Allie Ostrander is our Alaska Athlete of the Week after a week of exceptional achievements and honors. The 27-year-old former Kenai Central athlete finished fourth in the steeplechase at Stanford’s Payton Jordan Invitational in California on Saturday, clocking 9 minutes, 37.65 seconds to gain a spot at the Olympic Trials this summer. On Tuesday, the mountain, cross-country and track running legend was inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame, cementing her legacy as one of the state’s most accomplished runners ever. The three-time NCAA steeplechase champion showed she is still in peak form ..read more

Allie Ostrander. Photo by Kevin Morris Alaska’s Allie Ostrander on Friday checked a critical box in her return to the steeplechase. The 27-year-old former Kenai Central athlete and three-time NCAA steeplechase champion ran her signature track event for the first time in nearly three years and pocketed her Olympic Trials qualifying standard in the 3,000-meter event over barriers and a water jump. Ostander finished fourth at Stanford’s Payton Jordan Invitational in California, clocking 9 minutes, 37.65 seconds to finish comfortably below the Trials qualifying standard of 9:41. That mark gained ..read more

Jerry Ross earned a special medal for completing all six events in the World Marathon Majors series: London, Berlin, Toyko, Boston, Chicago and New York. Even on a challenging day, Jeff Young is among the fastest marathoners in his age group, as he again proved at the London Marathon. Even when faced with a heart issue, Jerry Ross showed he can excel and was rewarded Sunday with a special medal. The Alaskan duo was among more than 53,000 runners — a record for London — to complete the iconic race in the United Kingdom. “(There was) crazy crowd support and a brilliant course,” Ross said by te ..read more

Ostrander with USA teammates Abby Nichols and Emma Hurley. Photo courtesy Allie Ostrander Instagram. After strong performances in the mountains last fall and on the trails this winter and spring, Alaska’s Allie Ostrander this week announced she’s headed back to the track. The 27-year-old from Soldotna, who is based in Seattle, said on her YouTube channel of more than 50,000 subscribers that she is returning to the steeplechase for the first time in three years and aiming to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials. “It’s time to get back on the track,’’ Ostrander said. Ostrander, who won three co ..read more

Chugiak Mustangs embrace after the 4×400-meter relay. Photo by Elijah Williams More than 950 athletes from 34 teams competed at The Dome for the 13th edition of the Russ Edwards Big C Relays. Chugiak’s Alliyah Fields was unstoppable in her quest for individual and relay glory, collecting four wins, which included a personal best, a meet record, a school record, and a spot on the Alaska girls all-time list accompanied by her teammates. Fields began her herculean effort in the 400, clocking 59.34 seconds to dip under the 60-second barrier for the second time in her career. She followed up the ..read more

Allie Ostrander (bottom row, second from left) represented Team USA at Saturday’s World Cross-Country Championships in Serbia. In searing temperatures, along a muddy course that included a maze of hay bales, Soldotna’s Allie Ostrander produced a smart, sharp race Saturday at the World Cross-Country Championships in Serbia, where she finished 30th overall and second among Americans. Ostrander, a 27-year-old who was already a legend as a teenager, covered the 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) course in Belgrade in 34 minutes, 11 seconds, slowly moving up the field in the latter half of the five-lap race ..read more

For more than two weeks, Tyson Flaharty and Miron Golfman endured cold temperatures, high winds, plenty of bike pushing and a scary sea ice crossing while biking the Iditarod Trail Invitational. Their intentional tie after 16 days, 5 hours and 10 minutes was a testament to the bond the pair forged in the 950-mile ride that began February 25 in Knik and ended under the Burled Arch in Nome. A frosty Clinton Hodges III and Kevin Breitenbach celebrate their ITI 350 win in McGrath. Photo courtesy ITI. Said Golfman on Facebook: “After what was hands down the most difficult physical challenge of my ..read more

WWU’s Sophie Wright; UAA’s Joshua Caleb. Photos by WWU Athletics & Loren Orr Palmer’s Sophie Wright and UAA’s Joshua Caleb earned second-team All-American honors at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships, held in Pittsburg, Kan. Wright, a junior, ran the lead-off leg (1200) on Western Washington’s distance medley relay, which finished ninth in 11 minutes, 30.31 seconds. Teammates Caitlyn Cheney (400), Emmy Kroontje (800) and Gabi Davis (mile) completed the squad. The quartet helped the Vikings qualify in the distance medley relay for the first time in 12 years. While ..read more

UAA’s Joshua Caleb competes at the GNAC Championships. Photo by Loren Orr/Ian Marks It may have been his second collegiate track and field meet, but UAA’s Joshua Caleb competed like a veteran at the GNAC Championships, zooming to a pair of titles in the 60 and 200, and shattering the all-time conference records in the process. A freshman from Nigeria, he clocked 6.73 seconds in the 60 (after running 6.70 in the prelims) before closing out the meet with a scintillating 21.18 seconds in the 200 and recording the fastest split (47.78) on the 4×400-meter relay that placed runner-up. Currently, b ..read more

Isaac Updike Because Isaac Updike’s principal event is the steeplechase, which is only run outdoors, he doesn’t put too much weight on the indoor season. His indoor campaign focuses on using a few races to bolster big training blocks. The last indoor race of his season came Friday night in Albuquerque, N.M., where he finished 13th in the 3,000 meters at the USATF Indoor Track and Field Championships in a fairly slow tactical race. Updike’s time of 8 minutes, 9.55 seconds was well off his personal best at the distance (7:45.10), which he ran in Boston in January and stands as the second-faste ..read more