Welcome to The Rewind, a weekly digest that puts a spotlight on the biggest stories and best performances from Alaska’s world of sports.
The fourth week of the 2023 Alaska high school football season saw the top two teams at the Division I level suffer their first losses of the season, a dominant performance in Division II and a stunning upset in Division III for the second week in a row. On the college sports scene, the University of Alaska Anchorage volleyball team played in front of its home fans for the first time in the regular season and found success. On the national and international stage, a former Alaska prep star joined an elite group of athletes to reach a rare milestone, a rugby star is up for a prestigious award and a steeplechase runner from Southeast competed in China.
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Headlines and highlights
On paper and in offensive philosophy, the Soldotna and Bartlett high school football teams mirror each other. However, on Friday night, it was the Stars who perfectly executed their game plan as they steamrolled the Golden Bears in their most commanding victory of the season thus far. Led by a dominant offensive line, the two-time Division II state runner-ups ran all over their Division I opponent for a whopping 324 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground.
“I feel like I have the best offensive line in the state by far,” Soldotna quarterback Zack Buckbee said. “They come in every week, work and memorize their rules.”
[Soldotna football’s ‘silent heroes’ pave the way to a blowout win over Bartlett]
On Saturday, Service ended its two-game losing skid in resounding fashion with a 54-14 win over Juneau. The victory was spearheaded by an explosive passing attack featuring senior quarterback Jonathon Tautua’s second five-touchdown game of season.
“Our execution of offense was one thing that was important in practice,” he said. “Executing every play and we definitely did it.”
Several of his touchdown passes were perfectly placed and hit their intended targets in stride, which is an aspect of his game that Tautua has been working on the past few weeks.
“I’ve practicing a lot trying to put it on my receivers so they could make a play and score touchdowns,” he said.
Tautua finished 14-of-24 for 220 passing yards and touchdown throws from 19, 24, 32, 38, and 26 yards out. His favorite target of the afternoon was wide receiver Caleb Wahlman who struggled with a few drops at times but still maintained the trust of his quarterback and hauled in three of the five scores finished with six receptions for 130 receiving yards.
“Whenever a receiver drops the ball, I still trust them no matter what,” Tautua said. “It’s just the next play on and maybe the next time I throw to him, he’ll probably go score which is what usually happens.”
In other prep football action, both Bettye Davis East Anchorage and West Anchorage traveled out of the state to play and neither were able to emerge victorious. The Thunderbirds fell to the North Creek (Washington) Jaguars for the second year in a row and the Eagles returned to the Aloha State for the first time in 11 years and came up just short against the ‘Aiea Na Alii. At the Division III level, defending champion Homer suffered its first defeat of the season at the hands of Kenai Central in a surprisingly lopsided fashion.
Three-time reigning Cook Inlet Conference flag football champion Dimond remained undefeated to start the 2023 season with a pair of victories for the third consecutive week. The first came against South Anchorage on Tuesday night in a rematch of last year’s conference title game and resulted in the Lynx handing the Wolverines their first loss of the season in a decisive shutout. Their second win came over Service on Saturday morning in another shutout by an even wider margin as they finished the week with a whopping point differential of 70-0.
The second week of the high school volleyball regular season saw a pair of CIC teams remain undefeated. Defending Division I state champion Dimond swept West in three sets on Tuesday. The Lynx had to rally to beat Service in five sets on Friday. East continued its sizzling hot start to the year when it completed its third straight three-set sweep Tuesday over Chugiak in their only action of the week.
“I’m really proud of my girls,” East coach Garrett Conway said. “We really came out hot and the energy has been really high which has been a huge factor.”
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In college action, the UAA volleyball team held its annual Seawolf Invitational at the Alaska Airlines Center and won three of four matches over the course of the three-day event, including delivering the first home victory for first-year head coach Stacie Meisner on Thursday. The Seawolves were led in kills by senior outside hitter Nicole Blue who tallied 37 in the four matches combined and they also had several players set new single-match career-high totals in kills.
[UAA volleyball team delivers new coach her first home victory]
The Oregon State University football program did more than just convincingly win its season opener over San Jose State University on Saturday. The Beavers also landed one of the top recruits in the state of Alaska as West High gridiron star Aaron Hampton formally announced his commitment to play for them a few weeks after receiving a preferred walk-on offer.
100% committed!! Go Beavs🖤🧡🦫 @BrandonHuffman @BeavRecruiting @BeaverBullpen pic.twitter.com/DvpPpx1dxz
— Aaron Hampton 3⭐️ (@Aaron_Hampton10) September 2, 2023
“Before anything, I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because without him none of this would be possible,” Hampton wrote on Twitter. “I want to thank my parents, teammates, and coaches for pushing me every single day in practice, workouts, in the off season, etc., to be the best athlete and best man possible.”
The senior wide receiver and outside linebacker was being heavily recruited by other Division I programs such as Washington and Portland State University as well as several Ivy League schools including Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia and Cornell University.
Alaska stars shining Outside
Anchorage’s Brandon Pili officially defied the odds that often come with being an undrafted rookie coming out of college last Tuesday when he was one of three first-year free agents that made the Miami Dolphins initial 53-man roster. The former Dimond star and University of Southern California standout is set to become the latest in a short list of Alaskans to play in a regular season game Sunday when the Dolphins play the Los Angeles Chargers for their season opener on the road.
[3 NFL rookies with Alaska roots are living their dreams and proud of where they come from]
Eagle River’s Alev Kelter is among the three finalists for the Premier Rugby League Sevens player of the year award. The other finalists are Naya Tapper of the South Headliners and Stacey Waaka of the New York Locals. The 32-year-old who plays for the Northern Loonies is less than a month removed from leading her team to a 21-12 triumph over the Locals in which she outscored the opposing team with just her points alone. The former Chugiak prep star is coming off her best season to date in which she led the league with 29 points and 27 carries and also recorded 3 tries and 3 steals.
Ketchikan’s Isaac Updike made his Diamond League debut in Xiamen, China on Saturday and finished 16th in a field of 18 runners in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The 31-year-old clocked a time of 8 minutes, 27.37 seconds, which was three seconds faster than his 16th place finish at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary last month.
Last week’s results
Prep
Football
Friday
North Creek (WA) 28, East 7
Aiea (HI) 33, West 26
Houston 14, West Valley 8
North Pole 22, Wasilla 21
Eagle River 22, Palmer 14
Soldotna 62, Bartlett 19
Kodiak 28, Redington 24
Nikiski 42, Valdez 16
Dimond over West (forfeit)
Saturday
Service 54, Juneau 14
Kenai Central 29, Homer 8
South 31, Colony 23
Lathrop 45, Chugiak 20
NFHS/ASBN Week 4 Poll
1. Soldotna 4-0 v. Wasilla
2. Eagle River 4-0 at Lathrop
3. Dimond 4-0 v. Service
4. East 3-1 v. Colony
5. West 3-2 at Bartlett
6. Lathrop 2-2 v. Eagle River
7. Houston 3-1 v. Kenai
8. Service 2-2 at Dimond
9. Kenai 3-1 at Houston
10 Barrow 2-1 at Redington
Flag Football
Tuesday
Dimond 19, South 0
Eagle River 7, West 6
Service 25, East 0
Chugiak 18, Bartlett 0
Thursday
Eagle River 7, Bartlett 0
South 39, East 0
West 26, Chugiak 6
Saturday
Dimond 51, Service 0
Volleyball
Tuesday
South 3, Bartlett 1 (25-10, 25-3, 22-25, 26-24)
Dimond 3, Chugiak 1 (25-23, 24-26, 25-22, 25-19)
East 3, Service 0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-17)
Friday
Dimond 3, Service 2 (25-22, 21-25, 22-25, 25-19, 17-15)
Tennis
Thursday
West 6 South 3
Boys Singles 1: Aaron Griffin (So) def Jude Cebrian (W) 6-1. 6-3
Boys Singles 2: Will Sedwick (W) def Nathan Bailly (So) 6-1. 6-1
Girls Singles 1: Lana Cebrian (W) def Veronica Bodgziewicz (So) 6-0, 6-2
Girls Singles 2: McKena Hanson (W) won by default
Boys Doubles 1: Spencer Henry/Kyle Fisk (So) def Jack Boots/Jackson Pannkuk (W) 6-4, 7-5
Boys Double 2: Beck Mormon/Caleb Bailey (So) def Vernon Lindemuth/Noah Marx (W) 6-0, 7-6 (2)
Girls Doubles 1: Lavinia Li/Sophie Chisholm (W) def Kamila Nadia/Veronica Kester (So) 6-2, 6-2
Girls Doubles 2: Alice Kim/Kira Bold (W) def Reagan Binek/Kelly Baldridge (So) 6-0, 6-0
Mixed Doubles: Henry Carr/Sarah Kim (W) def Nivek Thompson/Scarlett Brown (So) 6-4, 6-4
Swimming
Wednesday
Service - 184 points.
Eagle River - 155 points
Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay
1. Eagle River High School (Woodard, L. Solomonson, Woodard, R. Trembath, S.) 1:53.41. 2. Robert Service High School-2:02.55. 3, Robert Service High School-2:24.18.
Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay
1. Robert Service High School(Price, Kwon, Balaban, Fawcett)-1:38.67. 2. Eagle River High School-1:44.44. 3. Eagle River High School-2:09.03.
Girls 200 Yard Freestyle
1. Trembath, Sophia, Eagle River-2:05.05. 2. Rumph, Caitlyn H, Eagle River-2:12.33. 3. Solomonson, Maya L, Eagle River-2:15.65.
Boys 200 Yard Freestyle
1. Fawcett, Conrad C, Service HS-1:48.97. 2. Shockley, Nate W, Eagle River-1:59.66. 3. Toole, Dean C, Eagle River-2:00.86.
Girls 200 Yard IM
1. Woodward, Lola E, Eagle River-2:17.20. 2. Hall, Devin J, Service HS-3:21.18. 3. Grochowski, Wiktoria, Service HS-AK, 3:34.21.
Boys 200 Yard IM
1. Connolly, Paradorn P, Service HS-2:20.11. 2. Popa, Tristan T, Eagle River-2:23.07. 3. Phillips, Cade B, Service HS-2:51.60.
Girls 50 Yard Freestyle
1. Woodward, Reese M, Eagle River-25.56. 2. Hostetter, Natalie T, Service HS-27.45. 3. Baldwin, Bryn S, Eagle River-27.53.
Boys 50 Yard Freestyle
1. Mank, Wes, Eagle River-22.33. 2. Price, Ben A, Service HS-22.44. 3. Balaban, Tomasz J, Service HS-22.83.
Girls 1 mtr Diving
1. Colman, Faith, Service HS-237.60. 2. Ruedy, Emma, Service HS-185.35. 3. Sidgman, Sophia, Eagle River-178.80.
Boys 1 mtr Diving
1. Altman, Bentley D, Service HS-253.10. 2. Williams, Reubin J, Service HS-216.15.
Girls 100 Yard Butterfly
1. Woodward, Reese M, Eagle River-AK, 1:00.60. 2. Balaban, Marysia, Service HS-AK, 1:26.14.
Boys 100 Yard Butterfly
1. Fawcett, Conrad C, Service HS-54.30. 2. Kwon, Preston S, Service HS-54.52. 3. Balaban, Tomasz J, Service HS-55.71.
Girls 100 Yard Freestyle
1. Trembath, Lelaina, Eagle River-58.70. 2. Brooks, Anna C, Service HS-58.88. 3. Hostetter, Natalie T, Service HS-1:02.05.
Boys 100 Yard Freestyle
1. Zawko, Keegan, Service HS-58.28. 2. Altman, Jake M, Service HS-58.98. 3. Williams, Reubin J, Service HS-59.32.
Mixed 500 Yard Freestyle
1. Trembath, Sophia, Eagle River-5:37.65. 2. Struna-Meyer, Casey D, Service HS-5:46.07. 3. Rumph, Caitlyn H, Eagle River-5:59.02.
Boys 500 Yard Freestyle
1. Beck, Jan M, Service HS-4:57.45. 2. Shockley, Nate W, Eagle River-5:25.19. 3. Toole, Dean C, Eagle River-5:31.48.
Girls 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. Eagle River High School(Woodard, R. Baldwin, Trembath, Woodard, L.)-1:43.20. 2. Robert Service High School-1:54.27. 3. Robert Service High School-2:11.46.
Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. Eagle River High School (Toole, Rumph, Hasanslab, Mank)-1:34.88. 2. Robert Service High School-1:35.95. 3. Eagle River High School-1:45.22.
Girls 100 Yard Backstroke
1. Woodward, Lola E, Eagle River-59.38. 2. Katchen, Hannah B, Service HS-1:11.64. 3. Baldwin, Bryn S, Eagle River-1:11.73.
Boys 100 Yard Backstroke
1. Mank, Wes, Eagle River-54.31. 2. Price, Ben A, Service HS-54.74. 3. Kwon, Preston S, Service HS-1:01.31.
Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke
1. Brooks, Anna C, Service HS-1:15.12. 2. Solomonson, Maya L, Eagle River-1:15.22. 3. Drury, Teagan M, Eagle River-1:40.93.
Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke
1. Beck, Jan M, Service HS-1:02.38. 2. Rumph, Eli B, Eagle River-1:03.41. 3. Altman, Jake M, Service HS-1:12.45.
Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. Eagle River High School(Rumph, Trembath, Solomonson, Baldwin)-4:01.90. 2. Robert Service High School-4:03.61. 3. Robert Service High School-4:42.95.
Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. Robert Service High School(Fawcett, Beck, Balaban, Price)-3:23.44. 2. Eagle River High School-3:47.96. 3. Robert Service High School-3:56.34.
Thursday
Girls: Dimond - 133, Chugiak - 43
Boys: Dimond - 113, Chugiak - 67
Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay
1. Dimond (Caroline Waters, Maizy Kass, Zaylee Mullinax, Mia Sperbeck), 1:59.03. 2. Dimond, 2:09.00. 3. Chugiak, 2:10.56.
Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay
1. Dimond (Will McKinley, Roman Fosberg, Andy Zhang, Caeden Kullander), 1:45.52. 2. Chugiak, 1:47.30. 3. Dimond, 1:55.79.
Girls 200 Yard Freestyle
1. Caroline Waters, Dimond, 2:04.31. 2. Paula Morales, Dimond, 2:10.71. 3. Kalea Davis, Chugiak, 2:11.73.
Boys 200 Yard Freestyle
1. Will McKinley, Dimond, 1:51.61. 2. Caeden Kullander, Dimond, 1:52.27. 3. Blake Fazio, Chugiak, 1:55.68.
Girls 200 Yard IM
1. Zaylee Mullinax, Dimond, 2:26.28. 2. Kaelyn Szefler, Dimond, 2:42.19. 3. Jane Merizon, Chugiak, 2:54.46.
Boys 200 Yard IM
1. Tyson Morgan, Chugiak, 2:11.41. 2. Will McKinley, Dimond, 2:17.82. 3. Kieran Erwin, Dimond, 2:25.13.
Girls 50 Yard Freestyle
1. Leena Edais, Dimond, 26.97. 2. Paige Antrobus, Dimond, 28.89. 3. Lacey Westerlin, Chugiak, 29.32.
Boys 50 Yard Freestyle
1. Roman Fosberg, Dimond, 23.93. 2. Jonathan Szymanski, Dimond, 24.64. 3. Dominic Brunelle, Dimond, 25.82.
Girls 1 mtr Diving
1. Genevieve Sperbeck, Dimond, 137.20.
Boys 1 mtr Diving
1. Jake Light, Chugiak, 228.20. 2. Roman Billings, Dimond, 217.00. 3. Caleb Dobson, Chugiak, 190.90.
Girls 100 Yard Butterfly
1. Zaylee Mullinax, Dimond, 1:06.61. 2. Maizy Kass, Dimond, 1:09.43. 3. Trinity Philbrick, Chugiak, 1:18.97.
Boys 100 Yard Butterfly
1. Andy Zhang, Dimond, 59.88. 2. Roman Fosberg, Dimond, 1:01.35. 3. Dominic Brunelle, Dimond, 1:13.99.
Girls 100 Yard Freestyle
1. Leena Edais, Dimond, 59.86. 2. Kalea Davis, Chugiak, 1:00.03. 3. Ireland Kass, Dimond, 1:04.25.
Boys 100 Yard Freestyle
1. Chris Michael, Chugiak, 51.69. 2. Blake Fazio, Chugiak, 52.07. 3. Dax O’Brien, Dimond, 54.19.
Girls 500 Yard Freestyle
1. Holly Dittman, Dimond, 5:51.83. 2. Paula Morales, Dimond, 5:56.93. 3. Kaelyn Szefler, Dimond, 6:25.81.
Boys 500 Yard Freestyle
1. Caeden Kullander, Dimond, 5:18.54. 2. Samuel Randall, Dimond, 5:24.79. 3. Jeremiah Haas, Chugiak, 7:23.79.
Girls 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. Dimond (Leena Edais, Caroline Waters, Mia Sperbeck, Maizy Kass), 1:46.86. 2. Dimond, 1:55.62. 3. Chugiak, 2:03.87.
Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. Dimond (Jonathan Szymanski, Dax O’Brien, Samuel Randall, Roman Fosberg), 1:37.12. 2, Dimond, 1:48.87. 3, Chugiak, 1:58.84.
Girls 100 Yard Backstroke
1. Caroline Waters, Dimond, 1:03.86. 2. Paige Antrobus, Dimond, 1:10.29. 3. Holly Dittman, Dimond, 1:10.60.
Boys 100 Yard Backstroke
1. Chris Michael, Chugiak, 59.80. 2. Packer Lowell, Chugiak, 1:01.30. 3. Kieran Erwin, Dimond, 1:06.33.
Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke
1. Mia Sperbeck, Dimond, 1:17.78. 2. Samaria Klayum, Chugiak, 1:21.53. 3. Ireland Kass, Dimond, 1:22.21.
Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke
1. Andy Zhang, Dimond, 1:08.34. 2. Tyson Morgan, Chugiak, 1:10.70. 3. Alan Wu, Dimond, 1:14.39.
Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. Dimond (Zaylee Mullinax, Paula Morales, Leena Edais , Paige Antrobus ), 4:01.86. 2. Chugiak, 4:15.57. 3. Dimond, 4:30.65.
Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. Dimond (Caeden Kullander, Kieran Erwin, Dax O’Brien, Will McKinley), 3:25.18. 2. Chugiak, 3:27.67.
Girls: 1. South 106. 2. West 49. 3. East, 15.
Boys: 1. West 85. 2. East School, 49. 3. South, 30.
Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay
1. West (Olivia Croy, Drew Congdon, Kalima Glascott, Payton Curtis ), 2:05.67. 2. South A, 2:07.22. 3. West ‘B’, 2:11.78.
Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay
1. West (Sayeed Mahmood, Sigge Mellerstig, Jack Beltzer, Hussain Elerian) 13), 1:52.77. 2. South School, 2:00.91. 3. East School, 2:06.52.
Girls 200 Yard Freestyle
1. Zoe Fencil, South, 2:09.89. 2. Alexa Kotter, South, 2:11.96. 3. Elizabeth Bingham, South, 2:15.95.
Boys 200 Yard Freestyle
1. Hussain Elerian, West , 2:08.79. 2. Finn Burns, East , 2:26.15. 3. Mark Hermano, East , 2:27.84.
Girls 200 Yard IM
1. Kaia Reeg, South, 2:22.66. 2. Molly Wirschem, East , 2:32.76. 3. Charlotte Griffith, South, 2:36.67.
Boys 200 Yard IM
1. Sayeed Mahmood, West , 2:15.26. 2. London Begich-Bal, West, 2:46.07.
Girls 50 Yard Freestyle
1. Olivia Croy, West , 27.49. 2. Audrey Simmons, South, 27.71. 3. Lindsey Tatakis, South, 28.09.
Boys 50 Yard Freestyle
1. Jack Beltzer, West, 24.40. 2. Liam Carr, South, 25.93. 3. Bryce Herda, East , 25.97.
Girls 100 Yard Butterfly
1. Megan McLaughlin, South, 1:05.16. 2. Lindsey Tatakis, South, 1:07.25. 3. Kalima Glascott, West , 1:07.58.
Boys 100 Yard Butterfly
1. Mark Hermano, East , 1:09.01. 2, Sigge Mellerstig, West, 1:11.42. 3. Jamey Algiene, East , 1:16.72.
Girls 100 Yard Freestyle
1. Kaia Reeg, South, 58.97. 2. Zoe Fencil, South, 59.40. 3. Stella Baldessari, South, 59.52.
Boys 100 Yard Freestyle
1. Bryce Herda, East , 56.72. 2. Hussain Elerian, West , 57.82. 3. Bryce Rush, East, 59.92.
Girls 500 Yard Freestyle
1. Molly Wirschem, East , 5:47.89. 2. Audrey Simmons, South, 6:26.14. 3. Brooke Wagner, West , 6:49.02.
Boys 500 Yard Freestyle
1. Sayeed Mahmood, West, 5:44.45. 2. London Begich-Bal, West, 5:47.72. 3. Max Yagodin, South, 6:10.69. .
Girls 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. South (Elizabeth Bingham, Megan McLaughlin, Stella Baldessari, Zoe Fencil 16), 1:47.06. 2. South School ‘B’, 1:51.46. 3. West 1:52.60.
Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. West (Jack Beltzer, Hussain Elerian, Sigge Mellerstig, Sayeed Mahmood ), 1:39.75. 2. East School ‘B’, 1:57.41. 3. East School A, 2:00.59.
Girls 100 Yard Backstroke
1. Megan McLaughlin, South, 1:04.06. 2. Olivia Croy, West , 1:11.20. 3. Alexa Kotter, South, 1:11.89.
Boys 100 Yard Backstroke
1. Max Yagodin, South, 1:02.57. 2. Jack Beltzer, West , 1:08.02. 3. Al Hasan Elerian, West , 1:17.52.
Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke
1. Stella Baldessari, South, 1:15.01. 2. Elizabeth Bingham, South, 1:17.41. 3. Caitlin Ramos, East, 1:20.08.
Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke
1. Sigge Mellerstig, West, 1:08.29. 2. Jamey Algiene, East, 1:18.42. 3. Kevin Zhang, West, 1:32.16.
Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. South ‘B’ (Zoe Fencil, Charlotte Griffith, Kaia Reeg, Zoe Zipsir), 3:57.41. 2. South A, 4:03.13. 3. West 4:28.71.
Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. South (Max Yagodin, Christopher Cooke, Liam Carr, Leutian McDonald), 4:09.39. 2. West 4:25.60. 3. West 4:44.31.
College
Volleyball
Thursday
UAA 3, Upper Iowa 2 (15-25, 25-13, 14-25, 25-13, 15-13)
Friday
St. Cloud State 3, UAA 0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-18)
Hawaii Hilo, UAA 1 (28-26, 19-25, 25-23, 25-21)
Saturday
UAA 3, Cal Poly Humboldt 0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-11)
UAA 3, Florida Tech 1 ( 25-20, 25-16, 23-25, 25-20)
Fast Forward
Prep
Football
Service at Dimond, Saturday at 2 p.m.
This game might wind up being the best matchup in town in Week 5 of the 2023 season as the Lynx will be rested coming off a bye and the Cougars will be looking to build off their overwhelming win over Juneau. Dimond hasn’t beaten Service in nearly a decade since the 2015 season and will be looking to continue its best start to a season since they won four of their first five games that year.
Volleyball
Dimond at East, Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
The top two teams in the Cook Inlet Conference will face off for the first time this season this week. Both are undefeated since the regular season began, and the Thunderbirds will be looking to successfully defend their homecourt against the invading Lynx and notch their first win over the reigning state champs since 2019.