Rifle:
On Wednesday, September 5, a new Sport made its appearance at Valdez High School!
For the first time in Buccaneer History, Valdez High School has a Rife Team. Coaches this year are Victoria Hedman & Jim Larcom. The team has 7 shooters and are practicing and improving their skills for their first Rifle Match on September 22 against Lathrop High School. This match will be at Valdez High School in the rifle range.
Cross Country Running: (Coach Mel Koontz)
9/08/18 – Palmer Invite
On Saturday, the Buccaneer’s Cross Country team faced off against 33 other teams from around Alaska in one of the season’s biggest cross country races. Both Division I and Division II teams were represented in this state preview. The runners were blessed with warm sun, yet cursed with a wicked head wind. The course involved three winding laps through the trees with a couple of small hills and finishing on the track. Overcoming the wind gusts, all runners achieved personal bests.
Running junior varsity for the Buccaneers, William Benes improved his previous time to finish 74th out of 78 runners in 24:28. He was just under seven minutes behind the first place finisher from West Valley. In the Division II Boys Varsity race, Tristian Merchant from Anchorage Christian took first place with a finish of 16:07. Kalin Woods maintained a pace of 5:56 for the first two laps and then slowed on the third lap to finish 20th with a time of 18:34. K. Woods is almost a minute and a half quicker than last year’s meet in Palmer. Rafael Alfaro was just under minute behind Woods, finishing 32nd in 19:21. Alfaro was 30 seconds faster than last year in Palmer. Senior Dustin Woods joined us for his first second of the season and finished 73rd in 22:48. D. Woods has improved his time by over two minutes since his last race in 2015.
The runners all agree that our hill training has allowed them to overpower competitors on inclines. The team continues to work on lengthening their sprint distances and increasing their overall race pace. They are very dedicated and determined to make every competition better than the one before. Their race results are proof of their hard work! We missed having Katelyn Wadsworth and Wyatt Mehlberg with us. Wadsworth is still battling reoccurring injuries. We hope that she will return soon!
Our next meet is in Delta on Friday, September 14th. This is our last race for the season before regionals. The top 15 runners at regionals will continue onto state the last weekend of September.
See Complete Team Rankings HERE
Volleyball: (Coach Adam Sharrai)
The Lady Bucs traveled north to the Fairbanks for the West Valley Invitational. They started off Thursday night with a dual at West Valley pre-weekend tournament. After knocking off some bus-rust coming up short 14-25, they pushed 4A West Valley to 24 -26 in a much more spirited effort from both sides filled with many lead changes and impressive rallies. Game 3 Valdez caught West Valley off guard 25-15 with great serves and ball handling. West Valley rebounded however to take the 4th game 20 – 25 leaving Valdez Lady Bucs looking forward to Friday pool play and another chance to compete against West Valley.
Compete they did, taking West Valley 25-20 in their 4th match of the pool play day. The Lady Bucs went 7 straight wins in pool play as follows: 25-17 Lathrop, 25-14 West Valley JV’s, who filled in for Barlett’s Wednesday cancellation of participation, 25-15 Barrow, 25-20 West Valley, 25-9 Mt. Edgecumbe, 25-17 North Pole, and 25-15 Eilsen. They Lady Buccs lost their first game of pool play at 6 pm that evening in a very close battle against Monroe 24 – 26, followed with a little loss of steam finishing the night in their second loss to Hutchison 17-25 at 7:00. This placed them 2nd overall in the West Valley Invitational Gold Bracket lining them up for their first match of Saturday morning against, again, West Valley at 10 AM.
The Lady Bucs took advantage of some well-deserved sleep and started off 2 out of 3 Saturday tournament play losing their 1st game 26 – 24 in a very hard fought battle to West Valley just coming up short. West Valley took the 2nd game 25-20 to set up what would become a VERY long and challenging climb back through the losers bracket. The Lady Bucs took on Hutchison at 12 noon and took them in 2 games 25-21 and 25 – 19 moving onto play Monroe at 2 pm, who they also bested 25 – 5 and 25 – 15. These two wins set up the game against Mt. Edgecumbe at 3 pm for a shot, once again, at the championship with West Valley. The Lady Bucs kept their composure and united their efforts to put Edgecumbe behind them 25 – 22, and 25 – 20.
10 Games in for the day, pretty much back to back, you might think the Lady Bucs showed some signs of slowing down but they decided, win or lose, they would go out fighting. And fight they did! They battled West Valley again but came up short 25 – 17 in game one. Game two remained close and at 15 – 21 Valdez made one last surge turning the next four points into a West Valley time-out 19 – 21. The break was a welcomed rest and when play returned both team upped their efforts. The best rallies of the set and championship occurred in these end battles leaving both benches, and stands, standing, cheering, and clapping for the effort both sides were producing to earn those vital points. One rally stood out from the rest and brought the house to a standing ovation with multiple ( 6- 8 ) players from each side somewhere on the floor keeping the play alive! The Lady Bucs fought as hard as they could but couldn’t get the ball to drop on the other side. West Valley took the title and I feel the Lady Bucs earned much admiration for their efforts and great attitude.
Making the All-Tournament Team were Carlee Fleming with her setting and very effective serving, Sydney Johnson also serving up some nastiness for other teams, while having many kills and playing smart producing the always unexpected tip-kill campfires. Kassi Howard was the third All-Tournament player from Valdez who broke out with several kills and placements throughout the day to frustrate their opponents. Jade Watts had some impressive serving, hitting, and digs while Kendall Wesenberg served it up and dug everything hit her way. Jillian Fleming served tough, hit well and got up on defense at the net to put some trouble in the way while Maison Anderson found some corners, tipped well, and got her hands on some defense. Libero, Kira Friend, provided backcourt relief when needed and served a bit as well while. Jade Holmes became more comfortable contributing with some relief setting. Macy Hansen and Jackie Stewart also contributed at the net with defense relief. I should also mention Ally Seiber did play Thursday against West Valley and needed to rest her back. She did not play in the tournament this weekend and the team is eagerly looking forward to her return when she is well rested and healthy.
It takes a team effort to play and produce the quality that the Lady Bucs showed this weekend. They realized uniting themselves and playing together always will provide the cover and trust each of them need both on and off the court. Everyone’s contribution lead to the smiles and sense of accomplishment they left the court with, but more importantly, the memories they will always have. Great Job Lady Bucs!
JV Volleyball: (Coach Katie Burns)
The Lady Bucs JV Volleyball team faced off against three different teams this past weekend while the Varsity squad competed in the West Valley Tournament.
The weekend started off playing against West Valley JV. High servers for the match were Bekah Ambacher and Anna Agcaoili. Both Hunter Hoppe and Savannah Cockerham led the team with attacks and kills at the net. We lost the match in three sets with final scores of 22-25, 5-25, and 23-25.
On Friday we competed against Lathrop JV. Both Hunter Hoppe and Kyrcee Christensen led the night with 9 serves each in their sets. Reese King scored the most kills on the net for the evening. We won the match in three sets with final scores of 25-18, 25-22, 25-18.
Our final match was against the Eielson Ravens on Saturday. Our top servers for the night were Lily Alfaro with a total of 19 playable serves and Rylie King with 11. Savannah Cockerham led the match with 5 kills attacking on the net. We won the match in four sets with final scores of 25-11, 25-14, 19-25, 25-14.
Football: (Coach Lee Chadwick)
This Saturday was another beautiful day for Football in Valdez. We played the Monroe Rams, eventually losing by a score of 28-60.
Our inexperience showed early as we gave up a couple of quick touchdowns, as well as not recovering an early onside kick. In addition, their long passing game took quick advantage of our younger defensive backfield. However, we control our own destiny and with increased experience will able to respond more adequately to these challenges.
Despite these setbacks, our offense generated 422 yards of total offense. A stellar offensive line effort led by Moe Morgan, Logan Anderson, Hunter Francis, James Letendre, and Andrew Bradley created 322 yards of rushing total by a cadre of ball carriers. Four touchdowns were all scored by different players in a variety of ways, showing opponents that as we improve we are a multi-faceted team with many different options.
We look forward to our final home game against Redington this week. It is our homecoming week as well. With continued improvement we feel we can be very competitive, and look forward to securing a win. We will also be honoring our lone senior player, Luke Baczuk, completing four years of football, and our senior manager Lexi Stanford. Lexi has greatly benefited our program this year, and we are grateful for her service. We hope our Seniors’ final home game will be memorable and rewarding.
Swimming: (Coach Carl Young)
Buccaneer Swimming – Valley Invite, Fairbanks, September 7th
The Buccaneer Swim Team had a great week of practice. They went into this swim meet with high spirits & a lot of confidence. We had swimmers swim Personal Best Times or PBT; and Numerous swimmers placed in the top 6 in their races scoring the Buccaneers enough points for the Boys Team to Place 3rd, the Girls Team to place 5th which allowed the swim team to place 4th overall.
Highlights from this weekend include Freshmen Kali Petersen & Layla Macatee, as well as, Senior Kristian Balowski making their High School swim debuts.
Swimmers who swam PBT are Abigail Sims in her 200 Freestyle with a time of 2:56.97, Marshal Lewis in his 100 Freestyle with a time of 1:18.57, Raymond Martel in his 100 Freestyle with a time of 1:14.42, and Calvin Gondek in his 100 Freestyle with a time of 1:05.43.
Swimmers who placed in the Top 6 & scored points for VHS include:
- Victoria Korenev, 100 Butterfly, 5th Place
- Grace Keller, 100 Backstroke, 3rd Place
- Rowan Miller, 100 Butterfly & Backstroke, 4th Place
- Isaiah Silveira, 200 Freestyle, 4th Place
- Kristian Balowski, 50 Freestyle, 5th Place; & 100 Breaststroke, 2nd Place
- Chase Randall, 100 Butterfly, 5th Place; & 200 Individual Medley, 1st Place
- Jeffrey Prevost, 200 Individula Medley & 100 Backstroke, 3rd Place
The Boys Relay teams continue to improve and show that are quickly becoming a top contender in our new region. They Place 3rd in both 200 Medley & Freestyle Relays; & a solid 2nd Place finish in the 400 Freestyle Relay. Congrats to our young men for their excellent Team Swims!
The Buccaneer Swimmer of this Week goes to Rowan Miller. She practiced hard, took time to ask questions to improve her skills, and because of this Scored the Most Points for the Girls’ Team this swim meet. A Very Good Job to Rowan Miller.
Please give a pat on the backs to our Buccaneer swimmers for this excellent weekend & I am excited to continue on with this season with such an amazing group of young athletes from Valdez High School.
This Week:
Cross Country Running at Delta Invite on Friday, September 14.
Football at Home vs Redington (12:00 pm game time)
Homecoming Dance on Saturday (8:00 pm – 11:00 pm)
Valdez Invitational Volleyball Tournament starts on Friday, September 14 at 12:00 pm and runs all day on Saturday, September 15. JV Tournament games in the Middle School and Varsity Tournament Games in the High School.