A Colony ball carrier tries to escape a tackle during a first round playoff game against West on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025 at West High. (Chris Bieri / ADN)
Saturday
Barrow 28, Kenai Central 14
Soldotna 38, West Valley 14
South 38, Juneau-Douglas 17
Bartlett 34, Dimond 18
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Homer 26, Redington 6
Service vs. East (Late)
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Volleyball
Tuesday
Lathrop 3, North Pole 0 (25-7, 25-16, 25-15)
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Unalaska 3, Birchwood Christian 0 (25-9, 25-11, 25-6)
Cook Inlet Academy 3, Ninilchik 0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-15)
Kenai Central 3, Nikiski 2 (20-25, 25-20, 13-25, 25-22, 16-14)
Nenana 3, Effie Kokrine Charter 1 (20-25, 25-15, 25-15, 25-14)
Monroe Catholic 3, Delta 0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-11)
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Mountain City Christian 3, Houston 0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-16)
South 3, West 0 (25-11, 25-13, 25-16)
Service 3, Chugiak 2 (16-25, 25-20, 25-22, 19-25, 15-12)
Dimond 3, East 1 (19-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-18)
Wednesday
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Sand Point 3, Birchwood Christian 0 (25-7, 25-12, 25-14)
King Cove 3, Birchwood Christian 1 (25-27, 25-21, 25-13, 25-20)
South 3, Colony 0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-16)
Monroe Catholic 3, West Valley 1 (25-21, 20-25, 25-11, 25-20)
Lana Cebrian, West, def. Emerson Sims, Chguiak 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
West’s Lana Cebrian serves during the championship of the girls singles competition at the Alaska State Tennis Tournament on Saturday, October. 11, 2025 at Alaska Club East. (Chris Bieri / ADN)
Boys Doubles
Trevor Sabey/Bode Leonelli, Lathrop, def. Finn Albertson/Jonathan Church, East 6-1, 6-1
Girls Doubles
First Finals
Sarah Kim/ Grace Yang, West, def. Mary Jo Landon/Timber Fleischhacker, Chugiak 7-5, 2-6, 1-0
1. West ‘B’ (Richotte, Elise; Saqib, Shanza; Davis, Lilian; Furin, Giselle), 4:37.76; 2. West ‘A’, 6:05.32
Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
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1. West ‘B’ (Zhang, Kevin; Elerian, Al Hasan; Adkison, Thaddeus; Elerian, Al Hussain), 4:02.63. 2. East ‘A’ , 4:04.52. 3. West ‘A’, 5:18.97
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College
Volleyball
Thursday
Western Washington 3, UAA 1 (27-25, 21-25, 25-13, 28-26)
Simon Fraser 3, UAF 1 (25-21, 25-21, 16-25, 25-23)
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Saturday
UAA 3, Simon Fraser 2 (22-25, 25-22, 17-25, 28-26, 15-12)
Western Washington 3, UAF 0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-15)
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NAHL
Thursday
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Minnesota Wilderness 9, Anchorage Wolverines 2
Friday
Minnesota Wilderness 4, Anchorage Wolverines 3
Saturday
Anchorage Wolverines v. Minnesota Wilderness (Late)
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2025 Zombie Half Marathon
Women
1. Morgan Lash, Anchorage, AK 1:26:24; 2. Whitney Bennett Bouchard, Anchorage, AK 1:27:24; 3. Molly Walli, Anchorage, AK 1:31:30; 4. Ashlee Weller, Anchorage, AK 1:31:34; 5. Evelin Porras, Petersburg, VA 1:31:36; 6. Alison Matthews, Anchorage, AK 1:32:05; 7. Sam Longacre, Anchorage, AK 1:32:51; 8. Sarah Freistone, Anchorage, AK 1:33:57; 9. Bekah Sterkel, Anchorage, AK 1:34:24; 10. Karina Packer, Anchorage, AK 1:34:47; 11. Sarah Aarons, Anchorage, AK 1:36:00; 12. Mandy Vincent-Lang, Anchorage, AK 1:36:17; 13. Iris Samuels, Anchorage, AK 1:38:21; 14. Emma Korosei, Anchorage, AK 1:39:06; 15. Sofija Spaic, Palmer, AK 1:39:22; 16. Catherine Uschmann, Palmer, AK 1:39:30; 17. Jenna Walch, Anchorage, AK 1:40:05; 18. Elizabeth Aarons, Anchorage, AK 1:40:06; 19. Delainey Zock, Anchorage, AK 1:40:08; 20. Susan Bick, Anchorage, AK 1:40:17
Men
1. Zach Grams, Anchorage, AK 1:13:29; 2. Chris Osiensky, Anchorage, AK 1:13:36; 3. Sigurd Roenning, Anchorage, AK 1:17:07; 4. Sebastian Reed, Anchorage, AK 1:17:29; 5. Everett Cason, Anchorage, AK 1:20:23; 6. Tian Sandvik, Anchorage, AK 1:20:27; 7. Dylan Prosser, Anchorage, AK 1:20:33; 8. Andy Peters, Anchorage, AK 1:20:50; 9. Jean Paquet, Anchorage, AK 1:21:10; 10. James Miller, Anchorage, AK 1:21:32; 11. Dash Dicang, Anchorage, AK 1:24:00; 12. Alexander Woody, Anchorage, AK 1:25:19; 13. Gordon Piltz, Anchorage, AK 1:25:47; 14. Amadeus Semo, Anchorage, AK 1:27:10; 15. Derek Nottingham, Eagle River, AK 1:27:17; 16. Brenton Savikko, Anchorage, AK 1:27:30; 17. Mason Baker, Eagle River, AK 1:27:34; 18. Leland Heinicke, Anchorage, AK 1:27:43; 19. Brett Evans, Anchorage, AK 1:28:27; 20. Matt Dearborn, Eagle River, AK 1:28:47
A trapper fresh out of the Cosna River country in Interior Alaska said he can’t believe how many martens he had caught in a small area so far this winter.
Friends are talking about the house-cat size creatures visiting their wood piles and porches. Could this be a boom in the number of these handsome woodland creatures?
Probably, said wildlife education specialist Mike Taras of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Fairbanks.
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“When I was out in the (White Mountains National Recreation Area north of Fairbanks) a couple of weeks ago, I saw marten tracks everywhere,” he said. “My friend had a hare bound close towards him while he was out near Wolf Run cabin and then a marten came loping after the hare hot on its trail.”
The biologist and tracking expert doesn’t even have to leave home to see signs of marten this spring.
“I currently have a marten coming by my place at the edge of (Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge) about once a week. It is great to see her tracks — though it could be a juvenile male. I have noticed more marten tracks out on Creamer’s refuge in the past few years as well.”
The Cosna River area trapper, Steve O’Brien, said he thought “more mice” were a possible reason for marten abundance this year. Taras suspected the same.
“Research shows that the number one driver of marten populations is vole numbers,” Taras said. “But I don’t think there is concrete evidence of high vole numbers this year.”
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But Taras has seen some circumstantial evidence recently.
“I have noticed multitudes of ventilation tunnel holes on top of the snow after these recent snowstorms,” Taras said. “That many holes on top of the snow shortly after the snow makes me think that there are a lot of voles out there.”
Whatever the cause for increased marten numbers, now is perhaps a good time to see these predators of the northern woods.
“One trapper aptly described them as walking stomachs,” Tom Paragi, a retired wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Fairbanks, told me 26 years ago. “They’re one of the easier animals to trap.”
Like other members of the weasel family, marten hunt and kill small animals, most often voles, though they sometimes eat snowshoe hares, young birds and blueberries.
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Marten feed on red squirrels in other parts of North America, but in Alaska biologists have seen marten sharing squirrels’ underground network of winter tunnels without killing them.
Marten aren’t afraid to tackle animals their own size, Paragi said. He once pieced together a marten drama evident by tracks left behind in the snow. He observed where a marten paused during its wandering after seeing a goshawk perched on a low tree limb.
He could tell by blood and other marks that the marten killed the goshawk, making a meal of a raptor that could have had the marten for lunch.
“They are fairly fearless,” Paragi said.
Marten are loners, roaming forests solo except for a few weeks during the breeding season. They seem to prefer mature conifer forests for birthing and raising young, and use hollow logs for dens.
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The marten is one of a few mammals able to delay part of its reproductive cycle. Marten mate in mid-summer when food is plentiful, but fertilized eggs within females don’t implant into the uterus wall until springtime, a phenomenon triggered by longer days. Marten kits are born in late March to mid-April. In August, the youngsters go their own ways, beginning solitary lives that can last up to 14 years.
Since the late 1970s, the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute has provided this column free in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell is a science writer for the Geophysical Institute. Portions of this story appeared in 2000.
1. Courtney Spann, Anchorage, AK 26:05; 2. Racheal Kerr, Alakanuk, AK 26:07; 3. Anne-Marie Meyer, Yakima, WA 27:06; 4. Riann Anderson, Anchorage, AK 27:09; 5. Nevaeh Dunlap, Anchorage, AK 27:47; 6. Rita McKenzie, Anchorage, AK 27:55; 7. Marta Burke, Anchorage, AK 28:08; 8. Rachel Penney, Eagle River, AK 29:24; 9. Victoria Grant, Eagle River, AK 29:33; 10. Gretchen Klein, Craig, AK 29:36; 11. Penny Wasem, Willow, AK 29:42; 12. Chantel Van Tress, JBER, AK 29:51; 13. Janet Johnston, Anchorage, AK 30:18; 14. Dianna Clemetson, Anchorage, AK 31:33; 15. Sarah Hoepfner, Anchorage, AK 32:02; 16. Ireland Hicks, Seward, AK 33:21; 17. Lilly Schoonover, Seward, AK 33:21; 18. Suzanne Smerjac, Anchorage, AK 33:32; 19. Mindy Perdue, Wasilla, AK 34:12; 20. Oxana Bystrova, Anchorage, AK 34:23; 21. Charlene Canino, Anchorage, AK 34:49; 22. Tami Todd, Wasilla, AK 34:50; 23. Kaiena Tuiloma, Anchorage, AK 34:57; 24. Meg Kurtagh, Anchorage, AK 35:05; 25. Larue Groves, Chugiak, AK 35:13; 26. Rose Van Hemert, Anchorage, AK 36:12; 27. Morgan Daniels, Crestview, FL 36:25; 28. Elle Kauppi, Anchorage, AK 37:31; 29. Miranda Gibson, Wasilla, AK 37:46; 30. Caroline Secoy, JBER, AK 37:46; 31. Jordyn McNeil, Palmer, AK 38:29; 32. Ryan Plant, Palmer, AK 38:30; 33. Samantha Williams, Anchorage, AK 39:00; 34. Wendy Heck, Willow, AK 39:33; 35. Stephanie Kesler, Anchorage, AK 43:29; 36. Denise Wright, Anchorage, AK 43:50; 37. Brie Flores, Anchorage, AK 46:14; 38. Anabell Lewis, Anchorage, AK 46:15; 39. Jessica Lose, Anchorage, AK 46:18; 40. Kaylie Bylsma, Anchorage, AK 46:18; 41. Alicyn Giannakos, Anchorage, AK 46:38; 42. Natasha Henderson, Anchorage, AK 46:39; 43. Shannon Thompson, Anchorage, AK 48:40; 44. Heather Holcomb, Palmer, AK 48:40; 45. Debora Milligan, Iron Mountain, MI 57:36; 46. Rondy McKee, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico, 57:37
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5K Men
1. James Miller, Anchorage, AK 18:28; 2. Barefoot Bogey, Woburn, MA 18:37; 3. Keaden Dunlap, Anchorage, AK 19:22; 4. Maximus Tagle-Martinez, JBER, AK 20:03; 5. Gavin Hanks, Eagle River, AK 20:59; 6. Patrick McAnally, Anchorage, AK 21:37; 7. Anthony Gomez, Anchorage, AK 22:37; 8. Christopher Hilliard, JBER, AK 23:20; 9. Terry Schimon, University Place, WA 23:37; 10. Ryan Moldenhauer, Anchorage, AK 24:12; 11. Matthew Haney, Anchorage, AK 24:24; 12. Dan Burke, Anchorage, AK 25:44; 13. Paul Chandanabhumma, Seattle, WA 25:52; 14. Woods Miller, Wasilla, AK 26:51; 15. Bill Grether, Anchorage, AK 27:10; 16. Charles Simmons, Anchorage, AK 27:15; 17. Jacob Cassianni, Anchorage, AK 27:32; 18. John Brewer, Anchorage, AK 28:09; 19. Dustin Whitcomb, Eagle River, AK 28:14; 20. Greg MacDonald, Anchorage, AK 28:28; 21. Kevin Redmond, Anchorage, AK 28:38; 22. Olin Jensen, Anchorage, AK 28:45; 23. Michael Loughlin, Anchorage, AK 29:18; 24. Daryl Schaffer, Anchorage, AK 30:30; 25. Aaron Paul, Anchorage, AK 30:37; 26. Mark Ireland, Anchorage, AK 30:37; 27. Christopher Pineda, Eagle River, AK 30:39; 28. Eric Jostsons, Anchorage, AK 31:07; 29. Justin Fitzgerald, Anchorage, AK 31:36; 30. Steve Lambert, Anchorage, AK 32:09; 31. Justin Atteberry, Anchorage, AK 32:21; 32. Matthew Beardsley, Anchorage, AK 34:07; 33. Caleb Penney, Eagle River, AK 34:21; 34. Evgenii Ivanov, Anchorage, AK 34:22; 35. Eliezer Rivera, Anchorage, AK 35:12; 36. David Massey, Anchorage, AK 35:38; 37. Zachary Todd, Wasilla, AK 35:39; 38. Ed Hills, Anchorage, AK 36:52; 39. Chucky Williams, Anchorage, AK 36:54; 40. Rick Taylor, Wasilla, AK 39:32; 41. Steven Shamburek, Anchorage, AK 43:48; 42. Dave Jones, Anchorage, AK 46:46; 43. Tom Meacham, Anchorage, AK 46:47; 44. Russell Martin, Ventura, CA 47:34; 45. David Martin, Ventura, CA 47:45; 46. Zachary Lounsberry, Palmer, AK 48:41
2.5K Women
1. Kelsey Kramer, Wilmington, NC 13:50; 2. Alannah Dunlap, Anchorage, AK 15:09; 3. Kelsea Johnson, Anchorage, AK 15:45; 4. Kirsten Kling, Anchorage, AK 16:05; 5. Miriam Hayes, Anchorage, AK 16:55; 6. Brianna Slayback, Anchorage, AK 17:04; 7. Haley Hoffman, Alexandria, VA 18:01; 8. Kathryn Hoke, Anchorage, AK 18:32; 9. Rachel Stein, Palmer, AK 18:51; 10. Shayla Harrison, Anchorage, AK 19:29; 11. Danielle Harrison, Anchorage, AK 19:30; 12. Nikki Withers, Tacoma, WA 19:32; 13. Michele Robuck, Anchorage, AK 20:20; 14. Jess Adams, Anchorage, AK 20:20; 15. Ashley Martinez, Miami, FL 20:24; 16. Laura Casanover, Houston, TX 20:31; 17. Adylaine Hacker, Eagle River, AK 21:59; 18. Mary Stutzman, Tallahassee, FL 22:59; 19. Jean Bielawski, Anchorage, AK 23:24; 20. Cheryl Parmelee, Mount Dora, FL 25:45; 21. Ruth Anderson, Anchorage, AK 26:56; 22. Morgan Withers, Tacoma, WA 27:17; 23. Terri Agee, Anchorage, AK 27:31; 24. Chyll Perry, Anchorage, AK 27:35; 25. Denice Withers, Yakima, WA 28:09; 26. Sarah Camacho, Anchorage, AK 28:20; 27. Katheryn Camacho, Anchorage, AK 28:21; 28. Brooke Whitcomb, Eagle River, AK 28:41; 29. Kristine Withers, Tacoma, WA 31:19; 30. Penny Helgeson, Anchorage, AK 33:56; 31. Kimberly Halstead, Eagle River, AK 34:02; 32. Julianna Halstead, Eagle River, AK 34:09
2.5K Men
1. Riley Howard, Anchorage, AK 10:54; 2. Julian Salao, Anchorage, AK 12:26; 3. Mitch Paisker, Anchorage, AK 16:05; 4. Kaden Bartholomew, Anchorage, AK 16:24; 5. Brandon Bartholomew, Anchorage, AK 16:25; 6. Michael Hayes, Anchorage, AK 16:30; 7. Calvin Stein, Anchorage, AK 18:51; 8. Jesse Ackerson, Anchorage, AK 19:42; 9. Clinton Hacker, Eagle River, AK 21:59; 10. Daniel Hjortstorp, Gakona, AK 22:20; 11. Atlas Hjortstorp, Gakona, AK 22:20; 12. Craig Withers, Tacoma, WA 27:18; 13. Jordan Ralph, Tacoma, WA 27:19; 14. Scott King, Anchorage, AK 28:20; 15. Shawn Withers, Yakima, WA 31:18; 16. John Ruthe, Anchorage, AK 35:53
