2016: The Year of Valley Champions

WASILLA —During the final days of 2016 as I sifted through 12 months worth of sports coverage, there is one word that continued to surface.

Champion.

From baseball to basketball, and the Iron Dog and Iditarod. On the wrestling mat, the track and in the pool.

Champions everywhere.

The year 2016 will stand to mean many different things to many different people.

But in the world of Mat-Su Valley sports, 2016 can be remembered as a year of Valley champions.

Many of the state’s top sports storylines were dominated by Valley athletes in 2016.

In March, Willow’s Dallas Seavey grabbed Alaska’s greatest prize in sports, winning the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race for the fourth time overall, and third straight year. He did so in record time, beating his own record by about two hours. A Valley man also helped bring home the championship in the world’s longest snowmachine race. Along with his partner, Eagle River’s Tyson Johnson, Palmer’s Tyler Aklestad raced to a first-place finish in the Iron Dog in February.

Continuing the Valley’s trend in excellence among the outdoors sports, Palmer’s Christy Marvin claimed the women’s title during the 2016 Mount Marathon. It was the second title for Marvin in the competition that sends brave and daring runners up and down the 3,022-foot mountain that overlooks Seward.

A victory in Mount Marathon wasn’t the lone highlight during Marvin’s summer. Wins in brutal races, such as Crow Pass Crossing and the Matanuska Peak Challenge, were also part of her body of work in 2016.

Alaska’s most notable sports league — the Alaska Baseball League — also crowned a champion in the Valley. The summer collegiate amateur baseball squad, led by general manager Pete Christopher and field manager Ben Taylor, used a 9-3 victory over the Peninsula Oilers in early August to score the ABL championship.

Valley athletes also enjoyed tremendous success at the high school level.

Eight different Valley varsity teams — Colony hockey, Palmer boys’ basketball, Wasilla girls’ basketball, Wasilla girls’ soccer, Wasilla baseball, Colony girls’ track and field, Colony volleyball and Colony wrestling — earned conference titles. Two of those listed — Wasilla girls’ basketball and Colony wrestling — won state championships.

If that’s not enough, a combined 41 Valley athletes earned an individual conference title in wrestling, swimming, diving, cross-country running and track and field.

One athlete — Palmer’s Ruby Woodings — earned a region title in two different sports, cross-country running and track.

The Valley also boasts 16 athletes who won an individual state title in wrestling, diving and track and field.

Two set state records. Ceil Dunleavy, of the Wasilla Warriors, broke the 4A girls’ high jump mark in track and field. Brayden Schachle, also with the Warriors, set a state record in boys’ diving.

As I reflect on the past 12 months — or 156 editions of the Frontiersman — and look ahead to 2017, I see there was no shortage of storylines in Valley sports. I also see so much potential for another championship year in 2017.