Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé 2025 graduate Nick Iverson and JDHS sophomore-to-be Bella Connally both placed their names into the Crimson Bears track and field record books this past season — and on Wednesday literally placed their names on the wall of fame in the JDHS auxiliary gym.
“I feel like the work for it mostly came from working out all winter long in the school gym,” Iverson said of achieving his school record 1:55:34 for 800 meters. “Running on treadmills, lifting weights, etc. The record board is right next to the gym, so every day over the winter I would look up at the board and see the records, and the desire to get the 800 record sort of increased throughout the winter, since I first started thinking of getting the record after junior year track.”
Iverson set the 800 mark at the May 17 Ketchikan Invitational. He also won the state 800 title in 1:57:57 and state 1600 title in 4:22.29 during the 2025 ASAA state championships at Anchorage’s Dimond High School on May 30 and was named Male Athlete of the Meet. He was runner-up at the Brian Young Invitational last weekend in Kodiak with a 1:56.35 for the 800 and a mile PR runner-up time of 4:19.66.
2025 Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé graduate Nick Iverson is shown next to his school record for the 800 meters on Wednesday at the JDHS auxiliary gym. (Photo courtesy Jesse Stringer)
Connally set the JDHS school record for the 100 meters during the 2025 state championships at Dimond, running a blistering 12.46 to win the state title. Her name now rests across from her brother James, who owns the boys school record of 10.64 set in 2022. She also won the Brian Young Invitational 100 meters last weekend in 12:56.
“I always had this goal in my mind to get my name up there,” Connally said. “But it started to become more serious during preseason for track when this was my chance to get it there and everything I was going to do was going towards this record.”
Connally began a speedster at a young age and in an earlier interview stated, “I wanted to earn my record next to my brothers as he is someone I look up to and who has helped me tremendously.”
Connally said she was always interested in running throughout elementary school, “But it got more serious in middle school when I could join the track team…The work to achieve this goal was just to listen to my coaches and to always be pushing myself in practice. Some of the hard days were just when I got in my head, and when I just felt like I physically couldn’t do it, but I always just had to keep on pushing. I remember running my first actual race during the all comers meet in 2022, and it was amazing, I got to see how i compared to high schoolers when I was in sixth grade and realized that I was fast. Something that I really love about this sport is that it’s just you and your thoughts when you’re running.”
Bella Connally, who just finished her Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé freshman track and field season is shown next to her school record for the 100 meters on Wednesday at the JDHS auxiliary gym. (Photo courtesy Chris Connally)
Iverson has also always loved running.
“I’ve been running for a long time, but didn’t start to run competitively until high school,” Iverson said. “When I finally ran on an organized track and cross-country team that practiced, worked out, and traveled together regularly is when I sort of became fully invested. And when I became invested came lots of hard work, that contributed to eventually getting the record. I think some of hardest days were over the winter, since it was just me and occasionally a few others, just running alone on a treadmill in the dead of winter, it was sort of hard to remind myself why I was working so hard when I was months out from the season even starting.”
Iverson noted his first race.
“I can’t really recall my first ever race, but it must have been some community run like the zombie or color run, which was always fun,” he said. “Something I love about running is how it has been in my life for so long. it has just sort of engraved itself as an outlet for me. I simply just like to run, whether it be workouts on the treadmill in winter, mountain runs in summer, fast track races in spring, or easy runs on the road whenever. It is just something I enjoy.”
Iverson will run at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in the fall with JDHS teammates Owen Woodruff and Sage Janes.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.
