The road to Rio is passing through Georgia and Iowa this weekend for some Alaska women with Olympic aspirations.
In Kennesaw, Georgia, strong play from Eagle River's Alev Kelter helped the USA Women's Eagles Sevens rugby team to a 5-1 record at a 12-team international tournament, boosting Kelter's bid to make the team bound for the Summer Olympics in Brazil.
And in Iowa City, a Big Lake wrestler was eliminated Saturday but two others will compete Sunday on the final day of the USA Wrestling Olympic Trials.
Rachael Shannon of Big Lake – a college coach who recently returned to competition after a couple of years on the sidelines – lost her preliminary match Saturday in the 139-pound weight class.
Soldotna's Michaela Hutchison and Anchorage's Dajan Treder will both wrestle in the women's 117-pound weight class Sunday at Carver Hawkeye Arena.
At stake are spots on the U.S. team that will compete at the Aug. 5-21 Olympics in Rio de Janiero. Only one wrestler can advance per weight class.
The women's rugby team qualified for the Olympics last year, but the final roster has yet to be determined.
Kelter, a standout multi-sport athlete at Chugiak High, is making a strong case that she belongs in Brazil.
Kelter, 25, was the only American named to the seven-player Dream Team after Saturday's conclusion of the World Rugby Women's Sevens tournament in Kennesaw.
She was the leading scorer for the United States with 29 points and five tries in six games.
In a historic 12-5 win over New Zealand on Friday, Kelter outsprinted a defender 80 meters for a try to give the Americans a 5-0 lead. That spurred the United States to its second victory in history over the Kiwis.
Kelter and her teammates lost their quarterfinal match against Australia 22-5 but bounced back with a 38-0 win over Fiji and a 19-7 win over Russia to claim the fifth-place trophy. Australia defeated New Zealand in the championship match.
The women drew a big, enthusiastic crowd for their match against Russia on Saturday. Another big crowd gathered at the University of Iowa for the first day of the Olympic wrestling trials Saturday.
Shannon suffered a 10-0 loss and was eliminated in the preliminary round. A high school wrestler at Houston and Colony, she earned a spot at the Olympic trials a week ago by winning her weight class at the Last Chance qualifying meet in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
On Sunday, Hutchison and Treder will take the mat.
Hutchison, 26, is a college coach who has continued to compete after a stellar college career at Oklahoma City University, where she was a three-time national champion.
She hopes to become Alaska's second Olympic wrestler. In 2004, when women's wrestling made its Olympic debut, Tela O'Donnell of Homer placed sixth in the lightweight division.
Hutchison lost in the semifinals at the 2012 Olympic trials and enters Sunday's competition ranked third nationally in her weight class.
Treder, 21, is a junior at the University of Jamestown who has modest goals going into her first Olympic trials.
"I'm not going into it expecting to win the trials," she said. "I'm just excited to have the opportunity to compete on the same level as other women who are going to the Olympics.
"I expect to go out there and compete, maybe win a few matches, do some good wrestling and incorporate all the things I've learned these past few years."
Treder started wrestling as a seventh-grader at Central Middle School. A friend talked her into joining the team, but when it came time for the season's first practice, the friend didn't show up.
"I don't like quitting things," Treder said, "so I stuck with it."
She stuck with it all the way through high school, qualifying for the state tournament in her senior year at West High.
Treder kept wrestling after high school, earning an athletic scholarship at Jamestown, a college in North Dakota. She placed seventh at this season's national championships despite an elbow injury that limited her training in the weeks leading up to the tournament.
She said she likes the way wrestling challenges her both physically and mentally – and how that translates to life outside the wrestling room.
"When you're in there training you're not just training to become a better wrestler, it's teaching you to become a stronger person too," Treder said. "And I liked that.
"When you're out there and you have a tough match or you're having a really tough practice, it's very easy to fall into the mindset where it's like, 'That's good enough. I'm done, I don't want to keep going.' You have to tell yourself, 'Hey, I don't like losing, so if I want to win my matches I need to keep going.'
"When I'm in the classroom and having a lot of trouble, well, I understand what I need to do. I push myself in the wrestling room mentally, so I know how to push myself in the classroom. So I'll try one more problem or push myself through an assignment."