14th Consecutive Region Title for Kodiak Runners

Jay Barrett/KMXT

It was a pretty good weekend for Kodiak High School athletes.

In the Class 4-A division of the Region III cross country championships at Colony High the Kodiak boys won another team title, led by Michael Parnell edging Keith Osowski by one second, as the pair took first and second. The Bears also had Jack Hannah and Rickie McKinny in sixth and seventh, also separated by one second. Kodiak’s 33 points easily outpaced the other schools, with Wasilla running up 67 in second and host Colony 68. Soldotna, Palmer and Kenai rounded out the field.

The Kodiak girls placed fourth overall with 90 points. Kenai won, with 31, followed by Colony and Soldotna. Palmer and Wasilla brought up the rear.

Two Kodiak sophomores handily won the SoHi Pentathlon, which forces each swimmer to compete in every event – their specialties and the others, and the cumulative low time wins. 

Boys division first place Talon Lindquist was more than five seconds ahead of second place with a combined time of 2-minutes 35 seconds. With two other swimmers in the top 10, Luke James in sixth and Nathan Schauff in ninth, the Bears won the boys team title with 50 points. Soldotna was second with 43, followed by Colony, Homer, Palmer and Wasilla.

Marina Cummiskey beat the field in the girls division by nearly three seconds with a time of 3-minutes 5.6-seconds in winning four of her five races. Hannah Glover placed ninth, and the Kodiak girls were third overall, scoring 36 points. Colony won with 47 points, followed by Soldotna with 37. Palmer and Homer rounded out the field.

The Kodiak volleyball team once again faced off against Dimond High School in the West Spiketacular, and once again, the Lynx edged the Bears. Dimond won 25-16 and 25-23 for its fourth straight title in the state’s biggest high school volleyball tournament.

Kalameli Matutia had seven kills and Richell Walker posted three blocks for the Bears, as Ryana Recustodio recorded 10 digs and Tracy Gatter had a dozen assists.

Kodiak was perfect during day one of the Spiketacular, and wound up 9-and-3 in pool play. Once advancing to the “gold” bracket against the other top teams, the Bears downed South Anchorage 20-25, 25-18 and 15-11 before advancing to face Dimond.

On the gridiron up in Palmer, the Bears fell to the Moose 41-20 on Saturday. Kodiak has a record of 3-and-4 and hosts Barrow in the season finale this weekend.