The school year wrapping up in the month ahead coincides with UAA, prep sports and the Anchorage Wolverines all finishing out their seasons. As such, this is the penultimate Anchorage sports check-in of the 2024-25 academic year, and the next will cover how teams fared in the postseason.
A number of Anchorage athletes hold the state’s top mark in their respective track and field events, including Bartlett junior Elijah Lemaster (400 meters), Dimond senior Jarrett Jackson (800 meters), Bartlett senior Tyler Drake (110-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles), Bartlett junior Deuce Alailefaleula (shot put), Chugiak sophomore Benjamin Hiestand (discus) and West Anchorage senior Ariel Sanchez (long jump) among boys.
The Anchorage athletes heading the girls leaderboards are Dimond senior Sarah Dittman (100 meters and long jump), South Anchorage junior Anna Green (200 meters), Chugiak senior Alliyah Fields (400 meters), Eagle River sophomore Ashlyn Paynter (3200 meters), Dimond sophomore Nevaeh Walker (100-meter hurdles and high jump), Dimond senior Avrey Campbell (300-meter hurdles), Mountain City Christian Academy junior Jieaya Siatini Williams (shot put and discus) and West Anchorage junior Izabela Sullivan (triple jump).
The soccer season is in full swing, including a couple of Anchorage schools coming up to Fairbanks over the weekend to face West Valley and Lathrop.
The Bartlett boys went 0-2 and are now 0-8 overall, while the Bartlett girls went 0-1-1 and are 1-7-1 overall. The Dimond boys went 2-0 and are now 5-2 overall including a 6-1 win over defending state champion South Anchorage. The Dimond girls went 2-0 in Fairbanks with two shutouts to improve to 6-0-1 overall.
Dimond is the defending state champion, but the Chugiak and South Anchorage girls are also undefeated. Colony is the only undefeated boys team, so the Cook Inlet Conference appears wide open.
Service and South Anchorage, who have accounted for the past four D1 baseball state titles, are also the only undefeated teams remaining this season.
The softball season is in its earlier stages, and most Anchorage teams have only played a few games, but the city has produced the past 14 D1 softball state champions.
University of Alaska Anchorage
UAA sophomore Joshua Caleb, who became a two-time All-American at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships in March, now has two of the top five sprint times in Division II after running personal bests of 10.11 seconds (100 meters) and 20.5 seconds (200 meters) on April 17.
John Peckham, a Seawolf junior, and Liv Heite, a sophomore, sit on the edge of national qualifying position in the men’s 3000-meter steeplechase and the women’s 100-meter hurdles, respectively.
The postseason is afoot, with the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championships in Bellingham, Washington next, followed by the NCAA D2 Outdoor Championships from May 22-24.
Despite losing seven of their 12 regular season matchups against their rival Fairbanks Ice Dogs — who won the Club 49 Cup by winning the in-state series against Anchorage and Kenai River — the Anchorage Wolverines are the last Alaskan team standing in the Robertson Cup Playoffs.
The Wolverines lost their last three regular season matchups with the Ice Dogs and didn’t have home-ice advantage for the postseason but still swept the Ice Dogs in three games and will now face the Wisconsin Windigo, the top seed in the division, in a series starting May 2. If the Wolverines defeat the Windigo, they’ll represent the NAHL Midwest Division in the Robertson Cup semifinals for the second year in a row.
Contact Gavin Struve at gstruve@newsminer.com or 907-459-7544
