[ad_1]
This previous week in Alaska sports activities noticed a pair of prep packages dominate, a pair of collegiate packages come up quick and a junior crew break up a street sequence. There have been additionally some athletes with Final Frontier roots that shined Exterior. On the prep sports activities scene, South Anchorage gained its first state wrestling title since 2018 and Chugiak boys hockey continued its robust begin to the season after a prolonged break. On the faculty scene, the College of Alaska Anchorage girls’s basketball crew obtained blown out on the street whereas the lads’s hockey crew obtained swept by its in-state rival for the second straight week.
Headlines and highlights
After ending as runner-up in two of the final three years, the South Anchorage Excessive College boys wrestling crew broke the stranglehold that Colony had by claiming its first Division I crown in three years over the weekend on the state championships.
The Wolverines had their title wrapped up earlier than the finals have been even completed, due to the unimaginable efficiency of their wrestlers within the comfort rounds Saturday morning.
[South claims Division I state wrestling title thanks to the ‘backside boys’]
“It’s been a couple of years, and it feels actually good,” South head coach Randy Hanson stated. “We’ve been shut a pair years and fallen quick. We had some adversity this yr like each crew however the guys confirmed up these final two days.”
Whereas the Knights noticed their consecutive crew title streak come to an finish, the Lathrop ladies prolonged their run by claiming a 3rd straight crew title highlighted by a pair of particular person champions, Megan Spencer at 107 kilos and Amaya Coon at 114 kilos. This marked Spencer’s second yr in a row claiming a title after she gained state at 103 kilos in 2021.
After narrowly ending as runner-up final yr, the Redington boys crew gained the Division II crew title with a fully dominant exhibiting at state. Just like the Wolverines, they have been propelled to the highest spot thanks their depth dominating within the again aspect of the bracket as effectively. The Huskies had three wrestlers make it to the finals and two gained particular person titles. Myles Campbell bulked up and gained a title for the second yr in a row, this time at 130 kilos and his teammate, Thomas Swalling, gained his first at 145 kilos.
Final week’s snow storm didn’t enable for a full slate of additional curricular actions however the top-ranked Chugiak boys hockey crew (9-0-1) was capable of squeeze in one other spectacular efficiency in between faculty cancellations. Due to a hat trick by senior ahead Ajay Johnson, the Mustangs remained undefeated, prolonged their profitable streak to eight in a row and handed reigning Division I state champion Dimond (4-3-1) its first loss to a convention opponent within the course of.
[Chemistry, physicality and work ethic have propelled Chugiak hockey to an undefeated start]
On the faculty hockey scene, the UAA males’s crew returned dwelling for the second leg within the return of the annual Governor’s Cup this previous weekend after getting swept by in-state rival UAF within the first final week. The tip consequence was the identical for the Seawolves because the Nanooks swept them once more at hand them their fourth straight loss. Not like final week once they have been capable of rating a pair of targets in each video games, they obtained shut out in each contests this time round.
Whereas his crew wasn’t capable of finding success on the ice this previous week, UAA hockey coach Matt Shasby was capable of have some higher luck on the recruiting path by having native product Caleb Huffman signal a Nationwide Letter of Intent to hitch this system after the vacation break. The Anchorage native has appeared in 87 video games for the Kenai River Brown Bears of the NAHL the place he has recorded 5 targets and 19 assists for twenty-four profession factors.
“Caleb is a hometown child who has actually discovered his recreation over the previous couple of years in junior hockey,” stated Shasby in a press release. “He performs with an edge to his recreation that makes him robust to play towards, and his ability set permits him to contribute offensively. We’re very excited to be including Caleb at semester and really feel he’ll make a direct affect.”
A day after the hockey crew obtained shut out for the second straight time within the frigid Final Frontier, the UAA girls’s basketball crew obtained blown out in sunny southern California 88-58 by undefeated Cal State Dominguez Hills. It marked the second loss for the Seawolves on the younger season however their first in lopsided style. Senior guard Rachel Ingram got here off the bench and led the crew in each minutes with 28 and factors with 14 as the one participant to succeed in double figures in any statistical class.
The UAA males’s basketball crew didn’t take the court docket this previous week nevertheless it did land a notable recruit for the way forward for this system, asserting Utah prep standout Trey Evans signed his Nationwide Letter of Intent to hitch the crew. The 6-foot-5 level guard is averaging 9.0 factors, 6.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 3.3 steals and 1.0 blocks per recreation for Actual Salt Lake Academy and is the primary member of the Seawolves 2023 recruiting class.
“We’re excited to welcome Trey to Seawolf Nation. He’s a particular participant who makes his groups higher and impacts profitable in so many areas,” stated head coach Rusty Osborne in a press release. “Trey is certainly a Division I-caliber participant and had alternatives there if he needed. However together with his father being a former D-II All-American, he understands the standard of D-II basketball.”
Osborne coached towards Evans’ father, David, when he starred at BYU-Hawaii.
One Seawolf that did take pleasure in some success in his respective sport was junior alpine skier Leon Nikic. He led UAA with a pair of top-10 finishes on the Nor-Am races at Beaver Creek with a sixth-place end within the slalom race on Dec. 14 adopted by a ninth-place end on Dec. 15.
The UAA volleyball program introduced the promotion of longtime assistant Stacie Meisner to the place of head coach. The previous Seawolf participant turned coach will likely be changing the coach she performed for and served below in Chris Inexperienced, who resigned final month as probably the most profitable coach in program historical past.
[UAA hires longtime assistant Stacie Meisner as new head volleyball coach]
The Anchorage Wolverines performed the primary two legs of a five-game street journey with a two-game sequence with the Wisconsin Windigo that they break up, dropping the primary and profitable the second. They’d three gamers document a pair of targets over the weekend with Anchorage natives Aiden Westin and Cameron Morris discovering the online as soon as in every recreation and ahead Kyle Bauer scoring each of his within the second.
Alaska stars shining Exterior
Utqiagvik native and former Barrow highschool hoops star Kamaka Hepa scored a career-high in factors in his final time on the court docket when the College of Hawaii Manoa males’s basketball crew beat Saint Francis 90-66 on Dec. 11. The 6-foot-10 senior ahead led the Rainbow Warriors in minutes with 36, rebounds with 14, and in factors with a career-high 30 for his second double-double of the season.
Throughout his first two years of taking part in prep basketball in Alaska earlier than ending his final two in Portland, Oregon, Hepa led the Whalers to back-to-back state championships as a freshman and sophomore and was twice named Alaska’s Gatorade Participant of the Yr.
After putting eighth in Norway the week earlier than in her first race again from sickness, Alaska Pacific Nordic Ski Middle member, Rosie Brennan, reached the rostrum this previous weekend after ending third on the Davos 20K freestyle race in Switzerland. She was happy to have such a powerful turnaround after a “disappointing” exhibiting the day earlier than to complete on the rostrum the second day.
“It was a decent race the entire approach and I’m thrilled to have simply nipped the rostrum spot,” Brennan wrote in a press release. “I’ve by no means carried out a 20K interval begin which was in all probability true for the entire area at the moment. That made it actually difficult to know the tempo or actually what to anticipate. I really like the course right here and love snowboarding at altitude so I had some confidence that I might discover a regular tempo and maintain it. I had actually good skis at the moment and did all I might to push the downhill on the final lap which simply barely snuck me on the rostrum.”
Anchorage’s Gus Schumacher positioned 18th within the 20K on the lads’s aspect.
Anchorage’s Jeremy Swayman and North Pole’s Pheonix Copley made historical past for Alaska hockey Saturday once they grew to become the primary goaltenders from the Final Frontier to win video games within the Nationwide Hockey League on the identical day. Swayman stopped 31 photographs between the posts for the Boston Bruins in a 4-2 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets whereas Copley prevented 23 photographs from discovering the again of the online for the Los Angeles Kings to beat the San Jose Sharks 3-2.
Final week’s outcomes
Prep Hockey
Boys
Tuesday
West 9, Service 1
Wednesday
Chugiak 6, Dimond 2
Friday
West 5, Eagle River 4
Saturday
Dimond 6, Service 1
Eagle River 11, Bartlett 1
Basketball
Thursday
West Valley 63, Service 55
Friday
West 78, Colony 76
Monroe Catholic 45, Service 31
Doherty 57, South 39
Ketchikan 78, Chugiak 63
Wasilla 66, Eagle River 41
Saturday
Doherty 73, West 41
Service 61, Lathrop 44
Eastside Catholic 65, Dimond 49
Wasilla 54, South 49
Ketchikan 82, Chugiak 59
Colony 65, Eagle River 53
Wrestling
State Wrestling Event
Division I Boys Group Prime 5
1. South Anchorage 275; 2. Soldotna 261.5; 3. Lathrop 180.5; 4. Wasilla 176; 5. Colony 174.
Division II Boys Group Prime 5
1. Redington 172.5; 2. Kenai Central 118.5; 3. Bethel 100; 4. Petersburg 90; 5. Delta 86.
Women Group Prime 5
1. Lathrop 179.5; 2. North Pole 149; 3. Soldotna 113; 4. Bethel 81; 5. (tie) Colony 79; 5. (tie) Service 79.
Faculty
Ladies’s Basketball
Sunday
Cal State 88, UAA 58
Hockey
Friday
UAF 4, UAA 0
Saturday
UAF 1, UAA 0
NAHL
Friday
Wisconsin Windigo 5, Anchorage Wolverines 2
Saturday
Anchorage Wolverines 6, Wisconsin Windigo 4
[ad_2]
Source link