Alaska
WNBA’s Alissa Pili and Olympic medalist Kerry Weiland highlight Alaska High School Hall of Fame Class of 2025 – Anchorage Daily News
The Alaska School Activities Association announced the Class of 2025 of the Alaska High School Hall of Fame on Friday. Among the dozen individuals who will be inducted are former Dimond multisport star and current professional athlete Alissa Pili and Palmer women’s hockey trailblazer Kerry Weiland.
The ceremony honoring the class is at 2 p.m. April 27 at the Special Olympics Alaska Jim Balamaci Training Center in Anchorage.
The Hall was established to recognize and permanently honor individuals who displayed “high ethical standards and integrity while achieving excellence in high school athletics and activities,” according to ASAA. It also recognizes those who have made “exemplary contributions” to the prep sports and activities landscape on the Last Frontier.
Categories include students who participated in athletics, academic activities and fine arts, as well as contributors who served as coaches, advisers, directors, administrators, officials and adjudicators. Any former student must have graduated at least five years ago to be eligible for induction. This year’s class marks the 20th in the hall’s history and features 10 athletes and two activities teachers/coaches.
Athlete inductees
Pili racked up a staggering 13 state championships during her time in high school, including leading the Lynx volleyball team to four straight titles in volleyball and the basketball team to a pair of state titles. As an individual, she won four state titles in shot put, two in discus and another in wrestling. The 2019 graduate went on to have a stellar collegiate career in basketball, including being named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year at USC and later Pac-12 Player of the Year at the University of Utah. She now plays professionally in the WNBA for the Minnesota Lynx after being drafted No. 8 overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft.
[Playing at a new level, Anchorage’s Alissa Pili finds her footing and connects with fans]
Weiland was not only a trailblazer for women’s hockey during her time at Palmer High School, she starred in the sport. She made history as one of the first girls in Alaska’s history to compete on a boys varsity hockey team, and earned First Team All-Region honors. She parlayed her standout prep career into a full-ride scholarship at the University of Wisconsin, where she earned All-American First Team honors in 2002. Weiland competed professionally both domestically and internationally, winning an International Inline Roller Hockey Championships and helping Team USA bring home a silver medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics.
“Kerry was always respectful and quiet, but on the ice, she wasn’t afraid of anything,” childhood friend and fellow Alaska sports legend Scotty Gomez said in a statement. “She was the real deal.”
Freddy Hamilton III helped make Craig High School a powerhouse basketball program during his four years. From 2001-2003, he spearheaded Panthers teams that dominated the Region V 3A level, finishing as state runner-ups in 2002 and state champions in 2003. Hamilton was named to the Region V 3A All-Tournament Team for three straight years and the State All-Tournament Team as a junior and senior.
“Freddy was one of your first two-way players, an exceptional point guard/forward who made it very difficult for the opposing team to guard him,” former Craig assistant coach James Mackie said in a statement.
AJ Hull was a multisport star at Kenai Central High School and led Kardinals teams to three state championships, two in football and one in baseball. The 2012 graduate’s list of individual accolades includes being named Gatorade Player of the Year in 2011, Offensive Player of the Year and State Outstanding Player in football where he was also a three-time First Team All-State quarterback and two-time All-State at defensive back. As a senior in basketball, he was named First Team All-Region and Second Team All-State, and then on the baseball field, he led the 2012 American Legion state championship team and was named tournament MVP. That year he also received the Big Stick Award and was named Northern Lights Player of the Year and First Team All-State.
Rachel Johnson was a three-sport standout at Nikiski High School, where her list of accomplishments included receiving multiple First-Team All-State honors in volleyball and basketball and shining as a goalkeeper in soccer. She continued to shine on the pitch in college at Highline College, where she set a school record with an 11-game shutout streak, and then at Washington State University, where she helped lead the Cougars to big wins against nationally ranked opponents.
“Rachel’s leadership stands out as a primary reason for our fond memories,” her former coach Scott Anderson said in a statement. “She made us a team, not just a group of individuals.”
Luke Johnson was a four-sport star at Nikiski High School, where he produced three straight undefeated seasons in wrestling and capped off each with a state title. He finished as the state runner-up to his older brother as a freshman. On the football field he helped lead the Bulldogs to four straight state title appearances from 2012-2015, winning it all in 2013 and finishing runner-up in the other three. As a senior in track and field, he won at state and set a new school record in the shot put and came in second at state in discus for the second year in a row.
“Luke’s leadership on the field was unparalleled; he always led from the front,” his coach Jake Doth said in a statement.
Tobin Karlberg was one of the best basketball players of his generation, and his long list of accolades includes leading the Grace Christian boys team to three straight state championship game appearances and a title in 2017. That was the same year he was named 3A State Player of the Year, for the second year in a row, and the Gatorade Alaska Player of the Year. After high school, he kept his talents close to home and starred at the University of Alaska Anchorage before finishing his career at Point Loma University. He now serves as an assistant coach on the staff for the University of Alaska Fairbanks men’s basketball team.
“Tobin was a floor general who made everyone around him better,” Grace Christian coach Jason Boerger said in a statement. “His assists reflect his unselfishness and team-first mentality. He valued team success over individual accolades, and that’s what made him stand out.”
Justin Schwartzbauer was a multisport star at Colony High School who won a quartet of state titles as a hurdler in track and field, including thee in the 300-meter and one in the 110-meter. In football, he earned First-Team All-State honors at both wide receiver and defensive back and led the Knights to a pair of state semifinal appearances in 2004 and 2005. On the basketball court, he received First-Team All-State honors and led his team to the regional championship as well as a state runner-up finish in 2004. After high school, he played college football at Weber State, where he helped the Wildcats win a Big Sky Conference championship.
“His relentless work ethic and focus distinguish him as a Hall of Fame athlete,” former coach Randy Magner said.
Nathan Schwartzbauer was a four-sport standout at Colony whose list of accomplishments includes earning All-Conference and All-State honors in football, winning back-to-back state titles in track and field in the high jump and helping lead the hockey team to back-to-back state championships as well.
“Nathan is one of the best athletes I’ve ever had the honor to coach,” his hockey coach Eric Troisi said in a statement. “His athletic ability, combined with his work ethic, helped make Colony High School one of the best hockey teams in the state.”
Pauline Tufi was a five-sport star at West Anchorage High School, where she shined especially bright in softball, earning Gatorade Player of the Year honors for three straight years from 2011-2013. She also starred in hockey, volleyball, basketball and track and field before taking her talent to Louisiana Tech University to continue playing softball.
“Pauline was not just an athlete; she was a game-changer. She brought leadership and determination to every team she joined,” West girls basketball coach Stanley Engel said in a statement. “Her impact extended beyond her athleticism — her heart, leadership, and work ethic made her a true pillar in our community.”
Contributor inductees
Stan Harris was a stalwart teacher, mentor and leader in music education at Palmer High School whose contributions included music programs ranging from jazz bands, choirs and musical theater productions that consistently received top honors and statewide acclaim.
“Stan’s ability to teach both band and choir at the highest levels is unmatched,” former Wasilla music teacher Sara Guhl said in a statement. “His kindness, flexibility, and guidance for students is unparalleled.”
Nathan Vereide’s contributions in the activity of Drama, Debate, and Forensics (DDF) were legendary. He served as a coach at Whitestone School from 1997 to 2015. His teams amassed 31 overall school sweepstakes titles in the 1A/2A/3A categories, including just one of two ever undefeated debate seasons in 2011.
“Nathan’s leadership on the team was unmatched,” fellow coach Shawn Brisco said in statement. “His dedication to both the success of his students and to improving the activity itself made him a key figure in the growth of DDF in Alaska.”
[Correction: This story has been updated to correct the year associated with the class to be inducted in the Alaska High School Hall of Fame.]
The state of Alaska is once again asking the Board of Game to allow wildlife managers to shoot bears from helicopters in a rural part of Southwest Alaska in the interest of increasing caribou numbers.
The board is scheduled to hold a special meeting on July 14 in Anchorage to consider the revised proposal to expand its predator control program east of the Wood-Tikchik State Park from just wolves to include all bears.
The move follows a ping-ponging series of court decisions based less on the program’s merits than on the way it was steered through the public rules-making process back in 2022. Critics, and eventually an Anchorage Superior Court judge, said the management practice was adopted with insufficient public input in a way that denied Alaskans their right to weigh in.
If the Board of Game approves the state proposal, aerial gunning for bears would resume next May and last until early June.
In 2023 and 2024, when the intensive management program around the Mulchatna caribou herd ran its full course, the Department of Fish and Game reported killing 180 bears, almost all of them brown bears.
This March, a judge ruled the program was unlawful.
Fish and Game then quickly went back to the Board of Game and requested an emergency version of the same authorization, which was granted. Weeks later, a different Superior Court judge, Christina Rankin, initially declined to halt to the program, largely on technical grounds, but said it was still not a legal management strategy. Shortly afterwards, the state shot 11 bears in the course of three days.
That led Rankin to issue a restraining order sought by the environmental group that had sued the state to halt the bear program.
The Department of Fish and Game has stood behind its approach, and the current proposal is an attempt to cure the program’s legal deficiencies but otherwise replicate what it carried out in recent seasons.
“Our intent is to do it very efficiently and effectively and, frankly humanely‚” said Ryan Scott, head of the ADF&G’s Division of Wildlife Conservation.
Scott said that while some criticism of the program on scientific and conservation grounds has merit, the division is tasked under Alaska law with managing ungulate populations in ways that maximize their numbers, and emphasized that rural subsistence hunters have had no opportunity to take Mulchatna caribou since 2021.
Though the state does not have reliable recent data on the number of bears in the area, which sits about midway between Bethel and Dillingham, he said the overall environmental impact from the predator control effort is minimal.
“While it’s true we don’t know the densities in that small piece of real estate, there are bears all over the place,” Scott said in a brief interview Thursday. “We are trying to do this very surgically … in a very small amount of time.”
Nicole Schmitt is the executive director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, which sued the state to block the bear killing after it came to light in 2023 and is still opposed to the program.
“We’re happy to see that The Board of Game is finally following its own rules by having a meeting with bare minimum public notice, but are disheartened that it took the advocacy of hundreds of Alaskans and two judges to get them to comply with their basic constitutional obligations,” Schmitt wrote in an email.
Schmitt’s group has persistently questioned the scientific basis and methods of the department’s bear program. In its latest proposal, the department does not set any limit on the number of bears it intends to take in the coming years, only that the target bear population is however many it takes to bring the caribou numbers up “to a level that results in increased calf survival and recruitment.”
“They have no way of knowing the impact this program has on bears. I’ve never seen the Board of Game open a no-limit season on moose or caribou because they heard there were a lot of moose and caribou around,” Schmitt wrote. “They’re literally shooting in the dark for a solution to the Mulchatna caribou herd decline, and wasting precious state funds to do it.”
Scott said that compared to 2022, when wildlife managers initially proposed expanding predator control to bears, there’s now a clearer link between bears and caribou calf survival.
“Given the data that we have, predation is limiting the growth of the herd,” Scott said.
The division plans to present additional evidence showing that its predator control efforts are having a positive effect on the Mulchatna herd at the special meeting next month.
If the measure is approved, Fish and Game could keep removing bears from the area through June 2028, although the program could be halted if Mulchatna herd numbers rise to the level where harvest can resume, which the state estimates at 30,000-80,000 animals. The herd is currently estimated at around 15,000.
Written comments on the proposal must be submitted to the Board of Game before 5:30 p.m. on July 14. The special meeting will be held that same day at the Coast Inn in Anchorage, with the potential for a second in-person meeting continuing on into Tuesday to accommodate more testimony.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Access Alaska, a support and advocacy group for independent senior living and Alaskans experiencing disabilities held its first ever “Summer Bash” on Wednesday.
The event, which featured food trucks and live music, took place in the parking lot of Access Alaska’s location in Anchorage’s Fairview neighborhood – the neighborhood that Eric Gurley, the executive director of Access Alaska, hopes the event will support.
“Our goal for today truly was just to bring the community together,” Gurley said. “I can’t say first and foremost that it’s some sort of donation event, though we will gladly accept donations.”
Gurley describes Access Alaska as a “center for independent living”, committed to helping seniors and those with disabilities support themselves and integrate into their communities. Lately, however, he said that goal has met some challenges.
“Access Alaska has had a pretty rough year financially,” Gurley explained. “The opportunity to be supported by the community has just really been a good lift to spirits.”
Lifting spirits was the original reason behind the event’s creation. The bash started as a simple employee barbecue, meant to lift company morale. From there, it morphed into the neighborhood block party.
Even before the scheduled start time of 2 p.m., residents were perusing the various stands and enjoying the live music, performed by Shaquil Aribuk. Aribuk, a musician and motivational speaker who goes by “Visionary Shaq”, is proud of what the event became.
“It just shows us peace, love, and community,” Aribuk said of the community’s response to the event. “People in the community are getting united and we’re having fun.”
With everything coming together so quickly, Access Alaska hasn’t had much chance to dwell on the future of the event; However, Gurley says that future currently looks bright.
“It would be great for this to be an annual event,” he said. “I think that’s quietly the goal.”
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FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU/KTVF) – Eielson Air Force Base officials confirmed that an “incident” occurred Tuesday on base involving a Republic of Korea F-16 jet, but did not specify any further as to what had happened.
Eielson officials said an investigation is currently underway, according to the base’s public affairs office.
The situation revolved around a Republic of Korea Air Force F-16D Fighting Falcon that took off around 4 p.m. Tuesday. Eielson officials said the incident occurred when the jet “departed the prepared surface and aircrew ejected,” within the fence line of the base.
Eielson officials did not say how many crew members were involved; only that the aircrew onboard were taken to Bassett Army Community Hospital for further evaluation and that emergency crews responded to the scene.
One witness described seeing what appeared to be a damaged aircraft.
Sarah Sioka was traveling southbound along the Richardson Highway around 5:26 p.m. with her husband Eldon driving when she said she saw what appeared to be a damaged aircraft on base sitting in the runway along the flight line.
At the time, Sioka said there was no fire or smoke, but she estimated 8-10 emergency vehicles nearby.
The aircraft appeared to Sioka to be an F-16.
“The nose was down on the runway, kind of looked smushed a little bit, and then the back end was … up on its wheels,” she described. “The front wasn’t on the front wheel.”
This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.
See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com
Copyright 2025 KTUU. All rights reserved.
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