Alaska counts down the top moments from 2012-13
August 19, 2013
Chris Brooks
907-474-6805
The Alaska Nanooks and their fans had plenty to be excited about last year, whether it be upset wins, personal-best performances or being honored for their hard work in the classroom. We expect this athletic year to be a great year with the quality student-athletes, coaches, support staff and administration in place.
But over the next week and a half, leading up to the start of the 2013-14 athletic year, we will look back at the top moments we experienced last year. Today, in the first of 11 installments, we will point out some "honorable mention" moments that are just outside the top 10 and also list some of Alaska's team achievements.
Volleyball Wins Final Home Match of Coach Shoemaker's Alaska Career
The Alaska volleyball seniors and their coach all went out with smiles on their faces in the home finale, as Alaska turned in its third-highest shooting percentage of the season to down Montana State Billings by the score of 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-21, 25-17). It wasn't just a senior send-off for Allison Oddy and Reilly Stevens but also to head coachPhil Shoemaker who coached the final home match of his 13-year Alaska career that day.
Women's Basketball wins three in a row to end February
After a struggle through all of January and much of February, the Alaska women's basketball team put together a solid finish to the season, winning three straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference games. The Nanooks ended the losing skid with a 73-70 road win at Central Washington. The following week, Alaska put on a defensive clinic, limiting Western Oregon to just 40 points on 26 percent shooting in a 55-40 win. To cap off the weekend, the 'Nooks put together a team effort to fend off Saint Martin's, 67-65, in overtime.
Rjabov, Sieber and McPhetres Claim CCSA Individual Titles
Three women's skiers won individual crowns at the Central Collegiate Ski Association Championship to help the Nanook women place second as a team. Marit Rjabov successfullydefended her CCSA sprint title, winning the women's 1.5-kilometer freestyle technique. On Feb. 16, Raphaela Sieber was the second Nanook to claim an event as she won the five-kilometer classic race in dominant fashion, crossing the finish line 13.5 seconds ahead of any other competitor. The following day, Alyson McPhetres rounded out the CCSA races by besting the field in the 15-kilometer freestyle mass start skate for her individual championship.
There were plenty of other achievements for the Nanooks in 2012-13:
Alaska won three major team titles last year as hockey won the Brice Alaska Goal Rush, men's basketball claimed its first ever GCI Alaska Invitational championship and skiing reclaimed the Alaska Nordic Cup crown against Anchorage.
The Nanooks had a record three Capital One Academic All-America® selections this year as Ryan Anderson (rifle), Alyson McPhetres (women's skiing) and Lex Treinen (men's skiing) were all named to the Division II At-Large teams. Anderson and McPhetres were the first sophomores in Nanook history to be honored with the prestigious academic accolade. In addition, Adam Henderson (hockey) and Danielle Lyons (swimming) joined the trio on the Capital One Academic All-District® teams.
Five shooters garnered All-America status at the NCAA Rifle Championship this past year. Ryan Anderson was a First Team in smallbore and Second Team in air rifle while Mike Liuzza was Second Team in smallbore and Honorable Mention in air rifle. Dustin Chesebro was Second Team in air rifle and Mats Eriksson was Honorable Mention in air gun while Cole Bures was Honorable Mention in smallbore.
The Great Northwest Athletic Conference crowned freshman outside hitter Sam Harthun the league's Co-Rookie of the Year honor while men's basketball head coach Mick Durham was named Co-Coach of the Year after guiding the Nanooks to a fourth-place finish and one of the biggest turnarounds in college basketball. Senior Adam Hendersonwas tabbed as the CCHA's Scholar-Athlete award while fellow senior Kaare Odegard was the league's Co-Humanitarian of the Year.
As a team, the women's cross country team was the GNAC's academic champions with the highest grade-point average (3.70) of any team, any sport and any gender in the entire conference. The men's cross country team had the second highest GPA (3.45) among men's teams in the GNAC.
Tomorrow, Aug. 14, we will begin counting down the top 10 as we GET READY TO ROAR into the 2013-14 year!
SCHEDULE OF RELEASE:
No. 10: Aug. 14
No. 9: Aug. 15
No. 8: Aug. 16
No. 7: Aug. 17
No. 6: Aug. 18
No. 5: Aug. 19
No. 4: Aug. 20
No. 3: Aug. 21
No. 2: Aug. 22
No. 1: Aug. 23