by Tommy Wells
Lindsey Beans-Polk runs neck to neck with Kotzebue runner Jessica McCall in the girls varsity race during last Saturday’s Nome XC Invitational. McCall edged her by two seconds to the finish line. 
Fiona Phelan opts to take the high road through the water crossing during the Nome XC Invitational. She finished in sixth place. 
Cadence Cedars of Bethel crosses a creek during the Nome XC Invitational held in Nome. 
Bethel runners cross a water crossing chasing eventual winner of Nome Tobin Hobbs, in the water, and two Kotzebue runners. 
Varsity boys Thomas Phelan and Jamin Crow, wearing Bethel shirts, took fourth and third place respectively in the XC Nome Invitational last Saturday. 
The Bethel team poses under the finish line in Nome after a successful race in the Nome Invitational XC held on Sept. 14 in Nome. They will be back in two weeks when Nome hosts the regional competition. 
Lindsey Beans-Polk, second from left, took third place in the Girls Varsity XC race at the Nome XC Invitational, held Saturday, Sept. 14 in Nome.
photos by Diana Haecker/The Nome Nugget.
Jamin Crow and Lindsey Beans-Polk both turned in dynamic efforts this past weekend at the Nome Invitational Cross Country Meet. The two might have led the BRHS squads to the top of the standings, if Bethel had fielded enough runners to score as a team.
Bethel, which had just four runners competing in the boys’ and girls’ races, had all but one runner finish in the top 10 of their respective races, including Crow and Beans-Polk who sprinted to third in the 5-kilometer race held behind Nome-Beltz High School.
Crow turned in one of the top efforts in the meet. He covered the course in a time of 18 minutes, 58 seconds and finished just 7 seconds behind Kotzebue’s Aiden Ivanoff, who finished second overall. Nome’s Tobin Hobbs won the race with a time of 18:39.
Thomas Phelan and Joshua Putikka also starred for the Warriors. Phelan placed fourth in the boys’ standings with a time of 19:31. Putikka, one of three juniors competing for BRHS, was seventh at 20:18.
Sophomore Peter Crow rounded out Bethel’s efforts by finishing 10th. He checked in at the finish line with a time of 21:02.
Dennis Aqumrarluq Pete, Jeri Dan, Garrison Koutchak and McGrady Pete of Stebbins finished 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th, respectively.
Beans-Polk was one of the more dominant runners in the girls’ varsity meet. She finished third overall with a time of 23:48. Her time was just two seconds slower than Kotzebue’s Jessica McCall who was second at 23:46. Kaila Short, of Kotzebue, won the race with a mark of 23:26.
Bethel sophomores Beth Hensley and Fiona Phelan legged out fifth- and sixth-place finishes, respectively. Hensley was fifth at 24:56. Phelan checked in one spot later at 25:10.
Katherine Small also did well for BRHS. She placed 18th overall at 28:18.
Stebbins junior Celeste Katcheak led the Yukon area runners. She took 14th with a time of 27:33. Teammate Daynese Pete was 24th at 41:45.
