Three Petersburg High School athletes became champions at the Region V track and field championship meet in Ketchikan last weekend. For Division 2, Senior Elijah Whitacre took first place in the shot put, senior Rik Cumps placed first in long jump, and junior Erik Thynes is champ in discus.
Several other members of Petersburg High School’s team qualified in Ketchikan for the state competition. Teams from Sitka, Haines, Juneau, Craig, Skagway, Gustavus and Ketchikan attended the event.
High School track coach Casey Gates says after weeks of hard training this season, he let the athletes take it easy before the regional championships. He wanted their bodies to recover so they could be in tip-top shape during the competition. And Gates says it worked. He told KFSK’s Hannah Flor that a lot of kids came away from the competition with new personal records, or “PRs.”
Teams from around Alaska will be traveling to Anchorage for the state championships this weekend. Individual athlete results from the Region five championships can be found at kfsk.org, along with this story.
