A big lineman and a big leg have been tabbed for top postseason honors by the state’s football coaches.
Chugiak senior defensive end Austin Harr was named first-team All-State by the Alaska Football Coaches Association, which named the Mustangs’ Josh Rolston as the state’s top kicker and punter.
Harr was a first-team All-Railbelt Conference selection at defensive end and a second-team all-conference running back for the Mustangs, who went 6-3 and lost in the first round of the Division I state playoffs.
Montana State University redshirt freshman tight end Derryk Snell had his best game as a college football player Saturday when he caught three passes for 42 yards and his first career touchdown in the Bobcats’ 42-7 win over Southern Utah in Bozeman, Montana.
The 2017 Alaska Gatorade Football Player of the Year has caught six passes this season and drew praise from Bobcats coach Jeff Choate in postgame interviews.
“He’s got really good ball skills,” Choate said of the 6-foot-2, 245-pounder, who graduated from Chugiak High in 2018. “He’s a talented young man.”
The 2019-20 high school wrestling season is now underway after the opening tournament of the season.
Eagle River took fourth place at the West Anchorage Classic Friday and Saturday at West High in Anchorage.
The Wolves fell to East 48-26 in the third-place match Saturday. Eagle River opened the tournament with a 63-6 win over Palmer before losing 63-15 in the semifinals to eventual tournament champion Colony.
Eagle River claimed a fifth-place finish at the 20-team Dimond/Service Volleyball Tournament Friday and Saturday in Anchorage.
The Wolves went 5-3 in pool play to finish second in a pool that included Wasilla, North Pole, Homer and Juneau. The finish advanced the team into the “Gold” bracket for the top eight teams after the first day of play.
Chugiak’s Emily Rand placed fourth in the floor exercise and 12th in the all-around competition Saturday at the Cook Inlet Conference Gymnastics Meet at Dimond High.
The CHS junior was the top local competitor at the season-ending meet. Teammate Makenna Casey was 13th in the all-around competition, highlighted by a ninth-place finish on the parallel uneven bars for the fourth-place Mustangs.
Finja Ochse placed ninth on the balance beam to lead Eagle River, which finished sixth in the team standings.
Emily Rand won the floor exercise and placed third in the all-around standings to lead Chugiak to a second-place finish at a four-team gymnastics meet on Friday, Oct. 18 at Dimond High. Rand wowed the judges with her floor routine, which was the only individual performance of the day to score a 9.000 or higher.
South’s Ellie Decker won the uneven bars and balance beam to claim the all-around title, with the first-place Wolverines’ Brieley Alch placing second in the all-around standings after winning the vault.
The Eagle River swim official at the center of a national controversy over swimsuits will not be decertified, according to the Alaska School Activities Association.
