Colony senior pulls away to victory, Knights sweep team titles during George Plumley Invite at Palmer High

What you need to know:

• Colony swept the team titles at the George Plumley Invitational at Palmer High, with the boys scoring 28 points and the girls 47 despite splitting its squad between Palmer and the Kodiak Invitational.
• Colony senior Josiah Herrick won the boys 5K in 16:58, leading three Knights into the top five. West Valley junior Miriam Armstrong won the girls race in 19:01, while Colony freshmen Wren Spangler and Siri Strabel finished second and fourth, respectively.
• Palmer senior Karley Tichenor led the Moose with a third-place finish in the girls race, clocking 19:51.
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The members of the Colony Knights cross-country running team have a few words to live by.

“We have a thing at Colony. It’s called push and pull,” Knights senior Josiah Herrick said. “No matter what place you are in, if you’re in first, you’re pulling people behind you. If you are in last, you’re pushing people ahead of you. It’s always that team mentality. Work together.”

Herrick pulled away with the victory in the varsity boys race, and the Knights pushed their way to a sweep of the team titles during the George Plumley Invitational Saturday afternoon on the Michael Janecek Running Trails at Palmer High School. 

Thirty-one teams from across the state competed in the meet, including small teams from Chevak, Tikigaq, Meade River and Nunamiut.

Herrick clocked a time of 16 minutes, 58 seconds on the 5-kilometer course and led a pack of three Knights in the top five and five in the top 10. A pair of freshmen, Wren Spangler and Siri Strabel, helped Colony win the girls crown with their second- and fourth-place finishes.

The Herrick-led Knights finished with 28 points in the team standings, kilometers ahead of runner-up West Valley and its 85 total points. The Colony girls used 47 points to win the team title. West Valley was also second on the girls side with 61 points.

The Knights earned the sweep in a meet that included 117 runners in the boys varsity race and 87 in the girls race despite having a split squad this weekend. 

Colony varsity teams were also sent to the Kodiak Invitational.

“We have some of our team in Kodiak, but we had a really good group of guys step up last week and they kind of carried us into this week,” Herrick said.

The Knights also swept the team titles at the Colony Invitational last weekend.

“As a team we’re doing really great,” the senior said. “Our team has really come together.”

Senior Theodore Stamoolis and junior Connor Rush finished fourth and fifth for the Knights with times of 17:16.07 and 17:16.59. Seniors London Ramirez and Hunter Belliston were eighth and 10th at 17:30 and 17:39.

Herrick stood in fourth place during the first kilometer but built a 14-second lead over runner-up Ollie Dahl of Soldotna before the finish.

“I took it easy, like my coach said, the first lap and then just dialed it in,” Herrick said.

Herrick said he made his move on the second lap of the three-lap course.

“Then I just tried to gap him as much as I could,” Herrick said.

Herrick said he did not have specific expectations entering the race.

“I felt like I had a good chance of getting in the top 10. I didn’t know about first,” Herrick said. “It’s always a gamble. You never know who is going to show up.”

Spangler and Strabel continued their stellar freshman seasons with the runner-up and fourth-place finishes. Spangler, who won the girls division at Mount Marathon in June, notched a time of 19:48. Strabel was not far behind at 20:01. Spangler said the duo ran in the same pack of runners throughout.

“We were really close the whole race,” Spangler said.

West Valley junior Miriam Armstrong cruised away from the field early and continued to extend her lead. Armstrong finished at 19:01, 48 seconds ahead of Spangler.

“I was looking at her results from Bartlett, and I was like, gosh this was really fast,” Spangler said.

Armstrong won the girls varsity race at the Bartlett State Preview meet with a time of 19:03 and a 29-second lead over the runner-up last weekend. Spangler said she focused on her own race, not Armstrong.

“She’s so fast. I just tried to hang in there,” Spangler said.

Colony sophomore Clara Sensabaugh also placed in the top 10, finishing eighth at 20:34.

Palmer senior Karley Tichenor led the Moose with a third-place finish and a time of 19:51 in the girls race.

“It was a crazy last lap. I was so tired. But God gave me the strength to finish. Up the hill, he was my strength,” Tichenor said.

Tichenor followed the pre-race advice of Moose running coach Chris Eversman.

“He said to not be worried about starting off too fast and just starting off at a good, strong pace and picking it up as it goes,” Tichenor said. “I feel so thankful for Coach Chris and his strategy.”

Tichenor said she was happy to earn her best finish in the George Plumley Invite on her home course during her final season.

“I feel so blessed and honored. I feel so blessed by God,” Tichenor said.

Wasilla senior Hailee Giacobbe, the two-time Division I girls state champion, led the Warriors with an 11th-place finish and a time of 20:53. Sophomore Justin Dalitsch was the top Warrior on the boys side, placing 13th at 17:46.

Sophomore Daniel Marciales led the Moose in the boys race, placing 18th with a time of 18:05.

The Palmer Invite is now named in honor of George Plumley, a Palmer High School graduate and longtime supporter and timer of local youth, high school and community running events. 

Plumley is credited with taking local races from tabulating results with pen and paper to the digital age. Plumley died in 2019 after a battle with cancer.

In Kodiak, Colony junior Benjamin Aliberti was first in the Kodiak Invitational boys race with a time of 16:47. Knights senior Aubrey Virgin was second in the girls race at 19:51.

Jeremiah Bartz is a longtime local journalist based in Palmer and has been a sportswriter in Alaska for nearly three decades. He writes about student activities for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, where he works full time as a community relations coordinator.