OPEN RACE—Nome hosted this year’s Regional XC Championships, held at Nome-Beltz on Saturday, Sept. 28. Here, Junior high runners, coaches and community members run in the open race which took place after the varsity teams finished the 5-kilometer course.

Bethel boys, Kotzebue girls take regional titles

The Bethel boys and the Kotzebue girls will be representing Region 1 Western at next week’s Alaska State Cross Country Championships after taking the titles Saturday on the Nome-Beltz High School course. The Bethel Warriors squeaked by Kotzebue with a one-point victory while the Lady Huskies of Kotzebue were substantially ahead of runner up Bethel.
Nome Nanook Tobin Hobbs took the boys individual title with a 15 second margin of victory over Bethel’s Landon Smith. In the girls race Kotzebue’s Laveah Makisi was 47 seconds faster than the runner up, Husky teammate Kaila Short. Tobin Hobbs and Laveah Makisi are both 11th graders.   
In addition to the varsity athletes competing elementary school runners got their chance early in the morning with just over 60 runners competing. Junior high runners competed in the open race at the end of the day.
Nome weather had been intensely unpleasant with wind and rain leading up to Saturday’s meet. But the stormy conditions calmed enough to make race day almost balmy. It rained some but only lightly and the winds were light. “The only thing I was worried about was the temperature because it was pretty cold yesterday,” said Nanook Tobin Hobbs. “It was a lot warmer today. Two days ago it was low 40s so it was really cold then. For some reason whenever my wrists get cold I can’t run as fast.”
Wookie Nicholson, who won the junior high girls race, apparently likes rain. “It would have been better if it was raining,” she said after the race.
Nanook varsity coach Jeff Collins was pleased with the effort by his young teams. He coaches both boys and girls this year. “It was a great finish for a lot of those kids,” said Collins. “For some of my younger boys to go out in their first year performing and run well in a regional meet is huge. It’s a confidence builder for them, it’s experience for them.”
Asked about the weather conditions Collins was philosophical. “I would say we would have had the advantage but all the teams are from Western Alaska so they experience all the same weather as we do. It wasn’t ideal coaching weather but for runners it wasn’t too bad. They didn’t have to worry about cooling themselves down. For our Nome team, we’ve been practicing in this stuff for all season. So it was nice to have that continuity.”
Nome-Beltz athletic director Pat Callahan was pleased that Barrow High School was able to join Nome, Kotzebue, and Bethel for the regionals. “Everything went good,” said Callahan. “It was fun having Barrow here. We had not so many teams the past few years, Bethel, Nome, and Kotzebue. And that’s only 21 runners and a bunch qualified for state.”  He was pleased with the day’s weather. “I’m glad it wasn’t as stormy today as it was yesterday.”
The Alaska State Championships will take place October 5 in Anchorage on the excellent Bartlett High course. All seven runners of each of the winning teams qualify for state as well as the top 8 finishers of the boys race and of the girls. From Nome, Ava Earthman and 9th grader Natallie Tobuk will travel to Anchorage. On the boys side Tobin Hobbs is the lone qualifier.

Results
Boys race:
1. Tobin Hobbs, Nome, 11, 18:14; 2. Landon Smith, Bethel, 18:29; 3. Jamin Crow, 11, Bethel, 18:52; 4. Aiden Ivanoff, Kotzebue, 10, 19:03; 5. Alvin Werneke, Kotzebue, 12, 19:34; 6. Joshua Puttika, Bethel, 11, 19:50; 7. Peter Nelson, Kotzebue, 11, 19:56; 8. Ezra Jones, Kotzebue, 10, 20:13; 9. Coltrane Chase, Kotzebue, 11, 20:14; 10. Thomas Phelan, Bethel, 20:24; 11. Peter Crow, Bethel, 10, 20:30; 12. Elijah Atkins, Kotzebue, 11, 20:35; 13. Isiah Mongoyak, Barrow, 12, 20:42; 14. Trenton Nazuruk, Kotzebue, 12, 20:49; 15. Tyler Laraux, Bethel, 9, 20:52; 16. Micah Moore, Nome, 11, 21:23; 17. Esau Weyiouanna, Barrow, 9, 21:30; 18. Mikal Nelson, Barrow, 11, 21:41; 19. Skye Weyiouanna, Barrow, 9, 21:43; 20. Mark Ahsoak, Barrow, 9, 21:49; 21. Kyler Rexford, Barrow, 9, 22:11; 22. Paris Hebel, Nome, 10, 22:12; 23. Kamron Rexford, Barrow, 10, 22:23; 24. Terell Jimmy, Bethel, 11, 22:24; 25. Eldon Cross, Nome, 12, 23:26; Thomas Horton, Nome, 10, disqualified.

Girls race:
1. Laveah Makisi, Kotzebue, 11, 22:51; 2. Kaila Short, Kotzebue, 10, 23:38; 3. Lindsey Bean-Polk, Bethel, 12, 23:55; 4. Ava Earthman, Nome, 12, 24:02; 5. Caitlyn Brower, Barrow, 10, 24:16; 6. Fiona Phelan, Bethel, 10, 24:38; 7. Beth Hensley, Bethel, 10, 24:40; 8. Natallie Tobuk, Nome, 9, 24:42; 9. Mallory Conger, Nome, 12, 24:46; 10. Della Medlin, Nome, 10, 25:03; 11. Zaida Baldwin, Kotzebue, 10, 25:32; 12. Shylah Schaeffer, Kotzebue, 11, 25:34; 13. Jessica McCall, Kotzebue, 11, 25:40; 14. Grace Gallahorn, Kotzebue, 10, 25:44; 15. Heidi Ritzinger, Barrow, 11, 25:51; 16. Cadence Cedars, Bethel, 10, 26:35; 17. Rachel Solomon, Barrow, 12, 27:24; 18. Trinity Miner, Kotzebue, 9, 27:58; 19. Marissa Black, Bethel, 10, 28:25; 20. Gabrielle Fredericks, Bethel, 12, 28:26; 21. Georgianna Ustaszewski, Nome, 11, 29:03; 22. Alqaq Small, Bethel, 10, 29:05; 23. Katie Smith, Nome, 10, 31:04.

Nanooks Sweep Varsity and JV Volleyball in Bethel
The NBHS Volleyball team swept both JV and both Varsity games at Bethel.  On Friday NBHS Varsity rallied from a 0-2 deficit to win 3-2.  On Saturday the Lady Nanooks won 3-0.  The Lady Nanooks will next host Hutchison, Barrow, and Dimond JV on October 11-12.  The Nome JV will also host Teller on October 11.
 

The Nome Nugget

PO Box 610
Nome, Alaska 99762
USA

Phone: (907) 443-5235
Fax: (907) 443-5112

www.nomenugget.net

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