KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
The Kodiak High School Bears track and field team went into the state championships over the weekend with high expectations of at least the boys repeating as state champions, but they came away disappointed.
The boys were a distant third with 70 when the final scores were tallied, falling to Bartlett’s 92-points and Palmer’s 87. The Bears had beaten Palmer in the region championships just a week earlier.
The girls finished 10th with 22 points. Dimond won with 85-point-5 points, followed by Juneau, Bartlett, West Valley and Eagle River rounding out the top five. West Anchorage, Kenai, East Anchorage and Sitka also finished in front of the Bears. The Kodiak girls had beaten Kenai a week ago at regionals, as well.
Junior distance runner Trevor Dunbar was the only individual champ for Kodiak during the two-day event, winning the 16-hundred meter race with a time of 4-minutes 15-point-78 seconds — about five and a half seconds ahead of arch rival Jake Parisien of Palmer.
Parisen beat Dunbar in another of his strong event, the 32-hundred meters Friday, in a race where they both shattered Dunbar’s one-year-old state record. Dunbar was third in the 800-meters. Dunbar had gone into state championships with the fastest times in the state for the three distance events.
Other Kodiak finishers included Dylan Anthony 4th and Sam Salus 7th in the 32-hundred Friday. Karsten Schick was 8th in the high jump. And, along with everyone else in the state, Michael Odell lost in the shot put to Bartlett’s Jordan Clarke, who leads the nation with a 71-foot 3-inch throw. Odell managed fourth, with a hurl of 49-feet 7-inches.
Also on Friday, Linzee Burcham was third in the high jump.
On Saturday, she was 4th in the 100 meters. Abby Reed was 4th in the 800. Chloe Ivanoff was 8th in the 16-hundred. In the relay events, the girls placed 6th in the 400 and 800, and 3rd in the 32-hundred.
On the boy’s side, Odell and Andy Dittman placed third and fourth, respectively, in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes. Salus was 8th in the 16-hundred. Odell was 3rd in the 300-hurdles. In the relay events, the Kodiak boys were 7th in the 400, 3rd in the 16-hundred, and 4th in the 32-hundred.
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