Cross Country
West Valley Invite
UAF Ski Trails
August 14, 2021
Courtesy of VHS Coaches – The Bucs Cross Country team is off to a great start this season! Our first race of the season was on UAF Ski Trails. This was a hilly, yet short course at only 3100 meters. The team last did this race two years ago. The runners had perfect weather for running, little cool and cloudy.
Freshman Morgan Hamilton represented Valdez in the Freshman race. She endured the hills and sped through the flats. Hamilton has already shown great growth as a runner since the first day of practice. Today she finished in 22:06.
Sophomore Anika Palomar continues to grow as a runner and has shown great progress since the first day of the season. Palomar maintained a steady pace, despite a bothersome ankle and knee. She finished strong at 17:32.
Returning boys varsity runners are Senior William Benes, Juniors Jason Smilie and Cole Wadsworth, and Sophomore Rafe Caruthers. Benes dominated the race for Valdez and powered through the hills. He finished in 13:58, gaining a few seconds over his time two years ago. Smilie spun his wheels and beat his last time by over 2 minutes! Smilie finished in 14:51. Caruthers was hot on Smilie’s heels and cruised across the finish line at 14:54.
All returning runners have been flying past their personal records so far this season. We look forward to welcoming Freshmen Landon Metzger, Jace Wadsworth, and Dalen Beck to the team this year!
Next Friday evening is our home meet followed by a fun run / walk, come and join us. Go Bucs!
Varsity Volleyball
Courtesy of VHS Coaches – This weekend the Varsity volleyball team kicked off their season with Palmer Jamboree. This was a great tournament for our first games of the season. The girls not only played ten single sets and a match best 2 out of 3, they had to officiate and keep score for other teams during the breaks. This was a great way for the girls to learn more about the rules and build their game IQ. The first day we played each of the seven other teams once in a single set. We won against: Palmer, Wasilla, Eagle River, and ACS. We had close matches but lost to Colony, Grace Christian, and Houston. This left us with a 4-3 record and 4th place seeding us for day two. On day two, we play three more single sets. We went 1-2, winning against ACS and losing to Colony and Wasilla. We finished the day playing in the third place game against Grace Christian. This game was best 2 out of 3 and we ended 0-2.
The girls learned a lot at this tournament. They each had some incredible plays. Ambrosia Woodgate set this whole weekend running advanced set plays with every other player on the floor at some point throughout the tournament. Sophomore Olivia Selanoff played her first varsity matches as the team's Libero. She managed some great saves for the team. Middle Hitter Momoe Togaage had a fantastic weekend with some great hits and blocks in the front row and some incredible serves and plays in back row defense. This weekend gave us great feedback on what we need to improve on before our next games. Our next weekend of games will be at home against the Hutchinson Hawks the 27th and 28th of August.