Native Youth Olympics celebrates traditional games

HOUSTON — There’s only one sport that gets Mat-Su Borough students kicking, pulling, hopping, jumping, reaching and carrying people around a gym: Native Youth Olympics, or NYO.

This weekend, 132 middle and high school athletes filled the Houston Middle School gymnasium for the 2016 NYO district meet, in preparation for the state championship at the University of Alaska Anchorage April 21-23. Though each school’s team was in competition with the others for first place, individual athletes say that’s no reason not to encourage each other.

“It’s just more of like a family here,” said Colony High School sophomore Mikayla Petersen at the meet on Friday.

Petersen took third in the girls’ wrist carry this weekend, holding herself up on a wooden rod with just one wrist while being run almost one full lap around the middle school gym by two male teammates. Though her runners were both from Colony, many teams were made up of athletes from multiple schools, some even wearing shirts bearing a different school’s mascot.

The camaraderie that transcends school affiliation is also apparent in the one-foot, two-foot and Alaska high kicks especially, during which teammates and fellow competitors will often offer tips between tries.

“Everybody’s in it for a good time,” said Wasilla High senior Alyssa Simmons, who took second in the girls’ Alaska high kick on Friday.

While many NYO athletes join the sport as a way to relieve stress or simply have fun after school, Simmons said her Alaska history teacher offered her class extra credit for joining the team. Having participated in middle school, Simmons was confident she could do it again, with a little incentive.

Some students also participate in NYO because they have a personal, cultural connection to the activity. Participants are not required to have any Alaska Native or American Indian heritage to compete — in fact, all students are encouraged to try their hands (or feet) at the various NYO events — but a few of the Native competitors have had the unique opportunity to see and experience the inspiration for the games firsthand.

Burchell High School sophomore Sean Sikvayugak, for example, has watched a seal hop like the NYO athletes do in the event of the same name during spring hunts near his hometown of Barrow. His teammate, senior Kalene Sunshine Bowers (who goes by Sunshine) grew up playing the games in her village of Nuiqsut, about 60 miles east of Prudhoe Bay.

“The whole village comes together to play NYO games from the day after Christmas to New Year’s,” Bowers said.

Bowers said she hadn’t competed for her school since seventh grade though, and kind of regretted not following through with the sport until now.

“People wanted me to (do it) but I just didn’t care for it too much,” she said.

Now, Bower’s is looking forward to the World Eskimo Indian Olympics (WEIO), which are held in Fairbanks every summer, and include even more events, such as the greased pole walk, the ear pull, muktuk eating, fish cutting and more.

Gin Berry, another senior NYO competitor from Burchell, who won the girls’ wrist carry on Friday, said she too might be interested in WEIO after graduation. The key to her success — and potentially that of others competing in NYO, she said — starts with the simple desire to try.

“Just believe that you can do it,” Berry said.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.

2016 Mat-SU NYO Regional Results

Kneel Jump:

Boys:

1) Tim Meyer- 52”- Valley Pathways

2) Charlie Kennedy- 43”- Colony High

3) Kyle Wildman- 42 ¾ “- Palmer High

Girls:

1) Teanna Nicholai- 38 ¼ “- Houston High

2) Jasmine Nicholes- 36 ¼”- Houston Middle

3) Claire Robinson- 27 ¾”- Palmer Middle

1 Hand Reach

Boys:

1) Jesse Kurtz- 62”- Colony High

2) Jake Smith-58”- WHS

3) Tim Meyer- 50”- Valley Pathways

Girls:

1) Teanna Nicholai- 55”- Houston High

2) Samantha Derr-52”- Wasilla High

3) Camille Bernard- 46”-Teeland Middle

Alaskan High Kick:

Boys:

1) Jesse Kurtz- 86”- Colony High

2) KC Gage- 77”- Colony High

3) Jake Smith-70”- Wasilla High

Girls:

1) Camille Bernard- 62”- Teeland Middle

2) Alyssa Simmons- 60”- Wasilla High

3) Aislyn Tira-56”- Colony Middle

Wrist Carry:

Boys:

1) Ray Lamont- 572’ ½”- Wasilla High

2) Landon Taylor- 385’9”- Houston Middle

3) Mark Donlon- 317’ 2 ½ “ Teeland Middle

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Girls:

1) Gin Berry-231’ 2”- Burchell High

2) Lacey Holmes- 185’- Houston High

3) Mikayla Peterson- 150’ 8 ¾”- Colony High

Scissor Broad Jump:

Boys:

1) Jesse Kurtz- 35’ 2 ½”- Colony High

2) Kaiden Jimenez- 311 ¾”- Colony High

3) Charlie Kennedy- 30’ ½ “- Colony High School

Girls:

1) Maci VanBuskirk- 26’4”- Teeland Middle

2) Lacey Holmes- 26’ 3 ½””- Houston High

3) Aislyn Tira- 25’ 2 ½”

2 Foot High Kick:

Boys:

1) KC Gage- 86”- Colony High

2) Noah Brown- 85”- Wasilla High

3) Kaiden Jimenez- 82”- Colony High

Girls:

1) Maci VanBuskirk- 68”- Teeland Middle

2) Gin Berry- 58”- Burchell High

3) Claire Robinson- 54”- Palmer Middle

Eskimo Stick Pull:

Boys:

1) Frank Kelly- Su-Valley High

2) Matt Grothe- Valley Pathways

3) Tyler Smith-Turpin- Valley Pathways

Girls:

1) Ashley Hoglund-Houston High

2) Teanna Nicholai- Houston High

3) Madison Ortega- Colony High

Indian Stick Pull:

Boys:

1) Nathan Shanigan- Wasilla High

2) KC Gage- Colony High

3) Brandin Esceleda- Houston High

Girls:

1) Mikayla Sanders- Houston High

2) Kayla Olhausen- Colony High

3) Deaundra Nicholai- Houston High

1 Foot High Kick:

Boys:

1) Kaiden Jimenez-102”- Colony High

2) Jesse Kurtz- 100”- Colony High

3) KC Gage- 96”- Colony High

Girls:

1) Maci VanBuskirk- 88”- Teeland Middle

2) Lacey Holmes- 78”- Houston High

3) Camille Bernard- 74”- Teeland Middle

Seal Hop:

Boys:

1) Sean Sikvayaguk- 80’ 7 ¾”- Burchell High

2) Anthony Wikheim- 64’ 11 ½”- Colony High

3) KC Gage- 58’ 6”-Colony High

Girls:

1) Lacey Holmes- 98’9”-Houston High

2) Cheyenne Terwillinger- 86’ 3”- Colony High

3) Samantha Derr- 79’ 9 ½”- Wasilla High

Top 3 Teams in Mat-SU District:

1) Colony High School 36 points: Head Coach: Timothy Lecount

2) Houston High School: 25 points: Head Coach: Jared Barrett

3) Wasilla High School: 16 Points: Head Coach: Adia Clark