Allie Ostrander has repeatedly proven that she's the No. 1 high school runner in Alaska. Now a prominent website says the Kenai senior is the No. 1 runner in the nation.
DyeStat, which ranks high school runners, puts Ostrander at the top of its list for girls. The website notes Ostrander's speedy performance at the state cross country championships earlier this month.
Also gaining notice from DyeStat is Kodiak's Levi Thomet, who is ranked 11th among boys.
Ostrander and Thomet both cruised to their third straight state championships recently at Bartlett High. Ostrander won the 5-kilometer girls race by 1 minute, 38 seconds, and Thomet won the boys race by 33 seconds.
Both runners are likely to run for Division I teams next season.
Thomet went to Oregon last week to run in the George Fox Invitational in Newburg, a big meet for high school runners, and to make an official visit to the University of Oregon in Eugene. Thomet placed second Saturday in a competitive field at the Newburg meet.
Ostrander skipped the George Fox race but may make a trip to Oregon to visit the Eugene campus.
High school runners can make five official visits to colleges that are recruiting them, and Ostrander said Oregon might make her list of five.
She said at the state championships that she is certain about four visits -- Stanford, Villanova, Boise State and Northern Arizona. She had yet to decide whether Oregon or the University of San Francisco will be her fifth choice.
Ostrander shares the fastest 5-K time in the nation this season, according to athletic.net. Her time of 16 minutes, 40 seconds at the Palmer Invitational -- where she was faster than all but four of the hundreds of runners who competed. Only Thomet and three other boys managed to post a faster time.
Thomet's winning time of 15:10 at the state champinships at Bartlett is tied for the 34th fastest boys' time in the nation, according to athletic.net. The fastest is 14:43 by Michigan runner Grant Fisher, who wasn't at the George Fox meet.
DyeStat ranks Thomet highly in part because his times rival those of former teammate Trevor Dunbar, a former All-America runner for Oregon. He showed he was worthy of a top 15 ranking with his performance in Newburg.