Seawolf

If you look closely at the UAA men's basketball roster for the upcoming season, you might notice a trend. The Seawolves are taller and “wider” than in years past. Tuesday, the school announced the signing of Matt Peterson, a 6'7", 265-pound center from Whatcom Community College in Bellingham, Washington. Peterson is the fourth Seawolf newcomer tallying at 6'7" or taller. His 265 pounds provides some more bulk to the UAA lineup. Peterson is no slouch on the offensive end either, averaging nearly 12 points and six rebounds per game last season for Whatcom.

A year ago Marko Cheseto became UAA's first individual region champion in cross-country running. The Kenyan is showing no signs of letting up in his senior season. Cheseto has been named “GNAC Runner of the Week” following his 14 minute, 26 second first place effort in Hawaii. The Seawolves swept the top five positions in a victory over Hawaii Pacific University and Chaminade.

A golf-ball sized benign tumor won't deter the Olympic dreams of UAA runner Alfred Kangogo. Last week in Portland, the junior had surgery to remove the tumor from his jaw he will not compete this season, but the uniqueness of the procedure will enable Kangogo to keep running. Normally, doctors use bone from a person's leg to complete the operation, but for a runner they chose bone from a cadaver. "Oh no, I say this cannot happen, because I'm a runner and I love running.

The UAA men's and women's cross country teams made the most of their only home competition on the 2011 schedule by dominating Slippery Rock in a dual meet sweep Thursday afternoon at Kincaid Park. Ruth Keino, who finished 7th at last year's NCAA Division II Championships, paced the women's 5K race in 18 minutes even as the Seawolves finished with the top five results. Susan Bick came in second with a time of 18:46, while freshman Bryn Haebe made a strong collegiate debut in third, with a time of 18:56.  The women are ranked 5th in the preseason Division II poll.

Casey Robinson hit a dramatic catch and shoot three pointer at the buzzer to force overtime, and the UAA men's basketball team was able to outlast #11 Central Washington in double overtime, 98-93 in a memorable GNAC opener for the Seawolves on the road. With point five seconds to play and UAA down by three, Drew Robinson tossed an in-bounds pass from the sideline to Robinson, who got the shot off in time to knot the game at 68.  The first OT period ended 82-all.   Taylor Rohde paced the Seawolves with 28 points, while Brandon Walker added 23.  Casey Robinson went five for nine in three point shooting for 18 points.

The UAA men's basketball team started fast, then faded hard, losing their season opener Friday afternoon in Anaheim. The Seawolves fell to Dixie State 75-58 in the first game of the Disney Division II West Coast Tip-off Classic. UAA led by 10 points, 33-23 at halftime, but couldn't slow the Red Storm in the second half, giving up 52 points in the final 20 minutes. While the Seawolf defense collapsed in the second half, the offense didn’t do much better. UAA hit only 17 of 53 shots from the field and that 32 percent conversion rate wasn't near enough to lift the team to victory.

Kaitlin McBride scored a career-high 24 points and Alysa Horn buried 12 of her 14 points in the first half of UAA's 63-47 victory at Western Oregon.  The Seawolves ( 14-3 Overall, 5-1 GNAC ), ranked 11th in Division II, hand the Wolves their second league loss.  Chugiak H.S. graduate Lorrie Clifford had nine points for Western Oregon.   The UAA Men entered the week ranked in the Division II poll for the first time since the 2007-08 season, and trailed Simon Fraser at the half before rallying to win, 74-56.

The University of Alaska Anchorage suits up the youngest team in the WCHA -- so to fall behind 2-0 in the first minute of play against Bemidji State would seem to be nothing short of disastrous. Yet the Seawolves showed the poise of a veteran team in Friday's series opener at Bemidji, rallying from an early two-goal deficit to stun the Beavers 5-4. UAA improves to 1-3-1 in conference play.   Bemidji State stormed out of  the gate, taking a 2-0 lead 42 seconds into regulation play.

The UAA cross-country team is headed to the GNAC Championship Meet this weekend in Yakima, Wash. The Seawolf men and women head into that meet as the favorites to win conference titles, and in the men's competition UAA’s Marko Cheseto will be trying to capture his third-straight conference title. Seawolf head coach Michael Friess says that would be a significant achievement. "In my book he is the best runner to ever run in the GNAC. And what we're trying to do is to make certain he peaks at the right time.

UAA Senior David Registe posted a fourth place finish in the long jump at the NCAA Division II Track And Field Championships on Thursday in Turlock, California. Registe's best jump was mark at 24 feet, 11 and a quarter inches, nearly one foot shorter than his qualifying jump.   Registe, who won the Division II long jump title in 2008, finishes his career with three top-five results at the national meet. The only other Seawolf to compete in a final on Thursday was distance runner Ruth Keino.

Distance runner Micah Chelimo, a triple NCAA champion, was honored as the recipient of the UAA Athlete of the Year award at an all-sports banquet on Friday night.  Chelimo becomes the eighth endurance athlete to claim the award.  Chelimo's award-worthy accomplishments date back to the spring of 2012, when he claimed the NCAA Division II 5,000 meter title in outdoor track and field.  At the time, he joined David Registe in 2008 as the...

As anticipated, the UAA Hockey Alumni have officially added a vote of "No Confidence" in Athletic Director Dr. Steve Cobb.  The motion follows a similar decision made by the Alaska State Hockey Association over the weekend.  Both organizations cite general apathy and indifference towards the hockey program over the years and were not satisfied over the process used to select the finalists for the next head coach. The official text of the resolution can be read here.  

Already thin due to injuries, UAA could ill afford to have a player ejected from its first round WCHA playoff series opener on Friday against St. Cloud State.  However, that scenario played out and the result was a 6-1 loss to the conference regular season champions.  With the score tied 1-1 midway through the first period, UAA's Ben Matthews took a five minute major penalty for checking from behind and also picked up a game miscounduct.  The...

The 11th-ranked Denver Pioneers threw 52 shots on net Friday night, and seven of them found the back of the net in a 7-1 victory over the UAA Seawolves.  Rob Gunderson made 45 stops, but Zac Larraza beat the junior twice, and DU's Ty Loney collected three assists in the victory.  Scott Allen scored UAA's lone goal, his 12th of the year. The loss drops the Seawolves to 2-21-6 in WCHA play, while Denver improves to 13-9-5 in conference.  The teams play their regular season finale on Sunday morning.  UAA will finish last in the WCHA and head to the regular season conference champion for the first round of the playoffs.  St. Cloud State clinched at least a share of first place with a 4-2 win over Wisconsin on Friday.

The UAA women's basketball team saw its two-year reign in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference postseason tournament come to an end.  The season itself is likely over as well. The Seawolves fell to Northwest Nazarene, 65-60 in Wednesday's quarterfinal round of the GNAC tournament.  UAA entered the week ranked outside the top 10 in the Division II west region, needing a deep conference tournament run to become one of the eight qualifiers for the NCAA tournament. Alysa Horn scored 20 points, while Sasha King added 17 points on five three-pointers, but UAA turned it over 24 times in the loss.  UAA had won its previous seven games to reach 17 wins on the season.

Down 37-15 in the first half, and still trailing by 10 with five and a half minutes to go, the UAA men's basketball team pulled out a potentially season-saving win, 71-69 on Saturday night against Montana State-Billings.  The Seawolves finish the regular season 11 and 7 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and prevent the Yellowjackets from tying them for third in the final conference standings. Teancum Stafford hit the go-ahead three pointer with 6.7 seconds to play to put UAA up by two.  In all, Stafford played a huge role during the Seawolves' late rally, scoring nine of his 16 points in the final 2:25.

UAA forwards Blake Tatchell, Scott Allen, and Jordan Kwas all enjoyed multi-point games, but their efforts came in another losing effort as the Seawolves dropped a 5-2 WCHA contest at #20 Wisconsin on Friday.  The loss sends UAA to 1-14-4 in conference. Allen scored his ninth goal of the year, while Tatchell scored his fifth and also extending ihs team lead in points with his 10th assist. Wisconsin carried a 37-14 edge in shots on goal and received two goals and one assist from Michael Mersch, who has 15 goals this season.

The 25th-ranked UAA men's basketball team dropped a heartbreaker on Thursday, falling to Northwest Nazarene, 61-60 in the Seawolves' Great Northwest Athletic Conference road opener.  Liam Gibcus tallied 15 points to lead the green and gold, but it wasn't enough as two shots that could have tied or won the game in the final seconds were off the mark.  The Seawolves drop to 1 and 2 in conference play. In Anchorage, the UAA women began their week that features two straight ranked opponents by losing 70-60 to #20 Western Washington.  Alysa Horn notched 26 points for UAA, while Alli Madison scored a career high 14 points.  The Seawolves are now 1 and 1 in league action.  UAA was outrebounded by 10 and shot only 34% from the field.

The UAA women's basketball team scored 100 points for the first time since December of 2011 in a 100-68 non-conference win over BYU-Hawaii on Monday to begin the Seawolves four-team round robin tournament.  Sasha King led the Seawolves with 27 points, while Alysa Horn added 25.  UAA sank 12 of 28 three pointers in the victory and forced 26 Seasiders turnovers.  UAA was also unselfish, getting assists on 28 of 37 field goals in the game....

The UAA women, playing in their sixth Great Alaska Shootout title game in seven years, dropped a hard fought 67-57 decision to Utah State in Wednesday's tournament championship.  Kylie Burns led the Seawolves with 14 points while Jessica Madison sank 4 of 6 from three-point range as UAA once again came out with a perimeter-oriented attack. The Seawolves connected on 10 of 36 three's in the game, and out-rebounded the Aggies, 37-36.  But the Seawolves had no answer for Devyn Christensen.  The preseason WAC Player of the Year pumped in 32 points on 6 of 14 shooting from beyond the arc.  Wasilla High School graduate Jenna Johnson added six points and four rebounds for Utah State.  In the consolation game, North Dakota State outscored Prairie View A&M 34-17 in the second half to claim third place, 61-56.