The three-day Native Youth Olympics wrapped up Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center with Madeline Ko, Kaye Gumera and Andrew Kashevarof earning honors as the top athletes.
Ko of Tanana Chiefs and Gumera of Unalaska shared co-honors on the girls side with 15 points apiece, and Kashevarof of Anchorage A team was tops on the boys side with 16.
Dillingham received the top team award, finishing first with 41 points.
For Ko, the top athlete award rounded out many trips to the podium. She was the only athlete to win three events at the 2016 NYO — she added her final win in the one-foot high kick Saturday — and she also earned female sportsmanship award.
Ko broke the NYO and world record in the scissor broad jump Friday with a leap of 29 feet, 6.25 inches. She was the also the top girls athlete at the 2015 NYO, competing for West Valley.
Gumera finished with three second-place finishes and added a third-place finish in the one-foot high kick Saturday.
Meanwhile, Kasherof tallied second-place finishes in the one-foot high kick and seal hop Saturday to soar into the top athlete spot for boys. He had four top-five finishes.
But the NYO concluded with the seal hop — arguably the most grueling event of NYO — where Britney Dray of Dillingham and Clinton Paul of Lower Kuskokwim drew the loudest cheers.
In the seal hop, competitors start in a push-up position. Girls start in an "up" position with palms flat, while boys start in a "lowered" position with fingers curled and knuckles down.
At the starting signal, the competitors hop across the floor, maintaining their positions without stopping, without touching the floor with their stomachs or knees and without raising their butts above their shoulders. The competitor who hops the furthest wins the demanding game of endurance.
"You just go in the weight room pretty much, almost all the time," Dray said of training for the seal hop. "It's like a push up position, so I do a lot of pushups. But you have to keep your hands and then your toes touching the floor only, and they have to be at the same motion."
Paul said he worked up to doing 300 pushups at a time when training for the event.
"I put myself into a place where no one's there and I think straight out, think positive," Paul said.
Once the seal hop concluded, all the athletes joined each other on the basketball court for the final awards and prizes.
Prizes of sweatshirts, T-shirts and even one pair of Alaska Airlines tickets were drawn out of a box. Athletes and teams gathered on the stage together to receive their medals and trophies.
Finally, everyone — including fans, families, officials and volunteers — gathered for one gigantic group photo, encompassing the togetherness NYO provides.
"It went pretty fast," Paul said. "It's a good time away from things where you can just see a lot of young people do their events."
2016 Native Youth Olympics
Saturday's results (top five) and overall awards
Indian stick pull
Girls — 1) Elizabeth Willis, Stony River; 2) Tatiana Ticknor, Anchorage Team B; 3) Laura Ekada, Mt. Edgecumbe; 4) Chloe Phillips, Anchorage Team A; 5) Kayla Olhausen, Mat-Su B.
Boys — 1) Jacinto George, Dillingham; 2) Brandon Vanlandingham, West Valley; 3) Eric Fitka, Galena; 4) Brandin Esceleda, Knik Tribal; 5) Dominic Green, Lower Yukon.
One-foot high kick
Girls — 1) Madeline Ko, Tanana Chiefs, 88 inches; 2) Julianne Wilson, Kenaitze, 88, (one miss); 3) Kaye Gumera, Unalaska, 87; 4) Sydney Dray, Dillingham, 83; 5) Alecia Egoak, Lower Kuskokwim, 82.
Boys — 1) Tomneil Aliralria, Lower Kuskokwim, 106; 2) Andrew Karheverof, Anchorage A, 104 (one miss); 3) John Bouker, Dillingham, 104 (two misses); 4) Kaiden Jiminez, MatSu A, 104 (four misses); 5) Solomon Elook, Mt. Edgecombe, 102 (two misses)
Seal hop
Girls — 1) Britney Dray, Dillingham, 127-9.25; 2) Adeline Dyment, Bethel, 114-3; 3) Abi Fry, Nunamiut, 107-0.5; 4) Lacey Holmes, Mat-Su A, 99-5; 5) Temyka Ayuluk, Lower Kuskokwim, 98-9.5.
Boys — 1) Clinton Paul, Lower Kuskokwim, 143-4.25; 2) Andrew Kasheverof, ANC A, 134-3; 3) Jeremy Roberts, Mt. Edgecumbe, 128-4.25; 4) Neil Bucaneg, Unalaska, 121-10; 4) Sean Martin, Anchorage A, 106-5.5.
Overall athlete awards
Female — Maddie Ko, Tenana Chiefs, 15 points; Kaye Gumera, Unalaska, 15 points.
Male — Andrew Kashevarof, Anchorage A, 16 points.
Sportsmanship awards
Female — Maddie Ko, Tenana Chiefs.
Male — Jesse Kurtz, Matsu A.
Team scores (top five) — 1) Dillingham, 41; 2) Lower Kuskokwim, 36; 3) Unalaska, 33; Mastsu A, 29; Anchorage A, 26.