by Tommy Wells
The Bethel Regional High School boys’ and girls’ cross country teams raced their way to 16th at the 2017 Bartlett State Preview meet on Saturday in Anchorage. The BRHS teams were among more than 40 teams from across the state to participate in the 5-kilometer event.
The BRHS girls placed 16th in the girls’ division with 457 points. The Warriors were 16th in the boys’ standing with 439.
Lindsey Beans-Polk led all the Lady Warriors in the 3.1-mile race. She legged out a time of 23 minutes and 17 seconds and finished 79th in an event that featured 120 female runners.
Dorothy Bukowski also notched a stellar effort. She placed 84th at 24:05.
Dellarae Charlie, Sydney Gray and Fiola Dema also competed for Bethel. Charlie ran her way to a 103rd-place finish with a time of 25:48. Gray and Dema were 111th and 113th, respectively, with times of 27 minutes and 27:46.
West Valley, backed by a 1-2 finish by teammates Kendall Kramer and Faith Widman, won the girls’ championship. West Valley scored just 35 points and easily edged out Kenai Central for first. Kenai talied 126 points.
Kramer raced her way to the win in the girls’ division with a time of 18:36. Widman checked in at 19:18, 2 seconds ahead of South Anchorage’s Ava Smith.
Thomas Phelan paced all the Warriors’ efforts in the meet. He finished 80th in the boys’ race with a time of 18:40.
Lawrence Poe, Jamin Crow and Gary Poe all finished in the top 100, too. Lawrence Poe was 84th at 18:49, while Crow placed 90th at 19:12. Gary Poe was 96th at 19:16.
Hunter Crace narrowly missed the top 100, finishing 102nd at 19:23.
Ray Daniel and Shane Phelan also did well. Daniel was 117th with a time of 19:54. Phelan was 127th at 20:36.
Overall, more than 140 male athletes participated in the race.
Dimond won the boys’ championship with 77 points. West Valley finished second with 87.
Anchorage Christian’s Blake Bennett was the boys’ top medalist, winning the event with a time of 15:59.
