Cic

The South Wolverines edged rival Service, 1-0 in an exciting Cook Inlet Conference game on Tuesday night.  The victory gives the Wolverines a season sweep of the Cougars, and puts South 6-1-1 in league play.  Service drops to 6-3-0.   Zach Aregood's first period tally held up, thanks to 19 saves from Trevor Gutierrez. Also in CIC play, Dimond remained undefeated by shutting out Chugiak, 5-0.  Lucas Dubie scored a goal and added an assist for the Lynx.  Thomas Davis made 18 saves to collect the shutout .

Service gave Dimond all it could handle, but the Lynx prevailed, 3-2 on Wednesday night at Ben Boeke Arena.  The result clinches the CIC hockey regular season title for the Lynx ( 13-0-0 in conference ). The Cougars took a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into regulation on a tally by Jeremy Smith, although the Lynx were able to tie it up by period's end.   Dimond took a lead it would not relinquish in the second, when Tyler Thompson scored with 4:51 left in the frame.  Austin Browning made it 3-1 early in the third and Dimond held on from there to collect the victory.

Zach Aregood snapped a 2-2 tie with 4:45 remaining in the third period to lift the South High hockey team to a 4-2 victory over rival Service Thursday night in Cook Inlet Conference play. Things were looking up for the Cougars, who never led, when Jeremy Smith scored on the power play early in the third period to knot the score at two. Henry Yawit scored Service's other goal. Patrick Taylor and Daniel Sandstrom buried South's other two defended tallies. The Wolverines added an empty net goal for the final margin.

The Eagle River hockey team played a strong two periods against Alaska powerhouse South Anchorage on Tuesday night, but the Wolves effort fell short, 4-0.  South improves to 3-0-1 in league play, while Eagle River drops to 0-3-0. The Wolves were outshot 37-18, but the game remained scoreless into the second period.  That's when Kyle Simmons took over, dishing out beautiful across the crease passes to create goals by Quest Bain and Steven Orizotti.  The latter strike occurred with only 19 seconds left in the second.

The Dimond hockey team stayed undefeated and booked a trip to the Cook Inlet Conference championship game with a 2-1 victory over East on Thursday night at Ben Boeke Arena.  Kainoa Kitigawa scored early to give the T-Birds a 1-0 lead, but the Lynx rallied to tie the score by the end of the first period.  Lucas Dubie then buried the game-winner with 6:35 remaining in the third.  The Lynx will face rival South in the finals on Saturday night.  The Wolverines scored three goals within the opening five minutes of  the third period to down Service, 4-1 in the CIC's other semifinal.

At least one group of local athletes aren’t lying this week when they say things are going swimmingly, as Cook Inlet Conference swimming and diving championships take place at the Bartlett High School pool. Preliminary events were held Friday, as competitors tried to punch their ticket into the finals where conference titles are at stake -- including Chugiak swimmer Jeremy Sieg. “I've just got to hold where I am, try and stay the same pace,” Sieg said. “If I can go faster it's great; if not it's fine too, but it'd be better to go faster, but as long as I keep the same time, I should make it to state.

The Cook Inlet Conference volleyball championship game was contested Saturday evening at Service High School, as unbeaten South matched up against Dimond. South took the first frame 25-16, continuing on to a three-game sweep despite Dimond’s attempts to mount an attack on the Wolverines’ strong defense. The win earns South not only the CIC crown, but also a high seed at the state championships. “We all just played together, and I thought that any time we play together we can take on anybody -- we played pretty hard, I thought we deserved it,” said South’s Morgan Hooe.

The Cook Inlet Conference volleyball season began Tuesday night, with defending state champion Dimond High School visiting West. In the opening game, Kristi Lauwers put the ball down in West territory as Dimond claimed the first game, 25-16. The Eagles got a rise out of the crowd as short spiker Kirsten Leifi collected kills on the floor, but ultimately the Lynx won in 3. South, Chugiak and Eagle River are also 1-0. Contact John Carpenter at jcarpenter@ktuu.com

The Cook Inlet Conference swim meet got under way Thursday at the Bartlett Natatorium. The meet’s top performers will earn a spot at the state meet next week, also to be held at Bartlett. The divers were first up Thursday. Prior to the event, East High School's diving coach, Brandon Baker, explained what his kids have been working on this week. “Pretty much all the preparation is done before this week -- this week is just the fine details,” Baker said. “We take into consideration the vertical entry and pointing your toes versus the more important aspect of diving, which is just the basics, and that's all done within the first month.

To a lot of high schools, a perfect regular season is worth a banner -- but only a state championship gets you a ring. Saturday offers West High a chance to secure a second straight 8 and 0 season with a victory over Bartlett -- as well as redemption for a first-game playoff loss last year. This year’s seniors and the Eagles’ coaching staff recall the heartbreak, but one thing will make 2010 playoff preparations easier: West's familiarity with the Bartlett Golden Bears.

Adam Klie was nearly perfect on 10 of 11 shooting from the field while Marques Robinson added 18 points as the Service boys basketball team avenged a regular season loss to East at the buzzer by defeating the T-Birds, 70-45 in Saturday's title game of the Cook Inlet Conference.  Both schools will head to the state tournament. Klie scored 25 points in all as Service pulled away from East with a 27-9 edge in the third quarter.  The Cougars shot 71% in the second half.  Austin Huss was the only East player to reach double figures with 12. In the girls tournament, Dimond repeated as Cook Inlet Conference champion by hammering West in the finals, 76-49.  Tara Thompson led five players in double figures with 20 points, while Thompson and Rohyn Huss combined to make nine of nine shots from three point range.  The Lynx led from the opening tap, and pushed their advantage to 47-14 by halftime.  Both the Lynx and Eagles advance to the state tournament in two weeks.

Nathan Wright made 23 saves as the South Wolverines stayed unbeaten on the season with a 2-0 win over Service in the Cook Inlet Conference tournament title game.  Both teams are bound for the ASAA tournament next week in Wasilla. In a tightly played game with only three combined minor penalties, Tyler Onstott scored the only goal for South until Steven Orizotti's empty net tally with one second remaining.  Onstott's goal deflected off a Cougars' stick and past Dustin Fritz, who made 18 stops in the loss.     

Jarred Laws caught three touchdowns as East used a big first half to beat Chugiak on Friday, 38-7 to secure the fourth and final playoff spot out of the Cook Inlet Football Conference.  East finishes the regular season 4 and 3 in league play and will visit Palmer for next week's state quarterfinals. Speaking of the Moose, Palmer wrapped up an unbeaten regular season by smashing Wasilla, 41-12 in the 34th annual Potato Bowl.  James Nisbett rushed for over 300 yards in the victory as Palmer reached 8 and 0 for the first time since 1996.

Amu Aukusitino passed for four touchdowns in the first half to help the Service Cougars lock up their second straight Cook Inlet Conference football title with a 41-20 win over West.  Service finishes the regular season 7 and 1, unbeaten versus Alaska competition.  The shorthanded Eagles, who played without injured quarterback Conor Feckley, drop to 5 and 3 overall and own the CIC's third playoff seed.  West will travel to North Pole for...

The Palmer Moose clinched their first Railbelt Conference title since 2003 with a 40-14 win over Juneau in week seven of the high school football season on Friday night.  Palmer moves to 7 and 0 on the season. Elsewhere in the Railbelt, Colony edged West Valley, 23-19 to take over possession of the fourth and final playoff position in the conference.  The Knights improve to 3 and 2 in league play while dropping the Wolfpack to 2 and 3. Friday's huge game in the Cook Inlet Conference went the way of the South Wolverines.  South exploded for a 40-13 halftime lead over West and delivered the Eagles their first conference loss, 75-41.  Both schools are 5 and 1 in the CIC with a game to play.  Sitting one spot ahead of West and South in the standings is Service.  The Cougars took down Dimond, 28-14 to reach 6 and 0 in league play.  In other action, Soldotna defeated Wasilla, 68-48, and North Pole routed Lathrop, 72-19.

After splitting their two regular season meetings, the boys basketball teams at Bartlett and West met for the Cook Inlet Conference title on March 5th, and the action did not disappoint. The Golden Bears' Damon Sherman Newsome scored 25 points, but missed a shot a the buzzer to win it, sending the contest to overtime, 74-all. In OT, Devon Bookert scored the last of his 28 points to put West up, 80-79 with less than a minute to play. At the other end, Treshawn King-Dunbar drew a foul and nailed both free throws to put Bartlett ahead, 81-80 with 10 seconds remaining.

Junior Quarterback Amu Aukusitino rushed for 154 yards, accumulated 354 yards of total offense, and ran a punt back 75 yards for a touchdown as top ranked Service dominated in all three phases in a 48-13 win over South Anchorage on Friday night.  The victory keeps the Cougars undefeated against Alaska competition, while the Wolverines drop to 3-2 in the Cook Inlet Conference. Aukusitino dashed 62 yards for a score on Service's initial drive to make it 7-0.  It was 28-0 by halftime.  Matt Ilalio also had a big game for the Cougars with three rushing touchdowns.  Jonathan Jenkins blocked a punt a returned it for six points, the first of two special teams scores for Service.

The kicking game proved critical in Friday's Cook Inlet Conference football games.  For the second straight week, South won by a single point, as Griffin Toomey booted the game-winning extra point following Michael Wilson's rushing touchdown in the third quarter of a 7-6 win over East.  The T-Birds scored their touchdown in the second quarter.  The win gives South a 2-1 record in conference play, while the T-Birds fall to 1-1 in league....

The Dimond Lynx secured the Cook Inlet Conference's number one seed for the state high school baseball tournament by knocking off South 4-3, in a one-game playoff between the league's two tournament qualifiers.  Both teams finished the regular season 8 and 2.  In Tuesday night's tie-breaker for seeding purposes, the score was tied 3-3 through two innings and remained deadlocked until Michael Wilson's sacrifice fly in the bottom of...

The Cook Inlet Conference Basketball Tournament continued Thursday night at West High School with two minor upsets in girls action.   Sixth seeded Bartlett took down West, 46-33 behind 17 points from Bobbi Britt. The Golden Bears advance to face South in the semifinals. The day's other girls game was a close one, with fifth seeded Chugiak edging East, 36-35. The Mustangs will meet top seed Dimond in the semifinals. Form held in the boys tournament, with Dimond easily defeating South, 60-36.