Pearl Creek Invite
September 15, 2023
Submitted by VHS Cross Country Coach
The Bucs Cross-Country team headed to Fairbanks for a Friday night race hosted by Hutchison High School on the Pearl Creek Ski Trails. It was tough to warm up the legs in the heat and sun after a 7 hour drive. The steep long hill at the beginning didn’t help boost either. At least the whole team was finally all together!
The 5K course started in a grassy practice field and then headed into the trees with an arduous 1 mile hill with road crossings, roots, and hardly room to pass other runners. But the runners were then rewards with a beautiful single track trail with some fun dips and then the long gradual downhill that let the runners’ legs really open up before heading back into the forest and to the grass field for a confusing finish that left many runners wandering aimlessly towards the finish line (but not Valdez, our prerun helped them know where to go).
The girls ran first with 35 other runners. The big hill really slowed them down and they were still a bit groggy from the long drive. Freshman Jewely Weber completed her second race in 14th place at 29:52 and Junior Morgan Hamilton was over a minute behind her, finishing in 20th place at 31:34.
The boys were next with a total of 71 runners. Senior Rafe Caruthers was still shaking off a
persistent cough and not feeling very confident. The adrenaline must have kicked in after the
big hill when he finally passed Delta’s Anthony White and cruised across the finish line in first place with no one else in sight. Out of nowhere came Sophomore James Humphrey in 20th place at 22:21. Then Junior Romen Weber cruised across the finish line in 29th place at 23:30. Lastly, Freshman Robert Taylor overcame shinsplints and finished with a strong sprint in 46th place at 26:42.
Next week is the Regions, the state qualifier. Caruthers will battle Anthony White for first place, James and Morgan will need to spread their wings and fly to qualify. Romen and Jewely Weber are sitting comfortably as state qualifiers, but you never know. It will be an exciting race at the Fairbanks Golf Course.
Current Region 6 Division II Standings are:
2nd Rafe Caruthers (put has beat 1st place in the last 3 races)
13th Roman Weber
20th James Humphrey
39th Robert Taylor
13th Jewely Weber
14th Morgan Hamilton
Go Bucs!