Sports

Bethel wrestlers did the impossible this weekend, proving that they can deliver even when they haven’t had much time on the mat. Even with only three weeks to prepare, and no previous matches with any other wrestlers around the state, Bethel managed to get some major wins when the team competed at the state level.

Sports are back in the Lower Kuskokwim School District. On April 29, the LKSD school board voted to allow both outdoor and indoor sports activities, including traveling within and out of the region for competitions. 

On April 3, the Hooper Bay Warriors won the Alaska School Activities Association 2A Girls Basketball Championship. It was a long, tough effort, but the Warriors persevered and won out over the Su Valley Rams.

Half of the Yukon-Kuskokwim region’s six competing high school basketball teams are advancing to the semifinals in the Alaska School Activities Association’s March Madness. Two are girls teams and one is a boys team.

From Thursday, April 1 through Sunday, April 4, the state tournament for high school girls and boys basketball will take place in Wasilla. Three girls teams and three boys teams from the Yukon-Kuskoskwim Delta will be competing.

A Bethel high school junior became an All-American wrestler this past weekend. Landon Smith took 6th place in the 113 lb. weight class at the USA Wrestling National Recruiting Showcase high school tournament in Coralville, Iowa. The top eight from each weight class earned the All-American distinction in the folkstyle tournament.

Two seconds separated Bethel's Victoria Hardwick and the second-to-last-place musher in the 2021 Iditarod, earning her a second Red Lantern Award on March 18. 

Richie Diehl drove his dogs into Deshka Landing at around 3:30 p.m. on March 15, the ninth sled dog team to cross the Iditarod finish line.