Sophomore surge? Kaleb Korta of Galena aims to make an impact at UAA

In four days of recent training, the UAA men's cross-country runners banged out beastly workouts, and the encouraging news for sophomore Kaleb Korta was the consecutive sessions didn't leave him feeling like a mess.

The Wednesday workout featured six miles of climbing up the relentless rise of Arctic Valley Road. Thursday brought a 9-mile run followed by a touch of hill work. Friday delivered six sturdy repeats of a hilly, nearly 1-mile loop at Kincaid Park. The training block closed with a 15-mile run Saturday.

The Seawolves were on their own Sunday, when running was optional. Korta's body felt relatively good, so he covered an easy 6 miles.

That Korta was eager to run after four days of taxing training furnished another sign he has adjusted to the rigors of college training and positioned himself to make an impact for the Seawolves this season.

"Last year, I would have been trashed,'' Korta said. "I would have been in bed for half the day. There's no way I could have done those workouts last year and felt good after.''

The Seawolves, picked by Great Northwest Athletic Conference coaches to sweep conference crowns, open the season Saturday at the San Francisco Invitational in California. UAA's men, who are ranked No. 5 nationally in a preseason poll, have won seven straight GNAC titles. UAA's women, ranked No. 7 nationally, have won two straight conference championships, and seven of the last eight.

As a freshman last season, Korta flitted on the edge of the lineup, once finishing as the Seawolves'  sixth-fastest runner, twice finishing as their seventh man and once as their 10^th. A team's top five finishers score points.

Korta enjoyed a storied high school career in Galena, a town of about 500 on the Yukon River. He won state Class 1-2-3A cross-country championships as a junior and senior, and finished in the top five all four years.

Even so, Korta's body needed time to adjust to increased training mileage at UAA. After running 40-50 miles per week in high school, Korta's volume has risen to 80-85. It didn't help that a knee injury in the summer of 2016 limited his training and slowed his progress as a freshman.

Still, said longtime UAA head coach Michael Friess, Korta showed maturity and patience, and understood his body required time to absorb high mileage, become accustomed to it and reap the benefits.

"All athletes are going to struggle in the transition,'' Friess said. "The good athletes don't freak out over it. They know they're going to be OK.

"Now, he's positioned himself to have a pretty successful sophomore season and be an integral part of our team.''

A turning point for Korta arrived last spring during outdoor track season. Increased mileage during cross-country season and indoor track season had left him feeling "pretty beat up.'' Come outdoor season, though, Korta realized he was no longer so fatigued.

"I thought, 'Wow, my legs haven't felt this good in a long time,' '' Korta recalled.

His outdoor results confirmed it. Given Korta's "toughness,'' strength and athleticism — he also played basketball and cross-country skied in high school — Friess entered him in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. That event of seven-plus laps requires runners to negotiate multiple barriers and a water pit fronted by a barrier. Because Anchorage does not have a facility with a water pit, the first one Korta ever encountered came on the first lap of a race at the Willamette Invitational in Oregon.

Korta finished second in that race in late March in 9 minutes, 25.60 seconds. Less than two months later, he won the steeplechase at the GNAC Championships in 9:06.59 and also earned team points in the 1,500 meters with a seventh-place finish.

Korta carried that improvement into his summer workouts in Galena, where he said he often trains on an 8-mile gravel road between the town and the dump. He spent the summer training and helping his dad, who doubled as his high school coach, supply the town's elder center with 70 cords of wood for winter use in the center's wood boiler. He also built a pavilion.

"I just like building stuff,'' said Korta, who majors in construction management.

Korta said he supplemented his summer running workouts with sessions in the weight room, regular stretching and injury-prevention measures like icing and drills.

The increased work Korta has done in the last year has lightened him — he carries about 140 pounds on his 5-foot-7 frame, down five pounds from high school.

And with a strong spring track season and an injury-free summer of training behind him, he's glad to be back with his team. At home in Galena, he either trains alone, or with former prep teammate Jacob Moos, so heading out on the trails with teammates is a refreshing change.

"It makes it so much more enjoyable, knowing there are eight or 10 guys working as hard as you to achieve a common goal,'' Korta said.