Locals grab gold at Arctic Winter Games

YELLOWKNIFE, NWT — The medals continued to pile up for Mat-Su Valley athletes competing in the 2008 Arctic Winter Games on Friday and Saturday.

Nearly two dozen local athletes competing in several different sports helped Team Alaska top the 200-medal count, far and away the top total at the 2008 games.

Among the highlights from the final two days of the event included a handful of locals capturing gold medals in boys’ hockey, girls’ hockey and girls’ volleyball.

Palmer’s David Thomas — one of the most decorated athletes at the games — capped his week with his third gold medal on Saturday.

Arctic sports

Thomas, who won a pair of silver medals in the Arctic sports early in the week, scored three gold medals on Friday and Saturday.

Thomas won the gold in the one hand reach and knuckle hop. He also earned the gold in the all-around category.

On Tuesday, Thomas finished second in the two-foot high kick. On Wednesday, he placed second in the Alaskan high kick.

Chris Warrior, of Wasilla, won a gold in the kneel jump on Monday.

Cross country skiing

Schyler Knopp, a 13-year-old from Wasilla, ended his week with a gold medal in the midget male classic relay. It was the third medal for Knopp, who earned silvers in the 500-meter freestyle and 2.5-kilometer freestyle.

Dene games

Aurora Warrior, a 15-year-old from Wasilla, won four medals in the Dene games. Warrior captured silver medals in the juvenile girls pole push and hand games. She won the bronze in the stick pull and snow snake.

Dog mushing

Jonathan Biggerstaff, a 12-year-old from Talkeetna, finished seventh in the

7.5-kilometer juvenile coed race on Wednesday and seventh in the 10-K on Friday.

Ice hockey

Palmer High School junior Zack Richards scored the game-winning goal midway through the third period to lead Team Alaska to a 3-2 win over Yukon in the boys’ midget hockey gold medal game.

Richards finished the week fourth on Team Alaska with one goal and three assists.

Wasilla High juniors Dylan Troisi and Travis Koso also skated for the gold medal winning team.

The Team Alaska junior female squad also won the gold medal. The squad, which includes three players from the Valley — Rosy Fujimoto, Kyla Gauthier and Brandy Stevenson — beat Northwest Territories 3-1 to win the top prize.

The Team Alaska junior female squad finished round-robin play 4-0-0. Three players from the Valley — Rosy Fujimoto, Kyla Gauthier and Brandy Stevenson — skate on the squad.

Fujimoto, who finished third in the tournament with 14 points (three goals, 11 assists), tallied an assist on Alaska’s third goal of the gold medal win.

Fujimoto, of Wasilla, had a goal and assisted on Alaska’s first three goals of a 12-1 win over Yukon in the semifinals.

Gauthier, of Wasilla, and Stevenson, of Sutton, each had an assist in the tournament.

A pair of Wasilla-area players, Chancie Hanson and Steven Lewis, helped the Team Alaska bantam squad win a bronze medal.

After suffering a 12-3 loss to Northern Alberta in the semifinals, Team Alaska rebounded to score a 5-4 win over Northwest Territories.

Lewis (1-3-4) logged four points in the tournament and Hanson (1-1-2) added two for Team Alaska.

Snowshoeing

Colony High School sophomore Heidi Doner earned a medal in each of the four events she competed in.

Doner won a gold medal as part of the Team Alaska relay squad that finished first in the 1,600-meter junior mixed relay. She also won a silver in the 7.5-K classic on Friday.

Early in the week Doner won bronze medals in the junior combined event and the 5-K classic.

Volleyball

Led by a pair of Valley standouts, Colony High School senior Hannah Curtis and Palmer High School senior Sarah Svedin, Team Alaska won the gold medal in the junior girls division.

Team Alaska beat Northern Alberta 3-1 (29-27, 25-17, 19-25, 25-14) on Friday to finish first. Alaska’s loss in the third game of the gold medal game was its first in 12 matches of play during the tournament.

Wrestling

Houston High School junior Justin Crowley was one of four Valley grapplers to win a gold medal. Crowley won the gold in the 90-kilogram category.

Josh West, who helped lead the Colony Knights to a 4A state wrestling title, won a gold in the 62-kilogram weight class.

Jenae Shannon, a 14-year-old from Houston Middle School, won a pair of medals — a gold and a silver — in the 62-kilogram class.

Rachael Shannon, a Houston High wrestler, won a pair of gold medals in the 60-kilogram class.

Jenna Malone, of Wasilla, won a bronze in the 65-kilogram class.

— Jeremiah Bartz

2008 Arctic Winter Games

Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Mat-Su Valley participants:

Wasilla — Justin Crowley, junior wrestling; Hannah Curtis, junior volleyball; Rosy Fujimoto, junior ice hockey; Kyla Gauthier, junior ice hockey; Chancie Hanson, bantam ice hockey; Schyler Knopp, midget cross country skiing; Travis Koso, midget ice hockey; Steven Lewis, bantam ice hockey; Jennifer Malone, junior wrestling; Dylan Troisi, midget ice hockey; Chris Warrior, Inuit games; Palmer — Heidi Doner, junior snowshoeing; Zack Richards, midget ice hockey; Sarah Svedin, junior volleyball; David Thomas, Inuit games; Josh West, junior wrestling; Big Lake — Jenae Shannon, junior wrestling; Rachael Shannon, junior wrestling; Sutton —Brandy Stevenson, junior ice hockey; Talkeetna — Donal Biggerstaff, juvenile dog mushing; Larisa Myers-McCoin, juvenile dog mushing.

Medal standing: (Gold-Silver-Bronze-Total)

Alaska 74-55-73-202; Northwest Territories 34-40-37-111; Yamal-Nenets 44-32-16-92; Alberta North 29-37-24-90; Yukon 36-25-30-81; Nunavut 15-28-24-67; Greenland 12-14-18-44; Nunavik Quebec 9-7-8-24; Sami 5-4-6-15.

Gold medals:

Chris Warrior (Wasilla), Arctic sports kneel jump; David Thomas (Palmer), Arctic sports one hand reach; David Thomas (Palmer), Arctic sports knuckle hop; David Thomas (Palmer), all-around Arctic sports; Schyler Knopp (Wasilla) cross country skiing classic relay; Zack Richards (Palmer), midget hockey; Dylan Troisi (Wasilla), midget hockey; Travis Koso (Wasilla), midget hockey; Brandy Stevenson (Sutton), junior girls hockey; Rosy Fujimoto (Wasilla), junior girls hockey; Kyla Gauthier (Wasilla), junior girls hockey; Heidi Doner (Palmer), 1,600-meter mixed snowshoeing relay; Sarah Svedin (Palmer), junior volleyball; Hannah Curtis (Wasilla), junior volleyball; Jenae Shannon (Big Lake), wrestling; Rachael Shannon (Big Lake), wrestling; Josh West (Palmer), wrestling; Justin Crowley (Wasilla), wrestling; Rachael Shannon (Big Lake), Inuit wrestling; Josh West (Palmer), Inuit wrestling; Justin Crowley (Wasilla), Inuit wrestling.

Silver medals:

David Thomas (Palmer), Arctic sports two-foot high kick; David Thomas (Palmer), Arctic sports Alaskan high kick; Schyler Knopp (Wasilla), cross country skiing; Schyler Knopp (Wasilla), 500-meter freestyle cross country skiing; Jenae Shannon (Big Lake), Inuit wrestling; Heidi Doner (Palmer), 7.5-K snowshoeing; Aurora Warrior (Wasilla), hand game Dene game; Aurora Warrior (Wasilla); pole push Dene games.

Bronze medals:

Heidi Doner (Palmer), snowshoeing combined; Heidi Doner (Palmer), 5-K snowshoeing; Jenna Malone (Wasilla), wrestling; Heidi Doner (Palmer), snowshoeing; Aurora Warrior (Wasilla), stick pull Dene games; Aurora Warrior (Wasilla), snow snake Dene games; Steven Lewis (Wasilla), bantam hockey; Chancie Hanson (Wasilla), bantam hockey.