PREP SKIING
East boys, South girls take relay crowns
Behind strong legs from reigning conference Skimeister Marion Woods and defending state champion Thomas O'Harra, the South girls and East boys collected cross country ski victories Saturday at the Bartlett Relays.
The race, held in sunny, cold weather, featured two-person teams. Each skier raced two kilometers before tagging off to their teammate, for a total of four legs and eight kilometers.
Woods logged the day's fastest girls times in the second and fourth legs, making her first trip around the course in 7 minutes, 7.6 seconds and her second in 7:03.6. She and teammate Teagan Yutrenka posted a total time of 29:43.9 to beat second-place Sam Hartke and Sarissa Lammers of Chugiak by 12.3 seconds.
Lydia Blanchet of seventh-place South recorded the top times in the first and third legs, clocking 7:03.4 on the first and 7:19.8 on the third.
In the boys race, O'Harra and John Farr teamed up for a decisive victory over West's Henry Loeffler and Jacob Volz. O'Harra posted the fastest times of the day in the second and fourth legs (5:56.3 and 6:09.7, respectively) to help the East duo to a time of 24:57.8. Loeffler, whose 6:07.9 paced the first leg, and Volz were 26.1 seconds behind.
Garth Schultz, a member of Service's fourth-place team, had the fastest third leg (6:14.1).
BOYS BASKETBALL
West 60, Juneau 43
The West boys basketball team beat host Juneau for the second straight night Saturday, this time winning 60-43 behind 16 points from Joe Riley and 11 from Riley McGee.
West improved to 2-0 and is scheduled to host Palmer on Thursday.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Wasilla 57, Juneau 25
Amanda Hutchens furnished 11 points, eight rebounds and five steals and Kyla Dinkel racked up 18 points and seven rebounds Saturday in Wasilla's 57-25 drubbing of Juneau in a girls basketball game in Wasilla.
The Warriors dominated the second quarter, outscoring Juneau 20-2, to turn the game into a blowout.
Alexis Imoe added 15 points for Wasilla. Juneau was led by Gabi Fenumiai's 14 points.
GIRLS HOCKEY
Dimond-West rolls
Dimond-West fired 43 shots on goal and faced only six Saturday in a 4-0 blanking of Mat-Su in a nonconference girls hockey game at Ben Boeke Ice Arena.
Brandi Muller gave Dimond-West a 1-0 lead when she scored off an assist by Taral Clayton with 33 seconds left in the first period. Allye Brodie and Tami Suenram added second-period goals and Miryea Herman, who assitede on Brodie's goal, struck in the third period to complete the scoring.
Mat-Su goaltender Emma Pettit was under constant attack but stopped 39 shots in the loss.
BOYS HOCKEY
West 2, Service 1
A late third-period power-play goal by Ryder Schwamm lifted the West boys hockey team to a 2-1 Cook Inlet Conference win over Service at Ben Boeke Ice Arena on Saturday.
Schwamm struck for the game-winner with 1:04 left in regulation, getting assists from Dawson Ellingworth and Max Osgood.
Along with Garen Teders, Schwamm also earned an assist on the game's first goal, helping set up Alex Bardsley to give West a 1-0 lead in the first period.
Service's Andrew Cummings tied it at 1-1 in the second period on an unassisted power-play goal about three minutes into the period.
West goalie Joe Chekan stopped 25 shots, and Service goalie Dustin Fritz stopped 14.
South 5, Chugiak 1
Aaron McPheters scored twice Saturday to help the South boys hockey team overcome a one-goal deficit and beat Chugiak 5-1 at the McDonald Center in a CIC game.
Chugiak's Kris Tomazevic opened scoring with just 17 seconds left in the first period, but South answered with three goals in the second and two more in the third.
South's Jared Cruz scored first for South, and McPheters gave the Wolverines a 2-1 lead with about 10 minutes remaining in the second period. Cameron Klatt and Steven Orizotti added goals for South.
South goalie Nathan Wright made 11 saves, and Chugiak goalie Matt Bennett made 25.
WRESTLING
Wasilla rules the mat
Led by three individual champions, the Wasilla Warriors took a dominating team victory Saturday in the West Christmas Classic wrestling tournament at West High.
Claiming individual titles for the Warriors were Justin Gentz at 126 pounds, Ryker Steiner at 132 and D.J. Morrow at 152.
West Christmas Classic
Team scores
1) Wasilla 442.5, 2) Colony 342, 3) West 337.5, 4) Kenai 278, 5) Kodiak 269, 6) Service 269, 7) South 258.5, 8) East 239, 9) Bartlett 203.5, 10) Eagle River 185, 11) Chugiak 154.5, 12) Palmer 150, 13) Soldotna 124.5, 14) Thunder Mountain 99.5, 15) Dimond 84.5.
Championship matches
98 -- Greg Shack (South) p. Jordan Anderson (West), 1:56) 106 -- Kyle Willard (East) d. Hope Steffensen (Kenai). 5-0. 113 -- Andrew Caballa (Kodiak) d. Brandon Abbott (Wasilla). 11-4. 120 -- Jay-Ar Small (Kodiak) d. Joshua Fetko (Service), 6-5. 126 -- Justin Gentz (Wasilla) m.d. Chase Fannon (Colony), 10-1. 132 -- Ryker Steiner (Wasilla) d. Spencer Adams (Colony), 7-4. 138 -- Damian Sotelo (Bartlett) d. Chris Weidner (West), 1-0. 145 -- Cameron White (Kodiak) d. Tyler Thammavongsa (Service), 9-4. 152 -- DJ Morrow (Wasilla) p. Xavier Horton (Eagle River), 4:57. 160 -- Logan Conway (Colony) d. Dylan Carter (Kenai), 7-3. 170 -- Josh Wiggins (East ) d. Leroy Elliot (West), 3-0. 182 -- Troy Strieff (Soldotna) d. Mark Dobbs (Wasilla), 7-5 (OT). 195 -- Austin Rench (Colony) d. Billy Schultz (Wasilla), 6-5). 220 -- Ian MacKenzie (Colony) d. Richard Burroughs (Chugiak ), 3-1 (OT). 285 -- Keanu King (East ) p. Jarmie Augafa (South), 4:35.
Anchorage Daily News