Palmer High School
October 4, 2025
Submitted by VHS Cross-Country Coach
The Buccaneer’s varsity boys and girls teams ventured back to Palmer for their well earned invitations to compete in the ASAA State Cross Country Championships. This course presented new challenges as the drizzle intensified and the DIII runners turned the trail into a slip n’ slide. Spirits were high despite the wind and the rain.
By the time 69 DII boys lined up, many wondered how effective their spikes would be in the mud. They soon found out, not very effective at all. In the first lap of this 3 lap race, Senior Reggie Baksis led the core four that included Senior James Humphrey, Freshman James Sanborn, and Sophomore Kaden VanBuskirk. Not far
behind were Sophomores Zane Caruthers and Cirque Carter and Freshman Dylen Agcaoili-Smith. As runners were bunched together, the greatest hazards were navigating over and around the unfortunate runners that found themselves taking a mud bath. Baksis and Humphrey pulled forward after the first mile, sticking together for the remainder of the race. VanBuskirk pulled slightly ahead of Sanborn until the home stretch where Sanborn pushed into high gear to take the lead at the finish line by mere 100ths of seconds. Z. Caruthers kept his teammates in his sight followed by Carter and Agcaoili-Smith. All the boys turned it up once they hit the track to the finish line, impressing spectators with their finish line sprints. Baksis overtook Humphrey by 1 second, finishing in 21st place at 18:26, Humphrey finished in 23rd place at 18:27. Next, Sanborn and VanBuskirk battled it out with Sanborn placing 30th and VanBuskirk 31st at 18:44. Z. Caruthers put his long legs to use as he sailed across the finish line at 38th place at 19:20, followed by Carter in 51st place at 19:56 and Agcaoili-Smith in 67th place at 21:53. None of the 69 runners found themselves with personal records, yet somehow Carter and VanBuskirk were able to improve their time on this course compared to our first visit to Palmer.
As the 64 DII girls began to prepare, Valdez girls were strategizing how to stay on their feet and out of the mud. In the first lap Freshman Bryndi Beck led the girls and was closely followed by Freshmen Zooey and Miquela Baksis and Junior Jewely Weber. Z. Baksis stayed to her goal of keeping Beck in her sight, a strategy that paid off. Beck rolled her ankle in the mud during the race, slowing her pace considerably. M. Baksis and J. Weber stuck together for the first half of the race before M. Baksis pulled slightly ahead. The girls maintained a consistent pace throughout the race and ran incredibly strong, despite the slippery conditions.
Beck approached the track first and turned up her sprint as much as her ankle would allow, finishing 30th at 23:17. Z. Baksis put the heat on other runners on the track showing off some speed and finished 37th at 23:57. M. Baksis also had an impressive finishing sprint down the track and finished 49th at 25:09. Weber quickly began to close the gap and finished a mere 4 seconds later, improving her time from our last visit here earlier in the season. Weber finished 51st at 25:13.
This fast and furious running season ended as quickly as it began. As we observed the changing of seasons from an Alaskan summer to fall and an early winter on our weekly roadtrips, changes were also happening among the runners. In a short period of time these runners grew as athletes and as a team. Each week they grew stronger, tougher, and always supported each other. This was an absolute dream team as they constantly surpassed expectations on and off the trail. Our seniors James Humphrey, Reggie Baksis, and Gabe Caruthers were true leaders and will be dearly missed next season. We wish them all the best with their senior year and their future beyond! Keep running! Go Bucs!