson took home first place in the 4x100m relay race with a time of 52.46 seconds. Second place in girls shot put was earned by Emma Beck with a throw of 34-07.75. Beck also took third in discus. Emilee Wilson jumped 15-03.5 for third place in long jump, and a PR of 31-10.5 for a second place finish in triple jump. Malena Grieme, Sierra Hershberger, Sophie Tapley, and Cara Graves took home fourth in the girls 4x200m relay. Emilee Wilson took fourth in the girls 800m and Jayna Boonstra claimed second place in the 3200m.

Homer’s Eryn Fields placed second in the 400m dash, and third in the 800m. Grace Miotke took first place in the girls 300m hurdles. Jasmine Lurus, Brightly Thoning, Immi Im, and Alana Prescott took third in the 4x200m relay. Beatrix McDonough, Eryn Field, Brightly Thoning, and Gracie Miotke ran the 4x400m relay in 4:18.69 for a first place finish. Auden Cress earned a third place finish in girls discus, and Brightly Thoning was named state champion in high jump.

Kenai’s Reagan Graves was awarded the Division 2 men’s Most Valuable Player award with his second place finish in the 100m and gold in the 200m. Gregory Fallon earned a second place finish for his 400m run and Ransom Hayes took third in the men’s 300m hurdles. Adam Anglebrandt threw the shot put for a PR of 42-08, and discus 123-10 earning a second place finish for both. Gold in the men’s 4x100m and 4x200m relays went home to Kenai Central for the second year in a row. Both relays were run by Reagan Graves, Daniel McRorie, Robert Hayes, and Ransom Hayes.

Lukyan Dax of Homer took home bronze for the men’s 100m and 400m races, and silver for the 200m. Homer’s Seamus McDonough and Lance Seneff earned second and third, respectively, in the men’s 800m race, and McDonough second in the 1600m. McDonough took home first for his PR of 9:28.34 in the 3200m. The men’s 4x400m relay gold went to the Homer team made up of Lukyan Dax, Jonah Mershon, Lance Seneff, and Seamus McDonough. Homer boys rounded out their medal collection with a third place finish in the 4x800m relay run by Tait Ostrom, Jai Badajos, Ethan Styvar, and Damon Weisser.

Nikiski’s Truit McCaughey took home gold in men’s shot put with a throw of 45-06 and Braedon Porter fourth. Thane Quiner earned a silver in high jump and Walter Haybeck bronze in long jump.

Seward’s Jerrick Senecal, Ronan Bickling, Gideon Schrock, and Emerson Cross took second place in the men’s 4×100 relay.