Thomet, Christiansen Cruise at State XC Championships

Jay Barrett/KMXT
A pair of Kodiak runners who have finished at the top of the cross-country races all season pushed each other to a decisive win at the State Cross Country Championships held Saturday at Bartlett High School. Sophomore Levi Thomet and Senior Cole Christiansen crushed the best runners in the state, finishing first-and-second by a margin of 23- and 16-seconds respectively. Thomet had a state-championship-winning time of 16-minutes 11-seconds, with Christiansen right behind at 16:18.
Though they are teammates, they are competitors, too. Thomet said he was a little panicky making sure Christiansen didn’t get away from him as the two swapped the lead over the 5-kilometer course.
Kodiak’s Julian McCarthy was seventh with a time of 16-minutes 52-seconds, Levi Fried was 23rd at 17:32 and Clayton Hannah was 34th at 17-47. Overall, Kodiak was third in the team standings, 10 points behind champion West Valley. Service was second, Kenai fourth and Colony fifth.
Kodiak’s three girls at the race, Leah Cawthorn, Adriane Horn, and Zoe Bigley, finished 18th, 31st and 34th, respectively. The race was won by Kenai sophomore Allie Ostrander with a time of 18-minutes 46-seconds. Wasilla won the team title, followed by West Anchorage, East Anchorage, Lathrop and Service.