Valdez High School Nordic Ski Team
Regional Competition 2021
By Coach Beck
13 Valdez High School Nordic Skiers competed in the Region 6 Regional Ski Competition last weekend at Birch Hill in Fairbanks. West Valley, Lathrop, Monroe, North Pole, Hutchison, and Valdez participated in the event hosted by the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks.
The first day of competition was a classic technique. The boys skied a distance of 7.5 KM, and the girls skied 5KM. This race was the first for the Bucs due to COVID-19 limiting race events this season. The regional race pushed skiers to learn a lot about ski racing specifics of ski racing extremely quickly, and the Valdez team rose to meet the challenge. All racers finished despite freezing Fairbanks temperatures. The top 4 performances from each team were totaled together for the team score.
The Top 4 Boys’ Finishers – Day 1
13th place Piers Shirk – 28:45.
22nd place Jeffery Prevost – 32:58
27th place Chase Randall – 34:34
28th place William Benes – 34:41
Top 4 Girls’ Finishers – Day 1
16th place Elaina Hanson – 28:53
18th place Christina Wise – 27:29
21st place Caelyn Wise – 30:22
24th place Billi Lovell – 32:21
After day one of the competition, the boys’ skiers were in 3rd place in the team rankings, and the girls were in 4th place, just 42 seconds behind North Pole in 3rd place. Ginger Keller’s ski started to delaminate during her race, but she didn’t give up and finished in spite of the setback!
After skiing their first race and getting a feel for the course, the Buccaneers were much more confident and prepared for Saturday’s skate technique race. The race was a 7.5Km for the girls and 10Km for the boys. There were some impressive performances by all the Buccaneer skiers Saturday. Freshman, Rafe Caruthers, demonstrated solid pacing and good technique. He climbed the leader boards from 31st place after day one to 21st place after day two and scored in the top four for our boy’s team. Sophomore, Piers Shirk, finished the skate race only one place out of the top 10 and had a fantastic race, gaining ground on the day one leaders. The boy’s strong skiing team had them end the weekend in 3rd place for the team competition.
The girl’s team lead by Elaina Hanson completed a great race Saturday and pushed themselves as they chased North Pole for a spot on the podium. Not only did they defeat North Pole, but they came in 17 minutes faster after day two. The girls finished the competition in second place.
Top 4 Girls’ Finishers – Day 2
12th place Elania Hanson – 39:50
14th place Caelyn Wise – 45:52
16th place Christina Wise – 46:22
17th place Billi Lovell – 53:31
The Top 4 Boys’ Finishers – Day 2
11th place Piers Shirk – 36:04
18th place Chase Randall – 42:34
21st place Rafe Caruthers – 45:12
22nd place Jeffery Prevost – 46:58
Also participating in Regionals and earning personal bests include Fisher Mishmash, Blake Morrison, Patrick OBrien. Ethan Weber, Jared Humphrey, and Barrett McCumby added to the team accomplishments with steady improvement throughout the season.
GO BUCS!
Varsity Boys Basketball
VHS Varsity Boys Basketball Wrap-Up [February 12th and 13th]
Nick Alfaro takes a shot, Photo by Joe Prax
Courtesy of VHS Coaches – The Buccaneers played host to the West Valley Wolfpack, who are currently atop the Mid Alaska Conference for 4A. The matchup was the first since December of 2018, when the Buccaneers beat the Wofpack 68-56 on their homecourt to win the West Valley Wolfpack Invitational.
Friday, February 12th: Valdez 34, West Valley 60
On Friday night, a lackluster and turnover prone effort by a short-handed Buccaneer team allowed the Wolfpack to establish an early 16-6 first quarter lead, which they extended to a 40- 12 advantage at the half.
A spirited halftime session implored the young Buccaneers to increase their intensity, reduce turnovers, and challenged them to play with pride despite the score. The team appeared to respond well, as they displayed intestinal fortitude in the second half and outscored West Valley (largely reserve players) 22-20 to close the game.
The Wolfpack turned 23 Buccaneer turnovers into 30 points. The Bucs were also outscored 40- 20 in the paint, and yielded 17 offensive rebounds to West Valley.
Dennis Mott led the Bucs with 10 points while Nick Alfaro and Anthony Kelley each snagged 6 rebounds.
Dennis Mott takes it to the hoop against West Valley, Photo by Joe Prax
Saturday, February 13th: Valdez 41, West Valley 76
The Buccaneers began Saturday’s late morning contest with much more fight and determination than the previous night, as reflected in an early 8-8 tie. However, the Bucs continued to struggle with ball security, which would ultimately prove to be too much to overcome. Thirty-four Buccaneer turnovers led to 43 Wolfpack points en route to a 76-41 defeat.
The Bucs were again significantly outscored in the paint, 40-24, but limited the Wolfpack to 9 offensive rebounds and 15 second chance points. The Bucs out-rebounded West Valley 34-21 for the game.
Dennis Mott recorded a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Anthony Kelley netted 6 while grabbing 5 rebounds. Nick Alfaro successfully drew an offensive foul.
Notes:
The pair of losses extended the Buccaneer losing streak to 5 games, dropping their overall
season record to 1-7 (1-3 in Conference).
JV Boys Basketball
JV Boys Vs. West Valley
Jaxson Gallatin takes a shot Saturday during home games against West Valley,
Photo by Joe Prax
Courtesy of VHS Coaches- Valdez faced another challenging weekend of basketball against West Valley. Friday night the Bucs went down early but got better each quarter and never quit in an overall losing effort. Gavin Morris lead all scorers Friday with 9 points.
Saturday’s game was much of the same as West Valley jumped out to a thirteen-point lead after one quarter and held the lead through the game. Valdez showed toughness and put together a nice fourth quarter but weren’t able to overcome the lead in
another loss. Zach Rissman lead Valdez with 7 points.
The Bucs will continue to work hard and look to get their first win next weekend against Glennallen.