Local Junior Native Youth Olympics meet continues to grow

WASILLA — Since hosting its first Junior Native Youth Olympics regional event in the Valley in 2013, organizers have seen steady growth. And this year there was another spike in participation.

A total of 424 students, grades first through sixth, were part of the sixth annual Mat-Su JNYO meet Feb. 10 at Houston Middle School.

“It was awesome. There were 100 more kids competing this year. The place was packed,” Mat-Su NYO coordinator Jared Barrett said earlier this week. “It’s exciting.”

Barrett said the support of coaches and physical education teachers in elementary and middle schools throughout the Valley, and an emphasis on making NYO part of the physical education curriculum in local schools have been key to the overall growth of the annual meet.

“Great coaches from across the Valley,” Barrett said.

Not only are these coaches helping to ensure a quality and positive experience for the elementary and middle school aged students at the meet, but local teachers continue feature the NYO games in their own schools.

“We’ve asked every school to try to put it in their curriculum,” Barrett said.

And not only are local teachers doing that, but they are building massive NYO programs at their own schools. Barrett used Christa Hayes, a physical education teacher at Machetanz Elementary School as an example. Hayes has a JNYO program with 71 students. Barrett also noted Larson Elementary physical education teacher Hank Foster, who has 47 students in his program. Larson earned the team title at the Feb. 10 event, finishing with 26 total points. Machetanz was second with 23, and also earned the meet’s sportsmanship award.

Barrett said sportsmanship is always an important aspect of NYO.

“Coaches from all of these schools are helping kids they’ve never seen. Great sportsmanship. They are helping every kid,” Barrett said.

Barrett said the teachers and coaches throughout the Valley are the reason the meet as grown at a fast rate.

“It’s a big Valley team effort,” Barrett said.

Barrett said the collective goal is to send as many students to the JNYO state games as possible. Rather than limiting it to just the top 3 from the Valley in an event, Mat-Su aims to send the top 3 students from each school in each event to state. Boys and girls compete in their own classes.

“We want them all to get all the experience they can at the state level,” Barrett.

It’s part of the goal to keep students interested in NYO as they get older. Barrett said they do lose students to traditional teams sports, such as basketball, as they get older. But the number of elementary athletes who continue at the middle school and high school level continues to grow.

“We had a huge team last year at senior state NYO,” Barrett said of the team featuring the middle school and high school aged athletes.

The JNYO games are scheduled for Feb. 23-25 at the Wells Fargo Arena in Anchorage.

2018 Mat-Su Junior Native Youth Olympics

Feb. 10, Houston Middle School

Team scores:

1. Larson Elementary 26; 2. Machetanz Elementary 23; 3. Fronteras 13; 4. Teeland Middle 12; 5. Goose Bay Elementary 10; 6. Knik Elementary 6; 6. (tie) Colony Middle 6; 8. Big Lake Elementary 5; 9. Iditarod Elementary 3; 9. (tie) Meadow Lakes Elementary 3; 11. Snowshoe Elementary 2; 12. Wasilla Middle School 1.

Sportsmanship award: Machetanz Elementary

Individual results:

Boys kneel jump — 1. Carl VanBlarcom, LE 26.5; 2. London Livingston, GBE 35; 3. Jason Moglen, GBE 24; Girls kneel jump — 1. Jewel Gardner, ME 21.25; 2. Jerzy Lane, ME 19.5; 3. Emily Silvinski, FE 15; Boys wrist carry — 1. Noah Bacon, FE 28.5; 2. Tirin Azmimi-Tobrizi, KE 26.02; 3. Hunter Moeller, FE 19.89; Boys arm pull 3rd and 4th grade — 1. Elias Herman, KE; 2. Brice Short, ME; 3. Cooper Williams, LE; Girls arm pull third and fourth grade — 1. Isabelle Rhomine, LE; 2. Ivy Irwin, ME; 3. Rianna Rowe, FE; Boys Alaskan high kick — 1. Noah Whitted, BLE 58; 2. Gabe Baldwin, TMS 58; 3. Eli Engle, ME; Girls Alaskan high kick — 1. Mya Campbell, TMS 56; 2. Samathan Grisham, LE 56; 3. Kielee Backus, FE 54; Boys one foot high kick — 1. Logan Parker, CMS 79; 2. Noah Whitted, BLE 74; 3. Kaleb Estrada, WMS 68; Girls one foot high kick — 1. Kielee Backus, FE 73; 1. (tie) Mya Campbell, TMS 73; 2. Nia Wesley, ME 73; 3. Athena Johnson, KE 68; Boys Eskimo stick pull first and second grade — 1. Maleek Canta, IE; 2. Tyrese Nicholai, GBE; 3. Alex McCutheon, ME; Girls Eskimo stick pull first and second grade — 1. Olivia Fuller, LE; 2. Vylet Sliwinski, FE; 3. Isabella Yingst, MLE; Boys two food high kick — 1. Triton Ellis, ME 52; 2. Hunter Belliston, LE 50; 3. Braydon Sparrs, ME 46; Girls two foot high kick — 1. Daisy Vanblarcom, LE 55; 2. Kailey Dixon, LE 54; 3. Lillian Mariner, ME 52; Boys seal hop first and second grade — 1. Carl Vanblarcom, LE 87; 2. Alex Lo, GBE 83-5; 3. Nick Lamm, SE 79-10; Girls Eskimo stick pull fifth and sixth grade — 1. Bay Kaufman, TMS; 2. Rowan Thompson, FE; 3. Layla Hayes, LE; Girls seal hop first and second grade — 1. Teaghan Nicholson, GBE 49; 2. Alexa Evans, GBE 47-1; 3. Janeva Bennis, LE 45-2; Boys Eskimo stick pull fifth and sixth grade — 1. Logan Parker, CMS; 2. Jimmy Lackey, MLE ; 3. Gabe Baldwin, TMS;