The 2021 cross-country season ended way back in October. There was a change in coaching, to Rachel Dow and Kristen Siemenski, both of whom ran for Seward High School previously. Rachel ran from 1992-96, and went to state with the team several times. Kristen ran for only two years, although she did go to state during one of those years. This is a comprehensive summary of the XC season with Rachel and Kristen serving as fabulous coaches. 

        The season started out with a Bartlett Invite, which included only three teams. Hailey Ingalls took 1st in the girls race, Natalie Siemenski in 2nd with Aly Guernsey in 4th.  For the boys, Trevor Guernsey crashed through with a time of 19:58.6, securing 7th place. 

        The Homer course was next, which is hillier than the Seward trail; if you have run the Seward course, you know that must make it extremely hilly. But despite the mud, hills, and holes, Hailey took 8th in the Varsity girls with Aly in 16th. The Junior Varsity girls smoked the competition, Natalie and Stella Dow retrieving 2nd, 6th, respectively. Trevor, the sole Varsity boy, ran a 19:48.64 for 15th place. Our JV boys tore it up, Van Shank in 13th, Ozzy Deel in 21st, and Jack Lindquist in 24th. 

        On the 10th of September the XC running team ran one, of only two, three-kilometer races of the season. This race was also separated by grade, not by Varsity and JV like the rest of the races are. As such, every person on the team ran against varsity runners, regardless of if they themselves were varsity or not. The freshman and sophomore girls race was first, and wasn’t run in rain. Hailey snatched 3rd, Natalie 15th, and Stella took 25th. In the eleventh and twelfth grade girls, a race run in a drizzle, Aly ran for 17th place, and Ozzy ran in the eleventh and twelfth grade boys for 55th. In the ninth and tenth grade boys, Jack got 54th, Van got 32nd, and Trevor ironically got the same place as his sister, 17th, just with a time three minutes faster. 

        The Frank D. Invitational meet was held on the home cross-country course. The moose had to be driven out of it, but otherwise it was a great day for a race. In the boys JV, Jack got 55th, Ozzy caught 48th and Van ran to 25th place. Trevor, yet again the lone Varsity boy, pulled 34th. The JV girls had a great race, Natalie securing 9th and Addison Lemme taking 19th. Stella moved up to Varsity this week, 37th in her first Varsity race of the year. Aly took 31st, and Hailey took 20th. 

        Boroughs was a 3K held in Seward. Stella ran to 21st. Addison finished just behind Aly with a nine second difference for 18th and 19th. Natalie snatched 16th, and Hailey collected 6th place. Trevor took 15th in the Varsity race, and Van, Ozzy and Jack stole 7th, 13th and 16th respectively. 

        Regions, for the first time in at least 6 years, was held on Kodiak. The course was freezing, like literally–there was snowfall during a couple races, but the cold couldn’t stop the race. The girl’s varsity team took 4th place, just barely edged out of attending state as a team. Hailey, however, ran a 22:20, taking ninth place and advancing to State individually. Trevor was again the only Varsity boy, and only eight places away from qualifying for state individually with a 19:40. The rest of the boys ran in the JV/Open race. The trio was a great bonding experience for the team, as we did get stuck there for an extra couple days due to weather and ash from a 2012 volcanic eruption getting blown back up into the air. 

        Hailey closed out the season at state, running 21:24.8 for a 5th place rank in the whole of Alaska. The season was a success for all team members, and a great first year for our coaches.