Wasilla 3-peat leads list of top Valley sports stories of 2013

MAT-SU — Champions were crowned. New eras began, while others ended.

It was another busy year for prep and local sports in the Mat-Su Valley. There was no shortage of material for the pages of the Frontiersman during the last 12 months. As I quickly look back on the last 156 issues, my mind is flooded with headlines from the past year.

Recalling championships is a typical theme, it seems, each year as we look back at the past dozen months in Valley sports. In 2013, local high school athletes earned state championships in basketball, wrestling, track and field and volleyball. But there is one story in 2013 that’s hard to top: Wasilla’s perfect run en route to a third straight 4A girls state basketball championship.

I am not sure if I have ever covered a team quite like the 2012-13 edition of the Wasilla Warriors girls basketball team. The Warriors entered the season with state titles in back-to-back season, boasting five seniors in its starting lineup. It’s unusual to see a Valley basketball team feature five regular senior starters. And a team as dominant as this Wasilla squad is unheard of.

Not only Wasilla finish a perfect 30-0, but the Warriors did so in almost unbelievable fashion. Of Wasilla’s 30 victories, only one came by single digits (a 49-43 win over Dimond in the final game of the Dimond Lady Lynx Shootout). Most of Wasilla’s wins came by more than 20 points. The Warriors won by 20 points or more 23 times, 30 points or more 10 times and by 40 or more three times. Only seven of Wasilla’s 30 wins came by less than 19 points.

With its 16-point win over Dimond in the state championship game, Wasilla became just the second 4A girls team in state history to win three straight. The Warriors also stretched their winning streak to 42 games.

“It feels so much better than I could have imagined. I’m so happy it ended for my team that way,” Alysha Devine, a member of the state championships teams, said that day. “I don’t think many people have had the opportunity we’ve had. I’m so blessed, blessed to have coaches like that, teammates like that. I’m so blessed.”

Wasilla’s road to the girls three-peat sits at the top of my list, but there were plenty of other memorable storylines in 2013.

2. Michaelson and Mathis win three state titles each.

After former Wasilla standout Morgan Dampier earned three individual titles during the 2012 4A state track and field championships, I was not sure if I’d ever write about another Valley athlete matching that feat. As it turns out, just a year later I found myself writing about not one, but a pair of Valley athletes who had done it.

Colony senior Audrey Michaelson and Wasilla sophomore Peggy Mathis each won three individual state titles during the 4A championships. Both won three events and finished second in a fourth. Both helped their respective team finish with 61 points, tied at second place in the state’s team standings. Michaelson, who graduated from CHS after winning six individual state track titles in her career, scored wins in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200-meter races. Mathis won the 100, 200 and 400. Michaelson became only the second runner in state history to win the 3,200 three times at state.

The pair faced off twice that day. Michaelson was the runner-up to Mathis in the 400, and Mathis finished second to Michaelson in the 800. Both of those races were held within an hour during the heart of the 4A finals.

“It was really kind of neat, exciting to watch those races so close together, watch them go head-to-head,” Wasilla head coach Leslie Varys said that day. “Each got one of them. It’s a great storyline.”

Michaelson grabbed another headline in the coming months when she was named the Gatorade Player of the Year for girls track and field in Alaska. If Mathis continues her run as an upperclassmen, Gatorade may be honoring her.

3. Junior Aumavae’s time with the New York Jets

Even though his time with the New York Jets was cut short, Junior Aumavae’s work to continue his National Football League career is among the top Valley sports stories of 2013. Aumavae, a former Palmer football standout and 2004 graduate of PHS, spent most of the offseason and the preseason with the Jets. After his release from the squad as the team cut its roster to the league maximum of 53 players prior to Week 1 of the regular season, Aumavae was signed to the Jets’ practice squad. He spent just more than a month on the practice squad. Aumavae, a defensive lineman, appeared in all four preseason games for New York. Aumavae was working to become only the 11th Alaskan to make a regular-season NFL roster. Even though he has not achieved that yet (Aumavae continues to work toward his goal), he is still part of a very small pool of Valley athletes who have had the chance to compete at this high of level. Aumavae is only the second Valley product to have this type of opportunity, joining former Colony standout Cole Magner, who spent part of training camp with the Atlanta Falcons in 2005 and 2006.

4. Susitna Valley wins state volleyball title

The Susitna Valley Rams volleyball team made school history in December, winning its first state volleyball championship. Su Valley’s 3-0 sweep of Unalaska in the 2A finals cemented the team’s place in the record books, and confirmed what many have thought for a long time.

“The girls volleyball program is the best sports program we have here,” Su Valley activities director James Sickler said.

The title is only the school’s third ASAA state championship. The Rams also won small-schools state cross-country running team titles in 2002 and 2003. It is also a reward for the hard work of the team’s head coach, Chad Valentine, who has led the Rams for the last 26 years, and the team’s seven seniors. Most of those seniors have been with Valentine since they were in middle school.

5. Palmer girls relay team wins state swimming title

Palmer head coach Christine Morgan has had a special group to work with the last few years. This year, the leaders of the Palmer High girls swimming team (Katie Stark, Noelle Graham, Naomi Graham, Sarah Hanson and Millie Snelders) helped re-write the school record book en route to accomplishing something the Moose have not in more than 20 years. Stark, Noelle Graham, Naomi Graham and Hanson combined to win the 400-meter freestyle relay during the ASAA state championships in Juneau in November. The win marked Palmer’s first relay state title since 1987. It was also the first swimming title won by a Palmer athlete since 2000, and the Valley’s first state swimming title since 2009. The team also shattered the school record with the win.

“Our school records are really important to us. We came into this meeting wanting to break our record,” Stark said by cellphone from Juneau that day. “We wanted to do the best we could. We had confidence, but we blew ourselves away with what we did.”

The team won the title with a mark of 3 minutes, 38.81 seconds. Stark will graduate with a pair of individual school records and a share of three school relay records.

6. Valley places three teams in top 5 at state

Even though South Anchorage edged Wasilla for the 2013 4A state wrestling team title, Wasilla and a pair of rivals showed the Valley’s dominance of this sport. Wasilla, Palmer and Colony finished as three of the top 5 teams in the state’s large-school class. South finished first with 226 points, just ahead of Wasilla’s 222.5. Palmer was fourth at 162.5, just ahead of fifth-place Colony (149.5). The Valley also crowned five individual champions. Palmer’s Mason Cochran (120), Colony’s Sawyer Root (182), and Wasilla’s Nate McKimson (145) and Bryce Serna (152) and Quace Wright (220) all won individual titles. The Valley teams’ work during the state championships proves the strength of this sport in our community.

7. Colony football team, worst to first

Colony’s unbelievable road to a Railbelt Conference title is also among our top 10 stories in 2013. The Knights started the year 0-4 and 1-5, before winning their final two games to earn the school’s first conference crown since 2013. A few things factor into this unusual season. First the Knights are part of a conference that lost two members prior to the season. With the conference shrinking, Railbelt teams were only allotted four conference games. Colony finished 3-1 in those games, an earned the crown. The Knights were also dealt probably the toughest nonconference schedule in the state, and finished 0-4 in the other games. All four of those losses came to opponents that played deep into the postseason. The Knights suffered one loss to an eventual state champion (Soldotna), two losses to state runner-ups (Service and Juneau-Douglas) and a fourth to a North Pole team that advanced to the medium-schools semifinals. Regardless of opponent, when a high school football team starts the season 0-4 and 1-5 it’s typically unheard of to be talking about an eventual conference champion. It would have been very easy for season to be a complete loss. It’s a testament to the players and coaches for sticking with the game plan and emerging as the conference champ.

8. Houston girls back at state for first time in 21 years

The Houston Hawks girls basketball program, led by head coach Pat Egelus, ended a 21-year drought in 2013, earning its first state tournament appearance in more than two decades. The Hawks also scored a fourth-place finish. No. 8 in our list is a combination of two storylines. There is the team, and maybe the Valley’s best individual story of the 2012-13 school year – Dajonee Hale.

Hale, a former East Anchorage player, joined the Houston basketball program as a senior after enrolling at Burchell High School. Hale was once a highly touted player in Anchorage, but her quest for higher levels of basketball was temporary derailed. She was homeless.

But after a chance meeting with a relative, and the work of the Burchell High staff, Houston basketball program, and the MY House program, which helps homeless Valley teens, Hale was able to get back on track. She led Houston to the state tourney, and during the tournament, signed a National Letter of Intent to play college basketball at Central Methodist University in Missouri.

9. Busbey and Blake return to Palmer basketball

Each year coaches in Valley prep programs come and go, but 2013 marked the return of a pair of head coaches to the Palmer basketball program. Lyle Busbey and Brandon Blake were each named head coach of the Moose girls and boys programs, both returning for their second tour with their respective programs. Busbey coached the Moose for a decade, leading Palmer to a state championship in 1999. Blake held his position during his first stint for nine seasons.

10. Chancie Hanson highlights achievements of Valley alumni

The Valley has produced numerous athletes who have excelled beyond the high school ranks. There have been professional players and college champions. That list, which continues to grow, now includes former Wasilla hockey standout Chancie Hanson.

Hanson helped the North Iowa Bulls win the Junior A Tier III national championship in 2013. Hanson, a defenseman for the NA3HL team, helped North Iowa post a 6-2 win over the Twin Cities (Minn.) Northern Lights in the finals of the USA Hockey Tier III National Championships.

“It’s definitely up there,” Hanson said of where the accomplishment ranks in his hockey career. “It was definitely awesome to be a part of such a great group of guys, and see all the hard work pay off.”

As the case every year, there are numerous honorable mentions. Houston High senior Luke Wagner made school history, becoming the first Hawks wrestler to win three state titles. Fellow HHS senior Waylon Soptick also made school history, breaking the single-season school rushing record while leading his team to the playoffs for the first time in years. The Houston hockey and boys track teams also scored runner-up finishes at state.

Colony senior Daniel Bilafer capped his Knights football career by helping re-write the school record book. Palmer head football coach Rod Christiansen moved to No. 2 among the all-time winningest coaches in the history of Alaska high school football.

I am sure there are other stories that could be part of the debate. But there’s no debating that it was another great year in Valley sports.