Ostrander, Thomet named to U.S. Jr. Mountain Running Team
Allie Ostrander
Allie Ostrander of Kenai has been selected to the U.S. Junior Mountain Running Team and will compete Sept. 19 at the world championships in Snowdonia, North Wales.
Ostrander, 18, is coming off a fabulous finish at July’s Mount Marathon in Seward in which she broke a race record and finished second to world-class star Emily Forsberg.
Ostrander will be joined on the junior national team by fellow three-time cross country state champion Levi Thomet of Kodiak.
Thomet holds the seventh-fastest time in the two-miler [8:45] for an American high school runner.
Levi Thomet
“I’m confident this most recent crop of young runners is the stronger we’ve ever brought to the world championships,” U.S. coach Richard Bolt said in a press release. “I’m excited to watch them race in Wales and think they have an excellent chance to win both team and individual medals.”
Ostrander was a 6-time junior girls champion in Mount Marathon and this year broke by two seconds the previous race record held by Alaska Sports Hall of Famer Nancy Pease of 50 minutes, 30 seconds. That mark had stood for 25 years before Forsberg and Ostrander blew it up on Fourth of July.
Ostrander was the 2014 Nike Cross Country Nationals title and she is headed to Boise State University this fall.
The world championships alternate between uphill only and up-and-down courses every other year. This year’s race is the up and back.
The race features roughly 820 feet elevation gain per lap, which stretches two and a half miles.