Ostrander crushes state mark, plans for NXN

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Alaska State Results | Photos

Allie Ostrander's exceptional high school cross country career in Alaska has come to a close, but not without lasting repercussions. She is firmly stamped as the greatest female distance runner in state history and has blurred the gender line when it comes to top-flight performance.

On Saturday at Bartlett Trails, the boys in the Class 4A and Class 3A/2A/1A races all wanted to know what the Kenai senior with the blond ponytail had clocked because for many of them it instantly became their goal time.

"I saw it was 17:05 and I said 'I'm going to beat that,' " Zach Young of Grace Christian, who placed second in the boys' small school race in 16:48, told the Alaska Dispatch. "She's still faster than me. She's a great objective to strive for."

Contacted by DyeStat on Sunday, Ostrander said she has felt the respect of boys in her state.

"It's kind of cool when the guys compare their times to mine," she said. "I do the same thing and see where I could have fit into their results."

Think about this for a moment: Ostrander would make the varsity top seven of every boys team in Alaska. On all but a couple of teams, she would be a top-five scorer.

Ostrander actually ran 17:06 on Saturday, running all alone, which was a 44-second improvement over where she finished last year. And at the finish line she met and hugged Kristi (Klinnert) Waythomas, who for 30 years was a state meet record holder. (Ostrander and Waythomas shared the state meet record in 2013).

Ostrander said she will keep training and plans to focus on NXN Northwest as her next race.

"I'm just going to keep training and run outside as much as I can, and dress warm," she said. "It's been freezing at night lately. We did get a little snow on the ride to state but it didn't stick."

Ostrander is also considering a change for the winter. After three years of basketball at Kenai, she is thinking about switching to cross-country skiing. That plan has less to do with winter cardio development than it does the fact that she enjoys her cross country teammates and most of them ski.

Ostrander left Nike Elite Camp in late July with one week to prepare for the state of the high school season in Alaska. She has been most impressed by seeing professional runners up-close and hearing what they had to say.

She arrived back home in Kenai intent on enjoying every day of her final high school season.

"More than anything in particular that they said, (the pro athletes) taught me to stay in the moment," Ostrander said. "It's easy to dream about college running and what the future holds, but this cross country season I just tried to enjoy it all."

Ostrander's 44-second improvement comes from several factors, she said. In the spring, her coach emphasized leg speed and frequently put her into 800-meter races in order to teach her to run faster. Even though she is only 5-1, she has also gained about an inch. And she feels stronger.

"I just kept building on my training and my mileage and that's what happened," she said. "I've been able to run faster because I'm stronger."

Fortunately for her, Kenai is one of the schools in Alaska where there are boys that can push her.

Brothers Jonah and Jordan Theisen placed second and sixth in the Class 4A meet, behind overall winner Levi Thomet of Kodiak.

Ostrander, who is coached by her mother, Teri, has trained with the Theisens throughout her four years at Kenai.

"I've always trained with them," she said. "Jordan and I have a (race) history. There was a 3K community race when we were back in the fifth grade, and I beat him. I never let him forget it."