Valley athletes earn 45 medals at Junior Native Youth Olympics state games

WASILLA — Ninety medals were awarded, and half were brought back to the Valley.

Mat-Su athletes combined to earn 45 total medals during the Junior Native Youth Olympics State Games last week at the Wells Fargo Arena in Anchorage.

“It’s amazing. Cool to see,” Mat-Su NYO coordinator Jared Barrett said earlier this week. “I couldn’t believe we brought home half the medals.”

The Mat-Su contingent featured more than 200 youth athletes from 16 different Valley schools.

“They are so excited to participate in the games,” Barrett said.

Following Mat-Su’s regional event in early February, 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 aimed 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 said.

Barrett said state games organizers estimated about 700 to 800 total athletes in the state games. About a quarter of that total came from the Valley. Allowing as many Valley students the opportunity to compete on the big stage was a priority, Barrett said. The weekend also included ample opportunity to Valley athletes to climb the podium. In one event, the girls two foot high kick, Valley athletes earned all five medals.

Valley athletes also combined to earn 10 gold medals. Larson Elementary boasted four athletes who won gold. Karl Van Blarcom (boys’ kneel jump), Avabella Cooney (girls’ wrist carry), Kailey Dixon (girls’ two foot high kick) and Oliva Fuller (Eskimo stick pull) each finished first for Larson.

Knik Elementary had three finish first. Tirin Azimi-Tabizi and Branson Hagel each finished first in their division of the boys’ wrist carry. Teaghan Nickelson was first in the girls’ seal hop.

A pair of Machetanz Elementary students — Bobby Honeysett (boys Eskimo stick pull) and Braydon Spears (boys two foot high kick) — also finished first. Kielee Backus placed first in the one foot high kick for Fronteras Charter.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Junior Native Youth Olympics State Games

Mat-Su placers

Big Lake Elementary:

Boys 1 foot high kick — Noah Whitted, fourth.

Colony Middle School:

Boys Eskimo stick pull — Logan Parker, second; Boys 1 foot high kick — Logan Parker, second.

Fronteras Charter:

Girls 1 foot high kick — Kielee Backus, first; Girls Alaska high kick — Kielee Backus, first; Boys wrist carry — Noah Bacon, second; Hunter Moeller, fourth; Girls stick pull — Vvlet Sliwinski, second.

Goose Bay Elementary:

Girls seal hop — Teaghan Nickelson, first; Boys kneel jump — Christian Marquez-Hopson, third; Boys kneel jump — Jason Mogen, fourth; Boys seal hop — Alex Lo, fourth.

Knik Elementary:

Girls 2 foot high kick — Mia Bukala, fifth; Boys’ wrist carry — Tirin Azimi-Tabizi, first; Branson Hagel, first; Boys arm pull — Elias Herman, second;

Larson Elementary:

Girls Eskimo stick pull — Oliva Fuller, first; Layla Hays, fifth; Girls 2 foot high kick — Kailey Dixon, first; Daisy VanBlarcom, fourth; Mylz Monjeau, fifth; Girls seal hop — Aimee Dafoe, fourth; Girls Alaska high kick — Samantha Grisham, second; Girls wrist carry — Avabella Cooney, first; Boys 2 foot high kick — Hunter Belliston, fourth; Boys seal hop — Easton Cook, second; Karl VanBlarcom, third; Boys kneel jump — Karl VanBlarcom, first; Easton Cook, second.

Machetanz Elementary:

Girls Alaska high kick — Nia Wesley, fifth; Girls 2 foot high kick — Lillian Mariner, second; Claire Wallstrom, third; Nia Wesley, third; Girls kneel jump — Jewel Gardner, third; Jerzey Lane, fifth; Girls wrist carry — Ashlyn Sereyko, second; Girls seal hop — Alex Evans, third; Boys Eskimo stick pull — Bobby Honeysett, first; Carter Magone, fourth; Boys kneel jump — McKay Miller, fifth; Boys arm pull — Paxton Eckstein, fouth; Boys 2 foot high kick — Braydon Spears, first; Boys Alaska high kick — Eli Ingle, fourth;

Snowshoe Elementary:

Boys seal hop — Nick Lamm, fifth.

Teeland Middle School:

Girls Eskimo stick pull — Bay Rose, fourth; Boys Alaskan high kick — Gabe Baldwin, second; Boys 1 foot high kick — Gabe Baldwin, fifth.