Big meets inspire Jordan Clarke of Anchorage. He is motivated to do big things and usually does. The Pac-10 Championships were no different. No matter the pressure to win, the All-American out of Arizona State University responded with a Herculean effort in taking the shot put title with each of his six throws being good… Read more »

Brad Oleson of North Pole made it rain in the playoff opener for Spanish power Caja Laboral today. The 6-foot-3 starting guard drained 8 of 10 shots and pumped in a season-high 21 points to fuel a commanding 93-76 victory over league rival Gran Canaria in Game 1 of the quarterfinal series. Oleson, of UAF… Read more »

When the Chattanooga Lookouts needed a pitcher to throw some long relief tonight, they turned to Joe Newby of Soldotna. And he didn’t disappoint. The 29-year-old right-hander tossed four innings of one-run relief and delivered a single in his only at-bat during a 5-1 victory over the Carolina Mudcats. Newby earned the win, improving to… Read more »

Baseball closers get all the glory for getting the final outs of a game. But there’s something to be said about set-up guys like Corey Madden of Anchorage. The 27-year-old relief pitcher with the Jacksonville Suns, a Double-A affiliate of the Florida Marlins, is the guy before the guy, meaning he pitches the seventh and… Read more »

Fresh off an all-star season overseas, Eagle River’s Kelsey Griffin probably wishes she could just skip the preseason because she’s ready to roll now. It showed in the first WNBA preseason game when Griffin came off the bench for the Connecticut Sun to score 13 points in just 15 minutes in a 101-63 win over… Read more »

In a sense, Mariah Applegate of Anchorage was born to run. Not in the way that she was destined to be the best ever, but more so in the way that it feels so natural. “I feel alive when I run,” she told me. No surprise then that she became one of the best Class… Read more »

Kodiak’s Trevor Dunbar ran a PR in winning the men’s 1,500 meters at the West Coast Invitational in Salem, Ore. The University of Portland star completed the race in 3:44.47, a full two seconds faster than his performance at the Stanford Invitational earlier this outdoor track season.

After playing soccer and tennis in high school, Ashley April of Anchorage decided to mix it up when she arrived at the United States Military Academy at West Point. At first she thought about boxing. “I like contact sports,” she told me. Instead, she found her calling on the rugby field. “It took like all… Read more »

Soldotna’s Paige Blackburn of the United States Air Force Academy earned all-Mountain West Conference honors in the javelin for the third consecutive year, cementing her legacy as one of the greatest throwers in military history. The 5-foot-11 junior placed second at this year’s MVC Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo., thanks to a season-best toss of… Read more »

Alaska high school football’s top defensive back is going big time. Wesley Tulimasaelii of Anchorage has been nominated to play in the 2012 U.S. Army All-American Bowl, meaning he is considered among the top 440 seniors in the country. It also means he has a chance to play in the Jan. 7 East-West game that… Read more »