By Sean Pearson
Homer junior Connor Seay clears the final hurdle in his win at the Homer Invitational earlier this month. Seay also took first at Kenai, finishing the 300m hurdles in 44.42 seconds.
Homer senior Tayla Cabana battled the brutal elements of the Kenai Invitational last Friday and Saturday. Fighting her way through bitter cold and unrelenting winds, Cabana wrestled polar bears and dodged bullets to lead her team to a second-place finish.
Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Cabana jumped 15-feet, 6.25 inches for a first-place finish in the long jump, took second in both the 100 and 300m hurdles, and ran the final leg of the Lady Mariners’ first-place -finishing 1600-meter relay team with teammates Aurora Waclawski, Ziza Shemet-Pitcher and Lauren Evarts.
Thirteen teams competed in the two-day meet, with the Kenai boys and Soldotna girls garnering overall team victories. Homer boys finished sixth.
Along with her relay win, Waclawski finished first in the 400 and sixth in the 200. The time distance between first and sixth place was a speedy .62 seconds. Shemet-Pitcher was second in the 400, edging a Soldotna runner by .05 seconds. Other notable performances included Molly Mitchell’s second and third-place finishes in the 3200 and 1600 individual races. Crystal Crane cleared 4 feet, 6 inches to finish fourth in the high jump, and was fifth in the long jump with a distance of 14 feet, 1.25 inches.
Junior sprinter Connor Seay continued his winning ways in the 300m hurdles, finishing first with a time of 44.42 seconds. Seay also finished eighth in the long jump, and competed in relay events. In distance running events, Homer senior Pedro Ochoa battled Kenai’s Thiesen brothers to finish third in the 1600m and fourth in the 3200m.
In field events, John Shank jumped 35 feet, 9 inches to take fourth in the triple jump. His leap of 17 feet, 6.5 inches in the long jump earned him a fifth-place finish.
Homer boys’ also picked up fourth, fifth and sixth places in the 3200, 400 and 800 relay competitions.
For Ninilchik, Jordan Finney placed 15th in the discus with a throw of 61 feet, 11 inches. She was 16th in the shot put, throwing 25 feet, 6 inches.
This weekend, Homer teams travel to Dimond High School for the Anchorage Invitational.
HOMER GIRLS
100 meters: 7. Angie Cardoza, 13.86 seconds
200m: 6. Aurora Waclawski, 28.67
400m: 1. Waclawski, 1:03.91; 2. Ziza Shemet-Pitcher, 1:06.04
1,600m: 3. Molly Mitchell, 5:32.69; 10. Audrey Rosencrans, 6:10.21
3,200m: 2. Mitchell, 12:08.97; 5. Rosencrans, 13:27.06
100m hurdles: 2. Tayla Cabana, 16.99
300m hurdles: 2. Cabana, 50.98; 5. Lauren Jones, 57.47
800m relay: 4. Homer, 1:59.81
1600m relay: 1. Homer (Waclawski, Shemet-Pitcher, Lauren Evarts, Cabana) 4:34.19
3200m relay: 3. Homer, 11:33.65
High jump: 4. Crystal Crane, 4’06”
Long jump: 1. Cabana, 15’6.25”; 5. Crane, 14’1.25”
HOMER BOYS
1,600m: 3. Pedro Ochoa, 4:40.91
3,200m: 4. Ochoa, 10:21.43
300m hurdles: 1. Connor Seay, 44.42
400m relay: 5. Homer, 49.81
800m relay: 6. Homer, 1:45.08
3200m relay: 4. Homer, 10:24.40
High jump: 6. August Kilcher, 5’00”
Long jump: 5. John Shank, 17’6.5”; 8. Seay, 17—04
Triple jump: 4. Shank, 35’09”.