The Rewind: 17-year-old Emily Robinson repeats as Knik 200 champion; Alaskans shine at U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships

This past week featured several notable individual and team performances across the Alaska sports landscape at the high school, collegiate and professional levels. After the Christmas holiday, the 2024 high school basketball season for both boys and girls was back in action. On the college scene, the University of Alaska Anchorage basketball teams extended their winning streaks with some impressive individual performances. Outside and inside the state, several Alaskans had impressive performances and career achievements worth recognizing and celebrating.

Headlines and highlights

The 2025 U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships got underway this past week and will wrap up on Tuesday with the freestyle sprint races. Through the first three days of competition, several skiers either born and raised or with Alaska ties showed up and showed out at Kincaid Park as a pair of Alaska national champions were crowned.

University of Alaska Fairbanks elite endurance student-athlete Kendall Kramer reached the top of the podium for the first time in her career after several runner-up finishes on Sunday when she was the first to cross the finish line in the women’s 20K classic mass start race. Her first-place time of 58 minutes, 17.2 seconds notched her first-place finishes on both the overall and American categories.

“I feel so grateful and really feel at home here,” she said. “I’ve been in Anchorage for so many years now and all my family could be here. Once I knew I had a shot to be the national champion, I didn’t want to settle for second, and I just used the rest of my energy and let it happen.”

[UAF’s Kendall Kramer wins classic mass-start race at U.S. ski championships to claim her first national title]

On the men’s side, Anchorage’s Luke Jager not only reached the podium in all three of the races he took part in but earned his third straight classic sprint title on Saturday. His mark of 2:56.23 over the 1.4-K course was the fastest time by an American and just a second and a half faster than his Alaska Pacific University elite team member Michael Earnhart.

“You always try your best,” he said. “You can get really in the weeds with these things and think a lot about what it would mean to succeed or not succeed. At the end of the day, you just try your hardest and things usually work themselves out.”

[Luke Jager leads all-Alaska podium in classic sprints at national ski championships]

For the second year in a row, the Knik 200 Joe Redington Sr. Memorial Sled Dog Race was won by 17-year-old Emily Robinson, who successfully defended the title she won at 16 by besting a field of experienced mushers that included former Iditarod champions -- and her father. At the halfway point, she was a minute behind 2023 Iditarod champion Ryan Redington, who is the grandson of the man the race is named after. She was able to make up ground overnight and was the first musher to cross the finish line at 6:31 a.m. on Sunday morning. Next up for the young star is a quest to claim her fourth straight Junior Iditarod next month before she is eligible to compete with the adults in the main event in 2026.

On the college scene, the UAA men’s and women’s basketball programs won their first two games of 2025 by besting a pair of Great Northwest Athletic Conference foes this past week.

The men extended their winning streak that started in early December to five straight with triumphs over Simon Fraser and Western Washington. They were propelled to a 94-87 victory over the Saints on Thursday thanks to a career performance from Sean Evans, who earned his first GNAC Player of the Week honor after scoring a game-high 32 points on 10-of-17 shooting including draining 4-of-9 from behind the arc.

“Sean was outstanding for us last weekend,” UAA head coach Rusty Osborne said in a statement. “Thursday he carried us offensively, scoring at all three levels, and was clutch down the stretch at the free-throw line. Saturday he fought through foul trouble and made some big shots and plays in the last five minutes to spark our win. He continues to get better and more comfortable in our system each week.”

The women’s team established a three-game winning streak after notching back-to-back wins over Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington. In their double-digit victory over the Nighthawks on Thursday, the Seawolves were led in scoring by senior center Tori Hollingshead with a game-high 19 points in which she tied a program record by going 8-of-8 shooting from the field. She also led the team with seven rebounds and recorded two blocks, an assist and a steal.

The two UAF basketball programs had polar opposite results this past week with the men’s team snapping a three-game skid with a pair of narrow wins over Western Washington and Simon Fraser. Meanwhile the women’s team extended its losing streak to six in a row with back-to-back lopsided losses to Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene.

UAA hockey is still searching for its first win of the new year after going 0-2 in a two-game weekend series against Western Michigan in which the Seawolves were outscored a combined 9-3, extending their losing streak to five straight. UAF hockey continues to fare better as the Nanooks took University of Minnesota Duluth to overtime in a pair of games over the weekend, skating to a 2-2 stalemate in the first and prevailing 2-1 in the second with the game-winning goal coming from sophomore defenseman Broten Sabo.

The Anchorage Wolverines played their first games of the new year and final in a 10-game road stint over the weekend against the Minnesota Wilderness and lost both by a goal. The first went down to the wire on Friday and resulted in a 3-2 defeat and on Saturday, they forced overtime only to come up short 6-5. Local product Toby Carlson, a forward from Anchorage, led the team in goals over the two games with one in each. Despite the losses, the Wolverines still occupy second place in the Midwest Division standings with a record of 20-8-2-1 and 43 points, trailing the Wisconsin Windigo by four for first place.

Alaska stars shining Outside

Anchorage’s David Carle coached the U.S. National Junior Team to back-to-back World Junior Championships for the first time in history on Sunday night in a 4-3 overtime win over Finland. It marks Team USA’s seventh championship and the third in the last five years. Carle is also the head coach of the defending NCAA national champion Denver University men’s hockey team and will resume his quest of trying to lead the Pioneers to a successful title defense as well.

“I think last year we were the highest playing country in the world and you look at the sheer demographics of the population and the grassroots that’s going on by USA Hockey and by many of the NHL teams and growing the game, the player pool continues to get bigger, deeper and more talented,” Carle said via FloHockey. “My opinion is that it is a sign of things to come and I’m really proud of the fact that we were able to win back-to-back and be the first team to do that in USA hockey history.”

[With an impressive resume, University of Denver coach David Carle will finally be behind the bench in Anchorage]

Anchorage’s Edefuan Ulofoshio was active for the third straight game and fourth time this season and set career highs across the board in the Buffalo Bills’ 23-16 loss to the New England Patriots in the final week of the NFL regular season. The fifth-round rookie linebacker played 100% of the defensive snaps with 64 and 88% of the special teams snaps with 22 and recorded a career-high five total tackles including four solos and one for a loss as well as his first career pass breakup.

Anchorage’s Sayvia Sellers went into the new year with a bang by leading the University of Washington women’s basketball team to an 84-75 victory over the University of Illinois last Tuesday on New Year’s. The former Anchorage Christian School star and two-time Gatorade Player of the Year led the Huskies with a game-high 24 points and a season-high eight assists, just two shy of a double-double.

Anchorage’s Isaiah Moses propelled the University of California-Riverside men’s basketball team to a 76-60 victory over Long Beach State University last Thursday by dropping a game- and season-high 22 points. It marked the 10th double-digit scoring game of the season for the former Dimond standout and Gatorade Player of the Year and his most points scored in a game for the Highlanders since last January when he scored a career-high 30 points in a lopsided win over California State University Northridge.

Palmer’s Patrick McMahon tied his single-game career-high in scoring for the Montana State University men’s basketball team by leading the Bobcats with 15 points in a narrow 69-64 loss to the University of Idaho last Thursday. The former Colony High star and Alaska Gatorade Player of the Year went 6-of-11 from the field and recorded five rebounds as well.

Anchorage’s Colin Kessler scored his seventh goal of the season for the University of Vermont men’s hockey team in an 8-1 win over St. Lawrence this past Saturday. He scored the first of six goals in an explosive second period for the Catamounts, who led 2-1 after the opening frame.

Fast Forward

Prep

Basketball

Alaska Prep Shootout at Dimond High School, Thursday-Saturday

One of the premier hoops tournaments will take place this week in town at the 31st annual Alaska Prep Shootout. The list of teams taking part in addition to the hosting Lynx includes Ninilchik, Grace Christian, Bartlett, Barrow, Service, Ketchikan and 2024 shootout champion West Valley. The action will get going on Thursday with the first game tipping off at 2:15 and the last at 6:45 and the championship game will take place on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

College

Men’s basketball

UAA v. Northwest Nazarene at Alaska Airlines Center, Thursday at 7 p.m.

The Seawolves will be back in town playing on their home court for the first time in 2025 and in over a month when their five-game winning streak began. They’ll be looking to extend it on Thursday against the Nighthawks in the first of two GNAC matchups this week with the other one being against Central Washington on Saturday with the same tipoff time.

NAHL

Anchorage Wolverines v. Janesville Jets, Friday/Saturday at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday at 4:30 p.m.

The hometown junior hockey team will also be back in front of its home fans at Sullivan Arena for the first time in 2025 this weekend for a three-game series starting Friday and running through Sunday with the third game’s puck drop time being at 4:30

Last week’s results

High School

Basketball

Girls

Thursday

Barrow 74, Houston 12

Grace Christian 66, West Valley 10

Mountain City Christian 86, Kotzebue 21

Friday

Houston 39, Hutchison 36

Kotzebue 40, South 33

Mountain City Christian 83, Bartlett 51

Saturday

Soldotna 63, Kodiak 38

Seward 60, Lumen Christi 33

Grace Christian 56, Monroe Catholic 28

South 55, Hutchison 19

Mountain City Christian 53, Barrow 51

Boys

Thursday

Kenai Central 70, Tikigaq 35

Christian 74, Houston 22

Kotzebue 65, Nikiski 57

West Valley 45, Grace Christian 44

Mountain City Christian 88, Hutchison 46

Monroe Catholic 60, Dimond 56

Friday

Christian 70, Kenai Central 28

Grace Christian 50, Dimond 49

Mountain City Christian 85, Kotzebue 56

Soldotna 53, Kodiak 32

Saturday

Dimond 48, West Valley 45

Soldotna 61, Kodiak 50

Tikigaq 76, Nikiski 50

Seward 69, Lumen Christi 49

Kenai Central 51, Kotzebue 36

Grace Christian 47, Monroe Catholic 46

Christian 72, Mountain City Christian 49

• • •

Hockey

Friday

Juneau 7, Bartlett 5

• • •

College

Women’s basketball

Thursday

UAA 72, Northwest Nazarene 59

Central Washington 87, UAF 54

Saturday

UAA 68, Central Washington 61

Northwest Nazarene 115, UAF 90

• • •

Men’s basketball

Thursday

UAA 94, Simon Fraser 87

UAF 88, Western Washington 73

Saturday

UAA 71, Western Washington 67

UAF 76, Simon Fraser 74

• • •

Hockey

Friday

Western Michigan 4, UAA 1

UAF 2, University of Minnesota Duluth 2 (OT/SOL)

Saturday

Western Michigan 5, UAA 2

UAF 2, University of Minnesota Duluth 1 (OT)

• • •

NAHL

Friday

Minnesota Wilderness 3, Anchorage Wolverines 2

Saturday

Minnesota Wilderness 6, Anchorage Wolverines 5 (OT)