Emilee Groth completed an undefeated season with more perfection.
The Chugiak senior knocked off West Valley’s Klara Kondrak in straight sets Saturday to win a state championship in girls singles at the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska State Tennis Championships at the Alaska Club East in Anchorage.
The win was Chugiak’s first state tennis title since the tournament began in 2007.
Groth won 6-1, 6-0 in her first meeting with the unseeded Kondrak, who knocked off the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds before falling to Groth, who finished fifth at last year’s state tourney.
Chugiak’s final step Friday night wasn’t a big one. But it was in the right direction.
The Mustangs fell victim to a second-half mauling at Tom Huffer Sr. Stadium as the Service Cougars reeled off 28 unanswered second-half points for a runaway 42-7 win in the opening round of the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Division I Football Playoffs at Tom Huffer Sr. Stadium in Chugiak.
“It was just little mistakes,” said Chugiak head coach Ryan Landers.
Landers took his hat off to the Cougars, who held his team to just 132 yards of total offense.
Chugiak and Eagle River will face do-or-die prep football games this weekend when the Mustangs host a Division I playoff game Friday night at Tom Huffer Sr. Stadium and the Wolves go to Fairbanks for a Division II semifinal Saturday afternoon against Lathrop.
The Mustangs (6-2) finished with the No. 2 seed from the Chugach Conference and will face Service (6-2), the No. 3 team from the Cook Inlet Conference. The teams have not met this season. Game time is 7 p.m.
Mirror Lake’s Emily Moore won her second straight ASD Middle School Cross Country Running City Championship Thursday at Kincaid Park, where the Coyotes swept the top three spots in the 8th grade girls races.
Moore outkicked teammate Emersyn Brewer for a one-second victory on the muddy, 3-kilometer course, winning the eighth grade girls race in a time of 11 minutes, 59 seconds. Skyler Belmear finished third for Mirror Lake, which won the 8th grade girls team title.
Moore also won the 6th/7th grade girls race last year.
There’s been a spike in community service lately thanks to the efforts of local volleyball players.
On Tuesday, the Chugiak High team hosted a “Military and First Responder Appreciation Night,” featuring free admission to active duty, reserve and retired military — along with first responders — as well as free refreshments and a moment of silence for those missing or killed in service.
Chugiak will travel to Service and Eagle River will visit No. 1 West when the Cook Inlet Conference flag football tournament gets underway next week.
The Mustangs (6-8) finished fifth in the regular season and will face the No. 4 seeded Cougars (8-6) at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 15. That same night, the winless Wolves will visit West at 6:30 p.m. The Eagles claimed the CIC’s top seed with a 13-1 record during the regular season.
Chugiak won a tiebreaker with Bartlett for the fifth seed.
Dozens of racers and their canine teammates turned out for the season-ending Alaska Dogworks Dryland Derby at the Chugiak Dog Mushers Association Beach Lake Trails in Chugiak.
The two-day event included racing in eight dryland divisions, including 1-dog, 2-dog, 4-dog and canicross.
Pam Schamber was the only double winner, claiming victory in both the 1-dog and 2-dog scooter events. Other winners included Jerry Cosgrave (1-dog bike), Cody Greenwell (2-dog bike), Scott Maruskie (4-dog rig), Kinsey Loan (women’s canicross) and Mira Franz (girls junior canicross).
Led by a podium finish from Hyrum Nelson, the Chugiak boys raced to a second straight second-place finish Saturday at the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Cross Country Championships at Bartlett High.
The long-striding Mustang senior took another big leap forward, improving 18 spots from last season to place third behind champion Santiago Prosser of Dimond and Alexander Maurer of Service.
Prosser finished the 5-kilometer course in 15 minutes, 44.4 seconds to best Maurer by 23 seconds and Nelson by nearly 40 seconds.
Five miles isn’t a long way apart — unless you’re talking trophy cases.
Chugiak made the quick drive south across the Eagle River bridge Saturday and returned to Birchwood Loop with a shiny metal box of redemption after reclaiming the Battle of the Bridge trophy from Eagle River with a 35-8 nonconference football win at the Wolves’ Den.
