Episodes

Courtesy of VHS Ski Coach Pete Toye – Early morning temperatures in Talkeetna of -10F finally released their grip amid sunny skies and glowing Denali, allowing temperatures to soar to single digits and allow for legal racing conditions. The Alaska School Activity Association (ASAA) sets the legal racing temperature minimum at -4F. Sixty skiers from Colony, Palmer, Wasilla, Su-Valley, and Valdez raced a 6.5K slate race in the annual Borough Championships. The snow was cold, dry, and slow requiring a very strong physical effort, and our team answered the bell most impressively.

The Buc girls had an exceptional outing which featured senior stalwart Rylee Norris winning the girls championship by a most impressive one minute and twenty seconds over the field of 30. Rylee now joins her sister Hannah as winners of this annual competition. Senior Taylor Huston had the best race of her season finishing a very strong 6^th.  Senior Caitlin Connell continues her significant improvement with a 9^th place finish. Senior Angie Alfaro had a solid ski netting her 11^th place, just 10 seconds out of 10^th. First year skiers sophomore Victoria Korenev (17^th), freshman Grace Keller (24^th), and sophomore Rowan Miller (28^th) all had strong efforts and their futures are bright. The girls team finished in 2^nd place overall behind Colony.

The Valdez boys were again led by junior Ben Swanson who had a most impressive 5^th place finish in the field of 29. Swanson was only 1 second out of 4^th and 8 seconds out of 3^rd. First year senior skier John Banner was the next Buc finisher at 16^th with a solid ski. Following Banner with their best efforts were senior Colton Prevost (24^th), senior Chris Cummins (27^th), and junior Josten Carlson (28^th).

The ski team next sees action this weekend at the Region III Championships held this year at Government Peak in Hatcher Pass.

This past weekend the VHS cheerleaders competed in a cheerleading competition at the Elks Basketball Tournament. On Friday, during halftime of the Valdez/Kotzebue game the Valdez cheerleading team, was judged on their half-time dance routine. They were also judged throughout the weekend on their sideline cheer. At the conclusion of the tournament on Saturday, Valdez was awarded a 2^nd place finish with 1^st place going to the Seward Cheerleading team.

The boys varsity team competed in the 40^th Annual Elks Basketball tournament at home this past weekend. The Bucs first game of the tournament was against the Cordova Wolverines. Valdez jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter leading 23-13. The Bucs stayed in control for the rest of the game widening their lead and winning 79-45. Junior Tyler Mann was the standout player for Valdez during the game scoring 23 points on 11-13 shooting. He also tallied 3 steals.

On Friday, the Bucs competed against the Kotzebue Huskies for a spot in the championship game. After a closely contested first few minutes of the game, the Bucs came out with a small 21-19 lead at the end of the first. Throughout the course of the game, Valdez slowly added to their lead and were able to stop Kotzebue during key runs to win 61-53. A key factor for the Buccaneer victory was their efficiency from the line. Valdez shot 23-24 from the free throw line for the game. Sophomore Bennett Hinkle led the way for Valdez in scoring with 16 points and had 7 rebounds.

On Saturday, Valdez played in the championship game against the Monroe Catholic Rams. This game proved to be the hardest game of the tournament for the Bucs. At the end of the first quarter the score was tied 11-11. In the second quarter Monroe jumped out to a small lead, but in the final few minutes of the quarter the Bucs went on a run to lead 32-29 at the half. In the third quarter, the rams fought back with a strong defensive presence and were able to edge out a 2 point lead going into the fourth and final quarter. The Rams capitalized on turnovers and widened the lead, eventually winning 52-43. The Bucs finished in 2^nd place in the tournament. Bennett Hinkle led the Bucs in scoring once again with 15 points on 6-7 shooting and had strong defensive presence and recorded 3 blocks. Though the Bucs weren’t able to win the championship, during the awards ceremony of the tournament Valdez had 4 kids selected to the Boys All-Tournament Team (Seth Auble, Bennett Hinkle, Aiden Hinkle, and Tyler Mann). This weekend the Bucs will play at home against the Eielson Ravens.

This past weekend the Lady Bucs compete in the 40^th Annual Valdez Elks Basketball Tournament.  Valdez had an easy 55-12 victory last Thursday against the Cordova Wolverines for their first game of the tournament. Sophomore Jade Watts led the way in scoring for Valdez with 13 points on 5-6 shooting and had 4 assists. Also contributing to the win was Junior Bobbi Mott who had 12 points and 9 rebounds.

On Friday, the Lady Bucs played the Wasilla Junior Varsity team. Valdez played evenly at the start and was tied 9-9 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter the two teams continued to play evenly, but midway through Junior Bobbi Mott was escorted off the court due to an injury and did not return to the game. In the second half, the Warriors took advantage of the Lady Bucs poor shooting and went on a 15-3 run. Also in a struck of more bad luck VHS player Jillian Fleming left the game due to injury. In the final quarter Valdez couldn’t seem to shorten the Wasilla lead and lost 46-25. Senior Tori Franciosi led Valdez in scoring with 6 points and also recorded 4 rebounds. The Wasilla Warriors would go on to the championship game where they played the ACS Lions and lost 38-28.

On Saturday, the Lady Bucs faced the Kotzebue Huskies in the 3^rd and 4^th place game. The Kotzebue defense proved troubling for Valdez as the Huskies didn’t allow Valdez to score double digits in any of the quarters and won the game 49-21. For the game, Valdez shot 6-23 as a team and had 32 turnovers. With that loss, the Lady Bucs finished in 4^th place. At the conclusion of the tournament, Bobbi Mott was selected to the All-Tournament team. This weekend the Lady Bucs will play the Eielson Ravens at home.

The updated brackets are in for the Valdez Elks Tournament. CLICK HERE for all the game times. The Valdez Varsity girls will tip off against Cordova on Thursday at 6pm and the Varsity Boys will play Cordova in the first round of action at 7:30pm. KVAK’s Iam Cabitac will be posting updated brackets on the www.kvakradio.com sports page and doing audio updates on air at 93.3FM and 1230AM. There are 16 teams in the tournament and games will run from 9am to 7:30pm Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the VHS gymnasium.

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