Hometown Heroes- A glance at Valley athletes on the next level

Football:

Cole Magner (Colony 2000) just concluded his sophomore season with the Division I Bowling Green State Falcons. Magner started all 12 games at wide receiver for the 9-3 Falcons. Magner was used as a multiple threat on offense, registering 26 catches for 374 yards, 11 rushes for 81 yards and was 3-5 passing with three touchdowns … Travis Webb (Wasilla 2002) is in his first season with St. Peters College (NJ) … James Watts (Wasilla 2001) is a sophomore running back for Western Oregon. Watts is the Wolves' third-leading rushing with 157 yards … Travis Dutcher (Wasilla 2002) and Josh Williams (Colony 2001) are redshirt running backs for Western Oregon … Jake Carney (Wasilla 2002) is expected to be added to the Western Oregon roster this month … Matt Gittlein (Wasilla 2001) and Jon Fillman (Colony 2001) are sophomore defensive linemen for the University of Minnesota-Crookston … James Winter (Colony 2001) is a sophomore nose guard for Moorehead State. Winter has been a regular on the MSU varsity defensive line. Winter was named the team's freshman of the year on the defensive line last season … John Wessel (Palmer 2002) is a freshman offensive lineman for South Dakota Tech … Matt Willes (Colony) is a redshirt kicker for South Dakota Tech.

Basketball:

Cole Magner (Colony 2000) has been added to the men's basketball team at Bowling Green State University. A sophomore on the football squad, Magner will participate in his freshman season in basketball. Manger dressed for his first game, Dec. 6 at Northwestern and has appeared in two games since. Magner has a pair of three-pointers in 14 minutes played … Ray Schafer (Wasilla 2003) has signed a National Letter of Intent to join the University of Oregon for the 2003-04 season … Marsha Schirack (Wasilla 2003) has signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the University of Alaska Fairbanks next fall … Zac Forsythe (Palmer 2002) is entering his first season with UAF. Forsythe helped UAF make history in November. The Palmer grad and the Nanooks won the BP Top of the World Classic, marking the first time that a Division II host school has ever won a Division I pre-season tournament. Forsythe scored seven points including a pivotal trey in the championship game against Weber State… Jessica Moore (Colony 2001) enters her second season with the University of Connecticut. Moore is averaging 8.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game this season as a starter. Moore registered 11 points, four assists, two rebounds and two blocks as UConn improved to 9-0 with a win over St.Joseph's … Nicky Bean (Colony 1999) enters her first season with the University of Alaska Anchorage after transferring from Spring Hill College (AL). In two games this season, Bean is averaging 14.5 minutes per game off the bench … Melissa McNaulty (Susitna Valley 2002) enters her first season with UAF … Laura Lee (Palmer 1999) is competing in her senior year at Vangard University, an NAIA school in Costa Mesa, CA. Lee recently set the school record for career three pointers. Vangard is annually ranked in the top 20 in the nation and has been to the national play-offs four straight years … Sara Bergeron (Palmer 2002) scored 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds in her collegiate debut at Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay, OR recently.

Hockey:

Shane Saum (Palmer) is competing in his third season with Air Force. Saum has 23 goals and 26 assists during his career with the Division I program. He currently has a goal and five assists and 23 penalty minutes in six games this season. Saum registered his first goal of the season, the game winner, in a 5-2 victory over Bentley recently. Saum recorded a pair of helpers the following night in Air Force's 6-2 win over Bentley … Kerry Weiland (Palmer) is in her senior season with the University of Wisconsin women's ice hockey team. The 2001 All-American has two goals and seven assists this season. Weiland also recently participated in the 4 Nations Tournament as a part of Team USA.

Cross-country running:

Aaron and Drew Dickson (Palmer 2003) have signed National Letters of Intent to join UAA next fall … Dominique Colberg (Colony 2003) has signed a National Letter of Intent to run for the University of Montana next fall … Kristine Larson (Colony 2000) is a sophomore with Eastern Washington … John Heimerl (Colony 1999) is in his senior year with the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He finished 54th in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships … Diana Heimerl (Colony 2001) is in her sophomore season with UAF. She finished 38th in the GNAC championships … Renae Moore (Susitna Valley 2002) is in her first season with UAF … Eric Strabel (Colony 2000) is competing in his junior season with the University of Alaska Anchorage. He finished 10th in the GNAC championships, leading the Seawolves to the conference team title … Ivan Steadman (Susitna Valley 2002) is in his first season with the Seawolves … Nicole Hanson (Susitna Valley 2000) is a sophomore with UAA and Sarah Hanson (Colony 2001) is a sophomore with the Seawolves … Patrick Egelus (Palmer 2000) is in his junior season with Eastern Oregon. Egelus recently placed fourth in the NAIA Region I championship … Eastern Oregon head coach Ben Welch (Wasilla) has been named the NAIA Region I coach of the year … Antonia Gatto (Colony 1999) is in her first year with the Pacific Lutheran running team.

Volleyball:

Lisa Thomas (Palmer 2001) recently moved into the starting lineup for the Division I Portland State Vikings … Tara Hillis (Palmer 2001) is a starting setter at Cal State-Stanislaus. She just finished her second season with the team, a NCAA Divison II program, and capped the season by leading her team to its best finish in program history. Hillis set new records for the university for assists in a season and assists per game. She finished the year with 1,249 assists and 11.5 assists per game. … Leisa Rosen (Wasilla) is in her fourth season as an assistant coach with the Michigan Wolverines … Stafanie Farris (Wasilla 2002) is competing in her freshman year at the Citadel … Alayna Morgan (Wasilla 2002) has led her Simpson College squad to a third-place finish in the NAIA national tournament. Morgan was recently named a NAIA second team All-American. Morgan was also named MVP of the NCCAA west region and the NAIA setter of the week. It is the first time that a Simpson College player earned any of these honors. Morgan garnered these honors as a freshman.

Swimming:

Dirk Craft II (Palmer 2000) is in his second season with South Dakota. Craft was recently named the North Central Conference male swimmer of the week. The South Dakota sophomore garnered the honors after a stellar performance in a dual meet with the University of Iowa. Craft was second in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.89 and third in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2.22.66.Craft's other highlights this season include multiple wins in meets against Truman State and Shippensburg.

Wrestling:

James Winter (Colony 2001) will begin his second season as a heavyweight for Moorehead State … Dan Pickett (Colony 2001) is a sophomore for Moorehead State and Daniel Graham (Colony 2002) is entering his first season with Moorehead State … Jesse Brock (Wasilla) is now a junior with Boise State, wrestling at the 133-pound class. Brock was a Pac-10 champion last season. Brock recently placed second at the Boise State Cowboy Open … Tony D'Amico (Palmer) is a junior at the 184-pound. class. D'Amico, placed third in the Pac 10 championships after transferring from Oklahoma State the year before. D'Amico slipped past Jatinder Singh 4-3 in a dual against Fresno State … James Wade (Palmer) is a redshirt sophomore for Boise State after transferring from Indiana last season … Scott Jorgenson (Palmer) is also a sophomore for Boise State. Jorgenson won an 11-4 decision over Joey Guilier in a dual against Fresno State … Jon Bush (Palmer 1997) is entering his senior season with Purdue. Bush scored a technical fall over Northern Illinois' James Olivia on Dec. 15 … Ryan Olivera (Wasilla 2002) is entering his first season with the University of Indianapolis … Burton Parker (Colony) scored a pin to lead Pacific University past Pacific Lutheran 21-20 in a dual meet recently.

Soccer:

Eric Lund (Colony) is the starting goalkeeper for George Washington University. Lund led his squad to the Atlantic 10 Championship with wins over UMass and Duquense and a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The former Knight netminder is 11-2 as a starter this season. Lund and the Colonials lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to American in the first round of the NCAA tourney … Tyson Hall (Palmer 1995) is a junior for Northwest College … Bryan Chud (Colony) is a senior for Northwest College and has been named All-Cascade Conference. Chud leads his team and is second in the conference in scoring … Thomas Kelly (Matanuska Christian 2002) is the second leading scorer for Peninsula College (WA) … Tami Callison (Palmer 2001) just completed her sophomore season playing soccer at Division I University of Evansville. Callison is a two-year starter and was Evansville's third leading scorer this year.

Track

After finishing her season with the Citadel volleyball team, Stefanie Faris (Wasilla 2002) was asked to join the school's track squad. Faris has already made an impact for the Citadel track team, in record breaking fashion. Faris finished sixth in the 800-meter at the Appalacian State Invitational to establish a new freshman indoor track record in the event with a time of 2:36:14. It was Faris' first collegiate race. She also helped her 4x400 relay team to a fifth place finish … Ryan Collins (Colony 2002) is in his first season as a sprinter for the Army.