Juneau’s 2024 sports in review

Why is it that looking back is always so intriguing?

We are warned by our coaches to NOT look over our shoulders.

“It slows you down!”

“Your opponent catches you!”

“You will trip!”

“You will run into a parked car, pizza vendor, pine tree or (insert whatever you have run into here).”

But we do anyway.

We always look back, even when told not to.

Check out any horror flick and nine times out of 10 the victim is appearing to be a bobblehead doll trying to run away like Phoebe on an old episode of “Friends.”

Yep, the past can catch up to you…but it can also make you better.

This past year was supposed to be my best… I ran a 5:20 mile and a 2:26:00 marathon, and was going to help my old buddies win some trophies…but a strained Achilles put me on the injury report.

But I learned. Rest more. Listen to your doctor and physical therapist and most importantly listen to your body.

So I biked 80 miles on my birthday Tuesday.

Yep, the day before Christmas some mean old man smacked me across the baby-bare-buttocks with a real “Welcome to Little Norway” swing and I screamed my disapproval.

Already at an athletic disadvantage and just hours old.

But it is in the face of adversity that we become the athletes we are or attempt the athletic endeavors we thought unreachable or we teach others what it means to be a good sport.

In 2024 a lot of Southeast athletes faced adversities, listened to their bodies and inspired me to write about them.

Just last week, Hoonah senior Krista Howland won a state wrestling title during a special year at the ASAA championships – honoring the sanctioning of the first girls’ state tournament and its original eight female wrestlers. That story is inside this edition so I don’t need to talk about it, but I will say thank you to all those grapplers, and all the athletes through last season, young and old, who carry on.

Following are some of my highlights of the past year. One omission involves the merger of Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé and Thunder Mountain. I feel this is bigger than sports. It involves education, student well-being, business and so much more. It deserves a hard news look.

So for you athletes, I can’t mention you all but you all have been a positive part of my life. Thank you!

Jayden Johnson voted DI Utility Player of the Year

If there is something JDHS senior Jayden Johnson cannot do on a football field, it hasn’t been discovered yet. The six-foot-two, 175-pound do-everything Huskies player was honored as the Division One Utility Player of the Year in November by coaches around the state, as well as being a first-team all-state selection at wide receiver.

This humble athlete was surprised by the receiving nod saying, “My numbers were lower than other first-team selections…”

The reason for that is he was too valuable and needed at other positions, which justifies the UPOTY honor. He was also one of three Alaskans selected to play in front of college scouts and to be coached by professional players at the 2025 Native American High School Football All-Star Game.

Juneau-Douglas wins fourth state cheer title in a row, TMHS finishes second

Yes it was a competition, yes it was for bragging rights across Alaska, but no, there was no animosity among the top two cheer teams in the state as the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears won their fourth large-division state title in a row in March at the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Cheer State Championships at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage, and the Thunder Mountain High School Falcons placed second.

JDHS senior Ryan Shattuck said their seniors had been hoping for a four-peat and worked hard to get it…and that people don’t understand the hard work cheerleading takes and the hard work they put in. Shattuck and JDHS classmate Mila Griffin and TMHS senior Katelyn Kohuth were selected to the all-state tournament cheer team.

For Thunder Mountain, it was their highest placing at state and the last time a Falcons team will fly, stunt and tumble this far north. The Ketchikan Kings placed third, making the state event a Southeast show-out.

“It means everything,” TMHS coach Stephany Day said. “It means everything…We’re going out with a bang.”

JDHS coach Carlene Nore said, “It was very exciting…It was very nice. Throughout this season we had goals set on regions and state, we also went to nationals so it has been an ongoing adjustment as we go, but great teams like Thunder Mountain and Ketchikan definitely push us to do our very best.”

Amy Liddle leads JDHS to state swimming titles

Exhausted bliss was what JDHS sophomore Amy Liddle felt when she touched the pool wall and looked up at her personal best time during November’s ASAA Swim & Dive State Championships at Anchorage’s Bartlett High School pool, winning the girls 200-yard freestyle in a time of one minute 55.96 seconds.

“I mean, I was so happy, you know,” she said after the race. “I don’t know, nothing else really. I was so tired, but so happy… Oh, it is amazing, like, I don’t know. You dream about it, in practice you think about it…and, I mean, it is just so much better than you would imagine. It’s great. My hard work really paid off.”

JDHS’ girls’ 200-yard medley relay also won state in 1:51.90. They were junior Deedee Mills (27.93 backstroke), senior Parker Boman (31.69 breaststroke), senior Lucia Chapell (27.27 butterfly) and sophomore Kennedy Miller (25.01 freestyle).

Inaugural Elizabeth Peratrovich basketball tournament brings small schools together

In January the fruition of years of effort by then-TMHS coach Andy Lee showcased young women’s basketball talents in a tournament honoring the memory of Elizabeth Peratrovich. Long a proponent of promoting young women in sports and with a hero they could relate to he said, “I have always had this admiration for Elizabeth Peratrovich and the civil rights movement she was involved in in Alaska…As I did a deeper dive into it I realized that the things she did still resonate, maybe more so now than ever…and girls basketball needs to grow and we need heroes and we need girls to look up to, young women as heroes.”

Local high school sports stars sign with colleges

One year after winning multiple titles and being selected the state’s outstanding swimmer at the 2023 ASAA swim and dive championships, along with then TMHS senior PJ Foy, Emma Fellman, then a junior on the JDHS swim team made the most difficult decision of her life. She opted to compete her senior season with her local Glacier Swim Club, sacrificing swimming with life-long friends and representing her school to focus on her personal beliefs and health. Fellman signed with the University of Minnesota in November while continuing to set some of the fastest times for Alaska high school swimmers. She was one of many signing to further their talents in college, including JDHS’ Alwen Carrillo (Edmond College), Mila Hargrave (Pacific Lutheran University) and Kerra Baxter (University of Alaska Anchorage), and TMHS’ Sam Lockhart (Edmonds College) and James Polasky (St. Olaf College).

Alex Rehfeldt and Milina Mazon win state mixed doubles tennis title

JDHS tennis hit a big win in October when senior Alex Rehfeldt angled a forehand smash to the side of the Anchorage Alaska Club East court, forcing Chugiak High School senior Jack Latteier to return the shot up the middle, and Crimson Bears classmate Milina Mazon put championship point down the middle past Chugiak senior Meadow Lewis for the 2024 Alaska Tennis Mixed Doubles State Championship at Anchorage’s Alaska Club.

“That’s how you play doubles,” Rehfeldt said. “Feels great. Had a blast. Key was just targeting their weaknesses, playing strong and keeping our heads in the right space.”

“I’m excited,” Mazon said. “Happy. We kept a positive attitude. We came back from losing that first game, but kept our heads up to stay in the match.”

Tennis is all about teamwork, and the Crimson Bears exhibited that to perfection.

“It is a matter of the team coming together,” JDHS assistant coach Mona Mametsuka said of what makes a state tournament successful. “And being unified as a group, which is what our team did. They were so supportive of one another leading into the tournament and all throughout the tournament, just being there for one another. Just building that camaraderie, building lifetime memories together.”

JDHS junior Elliot Welch placed third in boys singles.

Jaasyah Crowley chases gridiron dream as whistle-blowing manager for Juneau Huskies

A whistle-blowing manager with a dream to be on the football field could have been any great Hollywood movie but it is real life for JDHS freshman Jaasyah Crowley. One would not expect that a young man on the plus-side of 300 pounds would struggle in a city where large athletes help the local high school achieve greatness, but that had been his life.

“I was just a kid who couldn’t do much,” Crowley said as he walked through a Juneau Huskies football practice, a coach’s whistle dangling from his neck. “Until I found my love for football. I started coming out here, started practicing with the guys, started doing the drills. I became a manager, but I’m working my way up by running the field, trying to become a player, building my endurance and it’s a process.”

At 5’8 and 315 pounds, Crowley is noticeable on the green turf…and being noticed is something he was never comfortable with.

“He’s here every day, I like to see that,” Huskies senior co-captain Hayden Aube said. “I am hoping that some time in the future he will get to play football.”

The school teaching staff were looking for ways to get Crowley more involved in school, and a discussion with Huskies assistant coach Brandon Ridle opened the possibility of bringing Crowley into the Huskies’ fold as a manager and coach.

Although physically limited, this great young man loves the football team, loves coaching and just loves the game.

Crowley was with the team in spring workouts, doing a modified version of things he could do and staying away from what he wasn’t yet comfortable with.

“He just kept showing up,” Huskies head coach Rich Sjoroos said. “And it just kind of evolved. Once we got on the field, we found a role for him. He was really quiet in the beginning, we couldn’t get him to talk much, but now he is in the team photo and everything. He started back in February with us and where he is at now and what a different kid he has become because of this experience is pretty neat. This kid kind of stood in the corner at our team workouts when I first met him. He wanted to be a team manager, but since then decided he wants to play football and is working himself into some kind of shape that he can put pads on and get involved in a game. His family says he has so much more energy now and is much more social…it has been a big win all the way around.”

Blasco, Young and Brock selected respective divisional state coaches of the year

Is it any wonder that Southeast Alaska basketball teams were so successful this season, both on and off the court, what with the guidance of coaches who have devoted their lives to the sport, and the young men and women they coach?

In March, the Alaska Basketball Coachociation selected TMHS coach John Blasco the 4A Boys Coach of the Year, Petersburg’s Rick Brock the 2A Boys Coach of the Year and Mt. Edgecumbe’s Archie Young the 3A Boys Coach of the Year. Each had guided their teams into the 2024 ASAA March Madness Alaska Basketball State Championships at Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center.

Blasco guided the Falcons to the Region V title and the state championship final this season. At state, TMHS (21-10) defeated third-ranked West Valley in overtime in the quarterfinals, 53-51, and second-ranked Service in overtime in the semifinals, 48-45, before falling to Alaska-undefeated and top-ranked East Anchorage, 60-34, in the finals.

“I couldn’t be more honored to be recognized by peers,” Blasco said. “All of us across the state put in so much time and effort into our programs and our kids, so to be recognized by the coaches for the job done this year means a lot. Definitely is an award I will cherish forever…I don’t get recognized for an award like this if the players don’t perform like they did…The senior class and the underclassmen put so many hours in during the offseason and season, and they bought into the program and to each other. They were successful on the court, which led to me being able to be recognized by peers for the work that went in helping them get there…My family has made huge sacrifices to let me coach. Any coach that has a family, with the hours put in and the fundraising, my wife, Elise, and my kids give up a lot. No coach can do it without the support of a strong partner.”

Brock guided the Vikings (18-10, seven losses to 3A/4A squads) to the 2A Region V Championship and at state third-ranked PHS defeated six-ranked Ninilchik, 44-42, in the quarters, second-ranked Cordova, 38-34, in the semis and top-ranked Hooper Bay, 41-33, for the state title.

“I’m honored and blessed to have such a fantastic group of young men to work with,” Brock said. “This is a team award. Things kind of fell in place as far as timing for us and getting better and better as the year went. We really were playing our best basketball at the end of the year. That is due to their hard work in practice every day and their dedication to the program…The community itself supports basketball…The town never hesitates to support us…And it is a lot of dedication and time from the parents themselves having their young men gone hours of the day and traveling, just all the background support. And then our school itself is dedicated to activities and supports all activities. You go to one of our home games and we have a fantastic pep band, great cheerleaders and just a wonderful atmosphere for these guys to play in front of. They feel good about themselves and feel good about the program.”

When asked about the time spent away from his family due to his work, Brock said: “I wouldn’t want to say, I think it would be a shock to all of us. I have been blessed with a family that loves basketball and supports myself and the program. I was lucky enough to coach my son and be around my two daughters playing. Michele (his wife) has been a big part of this for over 30 years now. I always tell my team she is the boss…This is quite an honor to win, and what a cool thing to share it with family (Young is his cousin) and really good friends. I am super happy for both of them, they had excellent years. Archie’s year was incredible and what a great way for John and his group to finish out their season.”

Mt. Edgecumbe’s Archie Young, in his retirement season from the school after 25 years as head coach and math/physical education teacher, guided the then-undefeated Braves to the 3A Eastern Conference title. At state, MEHS (26-1) defeated Hutchison, 66-20, in the quarters and Valdez, 67-38, in the semis before falling to second-ranked Nome-Beltz, 63-61, on a last-second basket for the state title.

“Coach of the Year is nice, but it is a team award,” Young said. “If the players don’t work and the players don’t win then the coach doesn’t get it. It is definitely a reflection of them, their effort and their success this year.”

“The parents this year were awesome,” said Young, who also thanked his partner Monica Chase and son Keian. “We had parents that came to Barrow with us, parents that went to Kenai with us, we had grandparents at conference games coming to regionals. This is the first time that I can recall on our senior night that every one of my seniors had a parent or parents there for them. That was rare. The parent support of this group and myself has been phenomenal. It was very special.”

Young told his team that “the one loss does not define their season, the hard work put in or what they shared…The moments coaches remember are not a play in a game here or there, it’s the helicopter ride we got to take in Barrow and seeing 20 polar bears feeding on a whale carcass…It’s the laughter and smiles I saw while interacting in charades at midnight before leaving on a flight…Just sharing memories and moments together…We talked about how hard we worked and that they need to continue to work because hard work doesn’t guarantee success, hard work provides you opportunities.”

Crimson Bears leave large paw prints at state cross-country running championships

It was a huge day for Southeast runners at the ASAA cross-country running championships on Oct. 5 at Anchorage’s Bartlett High School Trails as JDHS, Sitka, Petersburg and Craig had state title winners.

JDHS senior Ida Meyer and sophomore Erik Thompson finished second in the Division I girls and boys races, respectively. Meyer placed second in the Division I girls championship race in 19 minutes and nine seconds, five seconds behind sophomore race winner Hailee Giacobbe of Wasilla, and Thompson was second in the DI boys race with a 16:33, three seconds behind East Anchorage sophomore Katahdin Staples.

Meyer summed up her race by explaining what pure energy expenditure can do: “I’ve just been sick for a couple weeks so I’ve got a lot of snot running down…It was just a little bit uncomfortable out there…Strategy was just to try and stay at the front pack of girls and just hang on as much as I can. Just so I can position myself and then, yeah, just try. I’m pretty proud of my finish. I’m glad I could come out here and run. I was pretty nervous. I am so thankful that I can represent my team and get second. It’s just the best. It feels so good right now. And…this is my last year of high school cross-country, and it has just been great to work up the ranks and run with all the girls every year and see them again.”

Thompson had a personal best time and said, “I’m sorry if I say anything that doesn’t make sense, I’m a little lightheaded still…When I was going through it, I was leading the pack and was like, ‘I don’t know if I’ll be able to hold this but I need to try.’ Basically going through my head was, ‘This is going to be the last time for a while that we can actually win state this year, so I really don’t want to be the reason why we don’t achieve that.’ So going through my head was that no one can pass me except my teammate. Sadly one guy did end up passing me, but I think I did pretty good holding off the rest of them. It was hard. If he wasn’t there I wouldn’t have run that well at all. He came out of nowhere, I wasn’t expecting him this year. He ran 19:20s last year, so he has been putting the work in apparently. Oh my God, I have a feeling the next few years of racing him we are going to have some fun competitions.”

Thompson noted his journey has been strengthened by both Crimson Bears teams.

“It feels amazing,” he said. “They are all super supportive, and we are always pumping each other up no matter what happens in the race or anything like that. It is just so great having all these teammates around. Since our schools have recently combined it is really great having all our friends together. Just talking to everybody is really fun.”

Sitka’s Clare Mullin defends DII state cross-country crown

Sitka senior Clare Mullin repeated her state title winning performance on Oct. 5 by capturing the ASAA Division II Girls State Championship on the Bartlett High School Trails in Anchorage much like a practice jog with teammates.

Mullin ran the majority of the race with classmate Marina Dill, the two looking like it was just another day along one of the many paths on the Sitka Cross Trail.

“I’m just so happy I got to do it with my teammate,” Mullin said of her win in 19:47. “And I think it was just a great end to my senior cross-country season.”

Mullin said the plan to run together wasn’t hers.

“I said, ‘Marina, what are you doing?’ but she knew all along she could do it.”

Dill finished in second place with 19:55.

“Just like last year at state we ran together,” Dill said. “That was like deja vu all over again. It was so nice to see her and run with her. She is such a good pacer.”

Petersburg boys and girls sweep Division III state cross-country team titles

The Petersburg High School cross-country running teams put a big Viking hurting on the competition with two team titles in the September ASAA Division III State Championships on the Bartlett High School Trails in Anchorage on Oct. 5.

“I am just so happy and proud for these boys and girls,” Petersburg coach Casey Gates said. “They’ve been working so hard for it all season long. They wanted it so bad to go out there and achieve their goals today is awesome. I don’t even know what to think right now. I’m speechless. I can’t believe they came out here and got it done like that. Incredible. It was a super hard day out there. The course was brutal, and the kids had to battle all day.”

The Vikings boys placed their top three runners across as junior Gaje Ventress was third in 17:58, fourth was junior Alex Holmgrain in 18:00 and seventh was senior Elias Ward at 18:15. The Vikings girls placed their top three runners across the finish with Tucker fourth in 21:46, sophomore Maria Toth eighth in 22:20 and freshman Cadence Flint ninth in 22:47.

Craig sophomore Aulis Nelson ran in the middle of the racers through the first 150 meters and then blasted away with Wrangell defending junior state champion Boomchain Loucks, the three Vikings and a pair of Glennallen harriers. Loucks would not finish the race due to illness, two Vikings broke up Glennallen and Nelson would continue to edge ahead and bring the Panthers a state title in 17:22.

“This took a lot of hard work,” Nelson said. “I gave it my all in practices, but the real big thing was visualization. My coach told me to visualize, really think about this race, and get in the right mindset and picture myself running it. I got to run the course a few times and I saw myself neck-and-neck with somebody, so I had that coming into the race. It really helped…I didn’t visualize myself doing this, I just saw myself running my best race no matter what place I came in…All the Southeast runners are so supportive and I’m friends with a lot of the runners across Southeast. We’re all very kind to each other, we support each other, compliment each other on our races. It is such a cool community to be a part of. I love Southeast and the runners I get to compete with. It is truly such a blessing. My mom always told me, ‘God gave you this ability. See it as a blessing.’ And I do. I love competing. There is really nothing like running, especially against runners who are competing and are complimentary. It is really fun. I thank God for it.”

Thunder Mountain boys basketball team falls to East Anchorage in state title game

The Thunder Mountain High School boys basketball team’s historic state trip ended with a 60-34 loss to the East Anchorage Thunderbirds in the title game of the ASAA March Madness Alaska 4A Boys Basketball State Championships on March 23 at Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center, but their journey continues.

“Obviously we are all sad because we lost,” TMHS senior Thomas Baxter said. “I really wouldn’t say it is the end result for us, it is the journey. Just us as a group, we have been through so much and God has brought us closer over this season, closer than we would ever imagine. No one thought we were going to make it here, let alone to the state championship game. We just stuck together. It sucks to lose but I feel like we earned to be here. We enjoyed the moment. We didn’t back down. We lost but we played, we didn’t give up.”

The sixth-ranked Falcons (21-10) faced top-ranked East Anchorage (28-1), undefeated in the state, and whose one loss came to California powerhouse St. Josephs.

Foy ‘flies’ through 100 meters to qualify for Olympic Swim Trials

PJ Foy became the first Juneau swimmer to qualify for the Olympic Team Trials on March 16 when he set a personal best of 53.44 seconds in the 100-meter long course butterfly, just beating the 53.59 qualifying time.

“It feels awesome,” said Foy, who was competing as a member of the Glacier Swim Club. “Just the fact that I met my goals.”

Foy said one of his goals was to make the trials, but he didn’t target any of his eight races to do it. “I just wanted a good race really, and trials was a good spot to put a goal.”

Foy said he paced the race pretty well.

“Most of that race is muscle memory and the mental part is near the end when you are hurting and your body wants to stop,” he said. “From the beginning of the race I told myself I couldn’t stay with the pack because to do what nobody else can do, I need to do what nobody else will do. So I had to push from the beginning and mentally drive myself the whole way.”

GSC coach Scott Griffith said, “It is probably the biggest accomplishment, achievement that I have ever been a part of…He certainly should be celebrated. The cuts have gotten so much faster, it has gotten almost impossible to make the trials…PJ put together the best 3½ months of training that I have ever seen him do…He just has an amazing mental toughness when it comes time to race. As a coach, I have a game plan and we look at it and then I kind of stay out of his space…The more he is in his own head the better he is going to perform…The nice thing about it, too, is, right now we might go try to get another cut or two, but we can train for one event, which I have never had that option with a kid where we are training for one event. We have three months now that we can focus on that one event and see what we can do.”

Griffith also had GSC swimmers Emma Fellman, Lily Francis, Valerie Piemann and Samantha Schwarting competing.

These were just some of my considerations for the best of the last year. I am sure you readers will have other people and moments you like.

Most importantly is to look back and admire what is there…and don’t run into anything while doing it.

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.