UAA Athletics

Barrow’s Adams, Galena’s Moos are latest high school stars to sign with UAA

From Barrow to Florida, UAA is spanning the globe, or at least North America, to find talent for its sports teams.

The latest athletes to make UAA their college of choice come from one end of the continent to the other.

The Seawolves on Thursday announced the signing of six high school athletes, including two from Alaska who are at the top of their games.

Travis Adams, a savvy 5-foot-10 point guard from Barrow, is joining the men's basketball team, and Jacob Moos, the six-time state running champion from Galena, is joining the cross country and track teams.

Also committing to UAA:

— Volleyball players Eve Stephens of Colony and Ellen Floyd of Pensacola, Florida.

Stephens is a 6-foot middle blocker who led Colony to two straight Northern Lights Conference titles, and Floyd is a 5-9 setter who guided Pensacola Catholic to four straight state tournaments. Floyd comes with a big Alaska connection — she's part of Kodiak's famous Floyd family of coaches and athletes.

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— Runners Drew Johnson of Littleton, Colorado, and Brock Helvey of Castle Rock, Colorado.

Johnson owns track personal-bests of 4 minutes, 27.3 seconds at 1,600 meters and 9:57.66 at 3,200. Helvey's PRs include a 9:22.23 in the 3,200, 4:23 in the 1,600, 1:55.66 in the 800 and 51.3 in the 400.

Moos represents a big catch for the Seawolves.

[Galena's Moos puts on show at state cross country]

At the 5-kilometer race at the state high school championships in October, he repeated as the Class 1-2-3A champion in 15:33, beating the winning time in the Class 4A race for bigger schools by 34 seconds.

On the track, his personal-bests are 9:19.66 in the 3,200 and 4:20.68 in the 1,600.

At UAA, Moos will be reunited with friend and former Galena teammate Kaleb Korta, a sophomore for the Seawolves.

Adams is another big recruit for the Seawolves and is the second Class 3A hoops star this week to commit to UAA. On Monday, 3A Player of the Year Tobin Karlberg, a high-scoring guard for Grace Christian, signed his letter of intent.

Adams and Karlberg give the Seawolves a promising backcourt tandem, coach Rusty Osborne said.

"With the addition of Travis, we have a very talented core group of young guards who we feel all complement one another," Osborne said in a press release. "They should lead our program for the next 4-5 years."

Adams enters his senior season with nearly 1,200 career points and 450 career assists for the Whalers. He and University of Texas-bound center Kamaka Hepa carried Barrow to state championships in 2014 and 2015, and Adams was a member of Barrow's state-champion football team this season.

"I have wanted to play college basketball my whole life so it is a dream come true," Adams said in a Twitter direct message. "And it is even more exciting because my family and all of my supporters in Barrow & Alaska can watch and keep supporting me.

"For Barrow I think it means a lot. I hope me signing (with) UAA will make me a role model in the town for younger kids who look up to me to want to further (their) basketball career (and) also get an education while doing it."

Adams said he picked UAA because the coaching staff began recruiting him during his sophomore year.

"Also every time I spoke with any of the coaches it felt like they cared about me not just on the court but off the court also," he said.

[UAA's hat trick of recruits is an interesting (and familiar) bunch]

Familiarity with other Seawolves made a difference too, he said. He and Karlberg are close friends, Adams said, "and have talked about playing with each other in college for awhile now."

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The northern-most town in North America, more than 700 air miles from Anchorage, Barrow is a basketball-crazy place. Adams said UAA keeps him relatively close to home, and will allow Whalers fans to follow him at the college level.

"I think the town of Barrow is very happy with my decision," he said, "and I think they will keep on supporting me for years to come."

Beth Bragg

Beth Bragg wrote about sports and other topics for the ADN for more than 35 years, much of it as sports editor. She retired in October 2021. She's contributing coverage of Alaskans involved in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

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