To keep things light heading into this week's pressure-packed Class 4A state high school track and field championships, Kenai Central athletes drew names and decorated white T-shirts for one another.
The T-shirt Allie Ostrander wore Friday, courtesy of fellow distance runner Alex Bergholtz, featured a pithy statement on the front:
I run like a girl
Run a little faster and you can too
Of course, no other girls in Alaska, and only select boys, run like Ostrander, the senior who delivered yet another state-record performance.
Ostrander literally lapped the field at Dimond High on a draining afternoon -- temperatures rose well into the 60s -- and lopped four seconds off her 2014 record in the 3,200 meters, clocking 10 minutes, 9.72 seconds.
That mark wiped out her previous standard of 10:13.87, though it was well short of her personal-record 9:58.74. That time entered Friday as merely the fastest girls high school time in the nation this season, by nearly 11 seconds, for the metric two miles. State records in Alaska can only be set at the state meet.
"I was hoping to PR, but given the conditions, it was hard to do,'' Ostrander said. "The heat seemed to drain my energy. Little bit of a scorcher.''
Ostrander's mother, Teri, who is Kenai's distance coach, recently posted a picture of Allie taking an ice bath in a camping cooler in the family's backyard following a training run. Allie said she needed to ice down, but didn't want to be inside on a sunny day.
"I had to improvise to take an ice bath outside,'' she said after the 3,200. "I wish I had one now.''
Kodiak senior Levi Thomet soon followed Ostrander's record performance by breaking the boys 3,200 record, likewise running alone wire-to-wire and clocking 9:09.41.
Thomet, who matched Ostrander last season by sweeping the 3,200, 1,600 and 800 meters at the Class 4A state meet, wiped out the 2008 standard of 9:11.27 by Palmer's Jake Parisien. Also, like Ostrander, he has run much faster this season. Thomet ran two miles, which is 19 meters longer than the 3,200, in 8:48.32 at the New Balance Nationals Indoor in New York in March.
Friday, on the opening day of the two-day state meet, Thomet pursued not just Parisien's mark but also the metric equivalent of Don Clary's state-record two-mile time of 9:04.4 for East High in 1975. The 3,200 equivalent of Clary's time is roughly 9:01.00.
Friday's 3,200 was Thomet's first race of the meet. He also ran an 800-meter heat Friday, and Saturday will run the 1,600, 800 and a leg on the 1,600-meter relay.
"Since I was fresh for this one, I was going for it,'' Thomet said.
The performances of Ostrander and Thomet were easily the highlight of the first day, given their record performances. On a day when they romped, the counterpoint was the boys long jump, where Kenai's Josh Jackman claimed the title by the slimmest of margins -- his winning jump of 20 feet, 11 inches, was one-quarter inch farther than Lathrop's Jared Welch.
Back on the blowout front, Ostrander, who also owns the state 1,600-meter record, began lapping runners on the seventh of eighth laps. She zipped past about half the field on the penultimate lap and picked off the rest on her final lap.
Those runners served as incentive for Ostrander, who said she also received a boost from a cheering, clapping crowd that lined fencing along the homestretch of the track.
"It gives you a little burst, I'd say,'' Ostrander said.
After finishing, Ostrander folded her hands atop her head, watched the rest of the race and cheered two of her teammates. Afterward, she had the field join her for a victory jog in front of the fans along the homestretch as she carried a pole with the Alaska flag attached. As the runners were being staged for the race, just before being introduced, some light-hearted talk among runners hit up with that idea, Ostrander said.
"It's a normal thing to joke,'' she said. "We said, 'Let's just go out on an easy jog today, and if we can all win, we can all carry the flag.' ''
To hear Ostrander tell it, her running performance trumped her artwork. She made a T-shirt for teammate Abby Beck, a discus thrower and shot putter, that included a drawing of a sloth. Ostrander said Beck's spirit animal is a sloth and Beck is listed in Ostrander's cellphone contacts as "The Real Slim Sloth.'' Still, after Googling to get some pointers on drawing a sloth, Ostrander hinted she might have been out of her league.
"The sloth was a real stretch for my artistic ability,'' Ostrander said.
While Ostrander is headed to Boise State in the fall, Thomet is headed to Germany on a U.S. State Department-sponsored exchange program. A scholarship will allow him to study and race for a year with a club before he attends the University of Oregon.
"It's like red-shirting without red-shirting,'' he said.
Through 1,600 meters Friday, Thomet was on pace to threaten Clary's mark, covering the first four laps in 4:27.7, according to splits furnished by his coach, Marcus Dunbar. Thomet's pace began to slip after that, but he maintained enough speed to take down Parisien's record.
Thomet on Friday plans to shoot for a state record in the 1,600, which will be his first race of the day. The record of 4:13.0 (hand-timed) was set by Bartlett's Doug Herron in 1985, the same year he authored the 800 record of 1:49.2 that has not since been remotely threatened.
Like Ostrander, Thomet made a fashion statement of sorts Friday, though his was unintentional. When he changed into his racing spikes, he realized he forgot his usual Asics racing socks. So, he competed in his low-cut Ralph Lauren socks.
ASAA/First National Bank
State Track and Field Championships
Friday's Class 4A Finals at Dimond High
Full results at athletic.net
Boys
3,200 meters – 1) Levi Thomet, Kodiak, 9:09.41 (state record; previous record, Jake Parisien, Palmer, 9:11.27, 2008); 2) Jonah Theisen, Kenai, 9:26.44; 3) Jordan Theisen, Kenai, 9:31.67; 4) Chandler Lokanin, Dimond, 9:38.29; 5) Keith Osowski, Kodiak, 9:38.71; 6) Michael Parnell, Kodiak, 9:55.88; 7) Jacob Walsh, Eagle River, 9:56.75.
Discus – 1) Kordell Pillans, Kodiak, 156 feet, 5 inches; 2) Johnathon Stephens, Service, 148-6; 3) Joaquin Martines, West Valley, 140-2; 4) Dalton Best, Soldotna, 134-7; 5) Rick Johnson, Thunder Mountain, 129;10; 6) Tarini Tosi, East, 129-2; 7) Jake Foshee, West Valley, 125-8.
High jump – 1) Bryce Hellman, Bartlett, 6-4; 2) Jared Welch, Lathrop, 6-4; 3) Brandon Nicholson, Colony, 6-3; 4) Tyler Blanch, South, 6-0; 5) Shane Hursh, North Pole, 5-10; 6) Chase Hawk, East, 5-8; 7) Brandon Joyner, West Valley, 5-8.
Long jump -- 1) Josh Jackman, Kenai, 20-11; 2) Jared Welch, Lathrop, 20-10.75; 3) Tim Duke, Soldotna, 20-6.75; 4) Brandon Nicholson, Colony, 19-4.50; 5) Parker Martin, East, 19-4; 6) Brendan Pietz, Thunder Mountain, 19-1; 7) Anthony Parker, Dimond, 18-10.
Girls
3,200 -- 1) Allie Ostrander, Kenai, 10:09.72 (state record; previous record, Ostrander, 10:13.87, 2014); 2) Olivia Hutchings, Soldotna, 11:32.76; 3) Jenna Difolco, West Valley, 11:36.78; 4) Jill Bowker, Colony, 11:37.46; 5) Fiona Pedrick, Bartlett, 11:42.70; 6) Cathelyne Powers, Colony, 11:51.95; 7) Zoe Bigley, Kodiak, 11:58.74.
Shot put -- 1) Sylvia Tuisaula, Wasilla, 36-1.50; 2) Richelle Walker, Kodiak, 33-8.75; 3) Rose Lega, Bartlett 32-6.25; 4) Ileana Casiano, West Valley, 31-11.75; 5) Envyi Pendergrass, Lathrop, 31-11; 6) Alicia Washington, Bartlett, 31-6.25; 7) Annie Quinn, Soldotna, 31-3.5.
High jump -- 1) Ceil Dunleavy, Wasilla, 5-4; 2) Ann Gebauer, Service, 5-3; 3) Zoey Keene, 5-2; 4) Chase Stephens, Colony, 5-2; 5) Taylir Kueter, Barltett 5-0; 6) Madeline Ko, West Valley, 4-10.
Long jump -- 1) Chrisalyn Johnson, Dimond, 17-0.25; 2) Naomi Welling, Thunder Mountain, 16-6.75; 3) Chase Stephens, Colony, 16-0.75; 4) Ann Condio, Colony, 15-2.75; 5) Julieanne Wilson, Kenai, 15-1.75; 6) Emma Nelson, Chugiak, 15-1.50; 7) Kiana Harding, Kenai, 15-1.25.
Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com, check out his blog at adn.com/hockey-blog and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr