Kramer posts 2nd-fastest 5K for Alaska prep girl in Washington
Kendall Kramer
Kendall Kramer of Fairbanks turned in a big performance on the big stage at the 35th annual Nike Hole in the Wall XC Invitational in Arlington, Washington.
The high school junior placed second out of 285 runners in the girls elite division with a personal-record time of 17 minutes, 18 seconds over the mostly flat 5-kilometer course.
Kramer, of West Valley High fame, dropped close to 34 seconds off her previous PR.
“That’s a huge PR for her. It shows that Alaska kids can come down here on these fast courses and run fast times,” West Valley coach Dan Callahan told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
Kramer’s PR is one of the fastest 5K times for a high school girl from Alaska, ranking second only to Kenai’s Allie Ostrander, who posted the nation’s No. 1 clip of 16:40 in 2014.
Earlier this month, Kramer joined Ostrander as the only girls to break the 18-minute mark at the Bartlett High School trails during the ASAA state cross country championships.
Kramer is a two-time Class 4A D1 state champion and reigning Gatorade Alaska Cross Country Runner of the Year. She’s also a Mount Marathon junior champion.
More than two dozen Alaskans competed at the Hole in the Wall XC Invitational.