Swimming (Coach Carl Young):
Buccaneer Swimming – Bartlett High School Invitational
The Valdez Buccaneer Swim Team had a very tough swim meet this past weekend competing against 12 teams, the majority of our states swim teams. Placing in the Top 10 in a meet this size is an excellent indicator for the potential to qualify for the State Swim Meet. Valdez had Numerous swimmers swim Personal Best Times or PBT, and one swimmer was able to place in the Top 6 and score for VHS.
Swimmers who swam PBT:
- Marshall Lewis, 200 Free- 2:40.75, 100 Free- 1:12.84
- Raymond Martel, 50 Freestyle- 30.70, 100 Free- 1:11.90
- Chase Randall, 100 Breaststroke- 1:11.37
- Jeffrey Prevost, 100 Backstroke- 1:05.68
- Abigail Sims, 100 Butterfly- 1:28.04
- Victoria Korenev, 100 Breast- 1:30.17, 200 Individual Medley- 2:47.01
Swimmers who placed in the Top 10 showing potential for State:
- Jeffrey Prevost, 200 Individual Medley- 10th Place, 100 Backstroke- 9th Place
- Chase Randall, 200 Individual Medley- 9th Place, 100 Breaststroke- 6th Place
Congratulations to Chase Randall for being the only swimmer to score points at this large swim meet. Placing 6th in his 100 Breaststroke!
Please wish all our Buccaneer Swimmers Good Luck as they continue their season!!
Volleyball (Coach Adam Sharrai):
The Lady Bucs were off to the 23rd annual Grace Christian Grizzly Tournament last weekend for a sixteen team line up consisting of both 4A and 3A teams. 16 teams were split into 2 pools for Friday and Saturday morning play as follows:
Pool 1: Valdez, Soldotna, Wasilla, Nikiski, Homer, Monroe Catholic, Sitka, and ACS
Pool 2: Grace Christian, Palmer, Kodiak, Eagle Rv., Seward, Kenai, Mt. Edgecumb,& Kotzebue
Valdez started Friday play at 11 am winning ACS 25-15. At 1:20 Valdez repeated a win against Homer 25-10 and again at 3:40 besting Nikiski 25-19. Valdez played Sitka an hour later but came up short 24-26 with their first loss. 4A So-Hi (Soldotna) was next at 6:00 and Valdez took the win 25-20 with much more aggressive scrap free, play! At 7:10 Monroe Catholic was next and the last game of Friday for Valdez who took the win 25-20. After Friday pool play Valdez was 6 & 1 setting up a good chance of entering the top platinum bracket for tournament play with one pool-play game left. 8 am Saturday morning began with a tough fought loss to Wasilla 18-25 to finish up pool play with 5 wins and 2 losses but earning Valdez an entry into the platinum bracket with Wasilla 5-2, So-Hi 6-1, and from the other pool Grace 6-1, Kodiak 6-1, and Palmer 6-1.
Valdez started off the 2 out 3 format to 20 pts and a 15 point 3rd game if a tie breaker if needed, matched up with Grace taking them in two games 20–17 & 20-17. This sent the Lady Bucs upward for a match with So-Hi at 11:30 and a match it was! Valdez dropped the first game 17-20 but came back hard on the So-Hi Stars taking game 2, 20-10, setting up a tie-breaker to 15 and the 45 minute time running out. Valdez started tough again and pushed through a surprised 4A So-Hi to finish just under the clock taking the “W” at 15-7 throwing Valdez into the semi-final match with the Palmer Moose at 2:30. Again, Valdez dropped the first game in a tough fight 18-20, but Valdez rallied in tenacious fashion to take game two 20- 17 setting up a nail-biter tiebreaker. With time running out in game 3, the Lady Bucs kept pushing as hard as they could and were up by 1 as time expired. However, the rules for the tournament are win by two, so on they played. Palmer sided out for the tie, Valdez sided out up one charging for another, Palmer sided to tie, Palmer again took a point up one and then again for the win by 2. This was the Lady Bucs best game of the tournament and although preferring a win they walked away proud of their play and earning a bit of admiration from Palmer, the only undefeated tournament team, and the crowd for their play and effort—great job Lady Bucs! This provided a needed rest break until their next semi-final game with So-Hi and another chance to enter the Championship against Palmer.
“OHHHhhh”— what a 2-point battle can cost you! After the long break Valdez entered play very lethargically and had a hard time finding their energy and rhythm. It didn’t help matters as So-Hi had just played an intense game against Wasilla and were warmed up and raring to go. Also, with the main court change preparation, Valdez only peppered for a few minutes, took their very small 3 minutes to hit and serve trying to work the long break blues out of themselves and kick-start their engines, again. Not looking as the Lady Bucs normally do, they mounted a few surge attempts but would have to sit out the Championship as So-Hi took both games 12-20 followed by 14-20. Palmer went on to split with So-Hi but commanded the tiebreaker earning their Championship. Ending up 3 out 16 teams in 4A company is a really good showing—-Great Job Lady Bucs for playing and placing so well!
GO BUCS!
ASAA Student Government Trip to Skagway (Jenny Heckathorn):
Seven students and two advisors from Valdez High school attended the fall Alaska Association of Student Government conference in Skagway Sept 20-24. The seven delegates were Seniors Destiny Gray, Gaea Bard, and Alexis Stanford, Juniors Kira Friend and Ashlee Schaeffer, Sophomore Riley King, and Freshman Katarina Taylor.
Gaea Bard and Alexis Stanford presented a resolution to the assembly to replace the plasticware used for school breakfasts and lunches with reuseable metal silverware to reduce the reliance on single-use plastics.
Ashlee Schaeffer was elected to the Executive board (E-board) as Region 3 representative for the 2018-19 school year. Between the presentation and discussion of resolutions during six general assemblies, students got to ride the White Pass Train, took a bus tour of Skagway, watched an amazing Tlingit dance group from Whitehorse, and interacted with local performers during the reinactment of the last days of Soapy Smith’s life.