Cross Country
Valdez Invite
Mineral Creek
Aug 20, 2021
Courtesy of VHS Coaches – The rain stopped just in time for racers to tackle this challenging course up Mineral Creek. This 5K race started at the high school track and headed up Mineral Creek where runners took on Skyline and then cruised to the back of the meadow. Back at the road, runners crossed the road to complete another small loop on the ski trails. The course returned to the high school on the road. The greatest challenges were the giant mud puddles on the road and Skyline which is slippery when wet. This certainly wasn’t a PR course, but a course to build strength and endurance.
Valdez faced off against Cordova. The boys and girls ran all together. Ameelia Hamberger represented Cordova and Morgan Hamilton represented Valdez. There were 11 boys, making a total of 13 runners.
Dominating the race was Senior William Benes of Valdez, taking first place at 22:31. Freshman Dalen Beck was hot on Benes’s heels and cruised across the finish line in second place at 22:53. Coming out of nowhere and showing his true colors was Sophomore Rafe Caruthers in third place at 23:37. Junior Jason Smilie was chasing the Cordova runners and broke into an impressive sprint on the track to pass and finish in seventh place at 26:08. Pushing through a painful side-ache, Junior Cole Wadsworth finished strong in ninth place at 27:03. After recovering from an injury, Freshman Landon Metzger had his best run yet this season and finished his first race in tenth place at 30:04. Next was Freshman Jace Wadsworth surprising everyone with his incredible sprint to the finish line, completing his first race in eleventh place at 34:47. Not far behind was Freshman Morgan Hamilton in her first full 5K race of the season, finishing in twelfth place at 34:57.
Valdez earned the Boys Team Award for having the first three finishers. Cordova took home the Girls Team Award for coming in first for girls.
A huge thank you to the high school teachers, parents, and volleyball team for helping out on the course and at the finish. And a shout out to the football team for changing their practice schedule and for cheering on the runners.
Next up is Chena Lake for the North Pole Invite. Go Bucs!
Volleyball
Monroe Catholic JV Volleyball Invite
Aug. 20-21, 2021
Courtesy of VHS Coaches – The Lady Bucs JV Volleyball team put up an excellent fight this past weekend in the Monroe Catholic JV Volleyball Invite taking 3rd place overall in the competition.
On Friday the Bucs faced Lathrop, West Valley, Hutchison, and North Pole in quick pool play sets to 20 that determined seating for the tournament bracket the following day. During these sets the Bucs were able to build confidence in their game speed transitions. Our overall serving was strong with an 85% success rate. Marcedes Taylor was on fire as a server on Friday, with 22 total successful serves, 8 of which were aces. Of the four teams we played, we beat Hutchison (20-3) and West Valley (20-12), but lost in two nail biters against Lathrop (20-22) and North Pole (18-20). This seated us number five in the tournament bracket.
On Saturday we opened the tournament bright and early with the first match of the day against Lathrop. We made this a clean sweep, winning in two sets (20-14 and 20-18). Taylor again was a tremendous serving threat. The team’s frontline also was able to be much more aggressive on the net because our back row was working hard to control their passing.
The next match against West Valley went back and forth leading to our first loss in the tournament (11-20, 20-14, 7-15). Our serves and serve receive defence put us in an early hole in the first set that we weren’t able to overcome. Though we took control in the second set, West Valley claimed the match victory in set three. The Bucs continued to be aggressive at the net in this match. Bella Smelcer, Kelsey Prax, and Denali Woods each had three kills against West Valley’s big blockers. In the following match against Hutchison, Smelcer owned the middle front, adding five more kills to the team’s score.
After beating Hutchison the team continued to work their way back up from the bottom of the bracket. We now faced Lathrop for a second time that day. The Bucs continued to work on their three goals for the tournament: talk, move your feet, no overpasses. Their communication, trust, and hussle enabled the team to set up many front row attacks– Smelcer (4 kills), Prax (4 kills), Woods (2 kills ), Christina Wise (2 kills). Strong serving all around from Taylor (9), Sydney Cronk (6), Smelcer (10), Bailie Wenner (8), and Prax (6). The Bucs took the victory in three sets.
Immediately after beating Lathrop the Buccaneers faced West Valley fighting to go to the Championship game. The first set was a narrow loss (18-20). Our team gave West Valley an early lead in the second set. We picked up energy and fought back point by point, but eventually lost the second set and match (16-20). This was the end of the road for the Buccaneers placing them in 3rd place overall. Way to go Bucs!
Congratulations to Kelsey Prax who was selected to be on the all tournament team for the tournament. She chased balls down, made great back-row reads on defense, was aggressively attacking on the net, and a terrific support setter in our out of system offense. Way to go, Kelsey!
Swimming
Colony Invitational
VHS Swimming Vs., Palmer, Wasilla, and Colony High School.
Courtesy of VHS Coaches – The Valdez High School Swim Team traveled to the Valley this weekend to compete at the Colony High School Swim Invite. The Buccaneer Swim Team scored a total of 43 points garnishing them a 3rd place finish overall beating Wasilla High School. Top scorers for the Buccaneer Swim Team were Billi Lovell & Fisher Mishmash. Billi scored 8 points individually by placing 3rd in both her 100 Freestyle & Breaststroke events. Fisher
Mishmash scored 9 points individually placing 3rd in his 50 Freestyle & 2nd in his 100 Breaststroke. The Lady Bucs 200 Freestyle relay also contributed 8 points by placing 3rd out of 8 relays.
In other Highlights, Freshmen Ava O’Brien & Kinsey Mishmash had breakout performances in their first High School Swim Meet with both swimmers setting new Personal Best Times in all their individual events. Ava dropped 1 second her 50 Freestyle and 2 seconds in her 100 Freestyle. Kinsey dropped 1 second in her 50 Freestyle and over 2 seconds in her 100 Breaststroke. Other Personal Best Times was Ginger Keller dropping over 1 second in her 100 Backstroke. Dropping time this early in the season is a great testament to the amount of hard work and effort these athletes are putting into their swims.
This was a wonderful first meet of the season. The swimmers are the happiest I have ever seen them and the camaraderie is strong this season. Everyone at the meet was joyous and grateful that we are able to have this event even with the continued difficulties during this time. Also the Swim Team has decided to make a Toaster our Mascot this season. Funny but an effective bonding tool.
Football
Valdez Vs. Redington
Courtesy of VHS Coaches – The Buccaneers ended the season last year in a playoff game against the Redington Huskies. On a beautiful Saturday afternoon they began their season this year with a rematch. Graduating several seniors last year, this year’s starting 11 featured 6 players with little to no previous varsity experience. With limited games last year, and limited numbers of players to scrimmage against this season, our first game was a huge step forward as a learning experience.
After a quick early score by the Huskies, and a stalled drive by the Buccaneers, we settled down and began to play with focus. On the next two Huskie drives, our defense (Josh Baczuk) intercepted a pass to stop the first one and forced a punt on the second one. Tate Chadwick also grabbed an errant pass later in the day. Unfortunately, we had difficulty capitalizing on the offensive side by stopping their blitz, and turned the ball over as well.
As the hot day wore on, it took its toll on the Bucs. The front line of Dennis Mott, Hunter Francis, Spencer Holbrook, Gabe Brewi, and Evan Clupper worked hard blocking on offense, and then immediately switched to defense to be double teamed by fresh players on the Redington side. It was a tough assignment, but they gave it all they had. Griffin Hastings and Wyatt Williams never came off the field, and played every down.
Ultimately, the Bucs did reach the endzone 3 times. Josh Baczuk punched it in from 8 yards out, Tate Chadwick scored from 5 yards, and Dillon Fowler completed a 37 yard touchdown pass to Josh Baczuk. The final score was a Redington win with a score of 40-20.