Senior Boomchain Loucks and freshman Jenna Meissner took first place in their races at the Southeast cross-country championships in Sitka and, along with their teammates, will be going to the state meet in Palmer.

The Wrangell boys and girls teams each won their division at the Sitka competition on Saturday, Sept. 27.

It was the fourth year in a row for the Wolves boys to win Southeast, and the first girls team championship since 2014.

And not only did Loucks have the best time on the 5K-course among Division III runners, he had the fastest time of any runner from any school at the meet.

Meissner ran the third fastest girls time across the three divisions

Loucks crossed the finish line 11 seconds ahead of second-place finisher and reigning state champion Aulis Nelson of Craig, finishing with the winning time of 16 minutes and 16 seconds.

Loucks said Nelson will be his biggest competition at state this year, where he is looking to bring home both individual and team titles for Wrangell.

Jackson Carney and Ian Nelson finished fourth and seventh, respectively, in the Division III standings. Carney ran a personal record of 17:46, beating his previous time at the Capital City Invitational in Juneau on Sept. 20 by over 12 seconds.

Nelson set his 2025 season record with a time of 18:06, cutting off an entire minute and eight seconds from his previous best time of the year.

“Ian Nelson had a real good breakthrough race, he really won the men’s team title for us,” said head coach Mason Villarma.

The scores for regionals are calculated from each teams’ top three runners.

The Wrangell boys took first, ahead of Petersburg in second and Craig in third. The girls team also bested Petersburg and Craig for the regional title.

The top three teams and top 15 individuals in Division III — high schools of fewer than 150 students — qualify for the state championships Saturday, Oct. 4.

Not far behind their teammates at Southeast were Jackson Powers, who finished ninth with a time of 18:53, Ryder Ritchie in 12th with a PR of 19:01, Ben Houser with his PR of 19:37 in 17th place, and Lucas Sterns in 29th with a time of 21:11. The were 53 runners in the race.

Both Wrangell teams are full of seniors: Loucks, Nelson, Powers, Houser and Kalee Herman (on the girls side) are all participating in their final season. But Villarma is not worried. Runners like Carney and Alana Harrison are bringing up the next generation, he said.

Meissner went undefeated in Southeast in her freshman season. Despite taking a wrong turn and not getting the PR she was hoping for at Southeast, Meissner, at 20:21.04, beat the second-place finisher by a scant 0.76 seconds.

Meissner said the runner-up, Ariel Tucker, of Petersburg, is going to be one of her top competitors at state meet, where they will race on the Michael Janacek Running Trail in Palmer.

Juniors Bella Ritchie and Harrison helped lead the girls to their first team victory in over 10 years.

Ritchie in the third slot and Harrison in the fourth. Ritchie had a time of 20:57, not quite reaching her personal record, but almost four and a half minutes faster than what she was running at this time last year.

Harrison finished with a time of 21:25, just 2.3 seconds behind the personal record she earned at the Kayhi Invitational earlier this season. She was awarded a Good Sportsmanship Award, along with Carney, at the end of the meet.

Rounding out the girls team was senior Kalee Herman in 16th place, setting her 2025 season record with a time of 24:54.

Both teams are looking forward to the state championships.

“Everybody’s got their eyes set on another state title for the men’s side, and this will be the very first time the girls have ever won state,” said coach Villarma.

“We want a clean sweep like we did in regionals, but we have to stay nimble and make sure that we don’t get complacent in the very last big performance of the year.”