UAA athletics
9 up for MacKay award
UAA will award the 29th annual Bill MacKay Athlete of the Year trophy to one of nine nominees next week. The award will be presented April 26 at the end-of-the-year banquet at Lucy Cuddy Hall on campus.
Nominees
• Micah Chelimo, a senior distance runner from Kenya who runs for the men's cross country team as well as the indoor and outdoor track and field team, was nominated for all three sports. He won the NCAA Division II national championship last fall, the 5,000 meters in the national indoor meet this year and the 5,000 meters at the national outdoor meet last spring.
• Marine Dusser was last season's most valuable player on the women's ski team. The freshman from France notched a pair of third-place nordic finishes in the NCAA Skiing Championships.
• Lukas Ebner, of Germany, represents the men's nordic ski team. The junior All-American placed ninth in a 10-K classical race at the NCAAs.
• Kyle Fossman led the men's basketball team in scoring this season. The 6-foot junior guard from Haines averagrf 14.8 points per game and being named team MVP.
• Alysa Horn was a co-MVP on the women's basketball team. The 6-foot forward from Kodiak nearly averaged a double-double, with 15.2 points and nine rebounds per game.
• Kimya Jafroudi earned All-GNAC honors and was named MVP of the volleyball team. A 5-7 senior from California, Jafroudi was third in the GNAC with 10.27 assists per set and led the league in aces per set at 0.46.
• Emily Petersen, a junior from Indianapolis, was a top performer in gymnastics, earning All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation accolades on both balance beam and uneven bars, and posting the league's top regional qualifying score with a 9.785 on beam.
• Susan Tanui excelled for the women's cross-country running and track and field teams, becoming the first UAA woman to earn two All-America honors at the same meet. The junior from Kenya was runner-up in the steeplechase and eighth in the 5,000 meters at the 2012 Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
• Blake Tatchell, of Saskatchewan, was the first freshman to lead the hockey team in scoring in 10 seasons. He finished with 25 points and a team-high 16 assists.
The Bill MacKay Athlete of the Year is selected for excellence in the 2012-13 athletic campaign. This will be the seventh award that takes the previous year's track and field season into consideration, because of calendar concerns.
The award is voted on by a committee comprised of UAA athletics staff members, local media and Benton Bay representatives.
girls soccer
Dimond 4, Chugiak 1
Dimond's Aaliyah Lewis scored twice Tuesday, sparking a 4-1 Cook Inlet Conference girls soccer victory over Chugiak at The Dome.
Lewis broke a 1-1 halftime tie, using a header to score on an free-kick assist from Bobbye Pendleton in the 47th minute. Lewis, who also scored in the first half, then set up Ariela Lewis for a goal in 51st minute, stretching the Lynx lead to 3-1. Camryn Sweeney tacked on Dimond's fourth goal in the 68th minute.
Holly Brehmer scored a first-half goal for Chugiak, which fell to 2-1-2 in league play.
Dimond improved to 5-0-0.
Boys soccer
Dimond 7, Chugiak 1
The Dimond boys soccer team blew past Chugiak on Tuesday, winning 7-1 in a Cook Inlet Conference match at The Dome.
Dimond improved to 4-1-0 in the CIC. Chugiak, which got its only goal from Brady Sanders, fell to 1-4-0.
TaeKwonDo
Sawyer wins 4th title
Anchorage's Tyler Sawyer, who attends Santa Clara University, won his fourth straight title at the Collegiate National Taekwondo Championships last weekend at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Sawyer competed as a bantam weight (129-139 pounds) this year, one weight class up from fly weight (119-128), the division in which he won his three previous titles.
The win qualifies Sawyer to compete in July's U.S. National Championships in Chicago.
ULTRAMARATHONING
Wilcox wins 45K
Lael Wilcox of Anchorage on Saturday won the women's division of the Cedro Peak Ultramarathon, a difficult 45-kilometer trail race in New Mexico's Cibola National Forest.
Wilcox, 26, who graduated from East High and ran in college for the University of Puget Sound, banged out the 28-miler, which included more than 4,000 feet of vertical gain and descent, in 4 hours, 56 minutes, 6 seconds. That earned her victory by more than 25 minutes.
Wilcox since college has biked all over the world, and Saturday biked to the start of the race in the Albuquerque area. She teaches yoga and works as a server to fund her adventures.
mountain sports
Ostroski, Brooks win
Pete Ostroski and Holly Brooks each bagged victories last weekend, when 140 skiers and bikers gathered at Alyeska Ski Resort for the inaugural AK Skimeister Challenge, a competition comprised of a giant slalom, a 6-kilometer cross-country ski race and a mountain bike race in Girdwood Valley.
Ostroski and Brooks each won Skimeister awards for best combined performance in the alpine and nordic skiing events, Ostroski topping the men and Brooks topping the women. A strong showing in the mountain bike race helped Ostroski add a men's triathlon victory.
Ostroski, a coach for the Alyeska Ski Club, finished first in the giant slalom, fourth in the cross-country race and second behind Alaska Pacific University's Mark Iverson in the mountain bike race.
Brooks, of Anchorage, is a cross-country skier for the U.S. Ski Team and 2010 Olympian who dominated in winning the women's cross-country race and was 19th in the giant slalom.
Anchorage's Shannon Donley won the women's triathlon by taking first in the mountain bike race, fourth in the cross-country race and sixth in the giant slalom.
Tim Thornley of the Alyeska Ski Club won the junior Skimeister competition, with the Alyeska Ski Club's Charlie Lamb taking the junior triathlon.
The team division went to Anna Berecz, Viktor Braennmaker and Lukas Ebner. Jordan Lane, Jake Bassett and Matthew Muffoletto combined efforts to win the junior team division.
Anna Jaeger, Kara Oney and Jill Simek won the women's team division, with Aly, Connor and Karissa Gries winning the family team division.
Anchorage Daily News