After winning an Alaska state cross country title last year as an 9th grader, Glennallen's Briahna Gerlach is looking to carry that champion title well into her sophomore year and beyond. She opened her 2014 cross country season with a win on the Alaska state cross country at Barlett High School with a decisive 37 second margin of victory at the Bartlett XC State Preview meet on Saturday in Anchorage with a 19:02 5K performance from the 5:06 miler.
The next two finishers after Gerlach were two runners from Colony High School in Jill Bowker (2nd, 19:39) and Alex Mathis (3rd, 19:57) as their front running was ultimately the key to help distance their squad themselves from the closest competition with a team spread over 2 minutes to win the team title (43 points).
Chugiak junior Ty Jordan was simply on another level than any other runner in the meet as literally time trialed the race with a win in the varsity boys race by over 75 seconds with a new 5K personal best time of 15:56. It was a 11 second improvement from his last race on the same course at the 2013 Alaska State Meet in a 4A state runner-up finish to Foot Locker finalist Levi Thomet. Thomet is back as well this fall, but Jordan is trying to close the gap on him.
The Wasilla boys placed 5 runners in the top 20 to easily earn the team title at the state meet preview meet with their final tally of 51 points giving them a decent size between the runner-up squad from Colony (92 pts). Only 41 seconds separated their scoring five from top finisher Quincy Fuller (6th, 17:25) to Isaak Bell (18th, 18:07).
Bartlett XC State Preview (AK)
August 16, 2014 @ Bartlett High School in Anchorage, AK
- MileSplit Meet Page
- Virtual Meet Preview: Boys - Girls
- Last Year's Results
- This Year's Results: Open Boys - Open Girls - Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls
Girls Highlights
- 5,000 Meter Run - Briahna Gerlach (Glennallen High School) 19:02.50; (Colony High School) 19:39.20;
Boys Highlights
- 5,000 Meter Run - Ty Jordan (Chugiak High School) 15:56.20;