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Isabella Lang gets an enthusiastic greeting as she finishes first overall in the Olympic distance in Aukeman Triathlon on Sunday. (Photo by Bob Eastaugh)

Sports

Record number of racers feel heat of new challenges, including first-ever long course, at Aukeman Triathlon

Isabella Lang, in a “for-fun” effort, gets dominant overall win in Olympic-length course.

Runners begin the 26.2-mile Juneau Marathon at Savikko Park on Saturday morning. More than 85 people registered for the full-length race, a record for the annual event that originated in 1992, but about 20 of them failed to show up for what turned out to be a rainy run. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Sports

Participants go to great lengths to run in the rain at the Juneau Marathon and Half Marathon

Dashing over from cruise ship, long trip around road-blocking landslide among paths to starting line.

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé senior Mila Hargrave, being hugged by the JDHS coaching staff, signed a national letter of intent on Monday at the George Houston Gymnasium to attend Pacific Lutheran University and play softball for the Lutes. (Klas Stolpe / For the Juneau Empire)

Sports

JDHS softball star Mila Hargrave signs to the circle at Pacific Lutheran University

Multi-sport athlete will pitch for the Lutes.

Mt. Edgecumbe High School coach Archie Young talks to an official during the Braves 63-61 loss to Nome in the 2024 ASAA March Madness Alaska 3A Boys Basketball State Championship game at Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center. (Photo by Klas Stolpe)

Sports

Archie Young: A final road trip as Mt. Edgecumbe basketball coach and teacher retires after 25 years

Long-ago star high school player became an extended family member to a generation of students.

Eulalia Roman, 12, with team Mat-Su competes in the wrist carry on the first day of the Native Youth Olympics Senior Games at the Alaska Airlines Center on Thursday in Anchorage. (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

Sports

Alaska’s Indigenous teens emulate ancestors’ Arctic survival skills at the Native Youth Olympics

The athletes filling a huge gym in Anchorage were ready to compete, cheering and stomping and high-fiving each…

An outdoor basketball hoop is seen in Bethel in October 2022. Alaskans will be able to play only on sports teams that match their gender at birth through college if a new bill becomes law. (Photo by Claire Stremple)

Sports

Alaska House committee advances, expands proposal to bar trans girls from girls sports

Bill adds elementary, middle school and collegiate sports to limits in place for high school.

Elias Lowell, 15, balances his way to the end of the pond during the annual Slush Cup at Eaglecrest Ski Area on Sunday, the last day of what officials called and up-and-down season. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Sports

Up-and-down season at Eaglecrest ends on splashy note with Slush Cup

Ski area’s annual beach party features ice-filled water, snowy shores and showboating skimmers.

Maddy Fortunato, a Chickaloon middle school student, sets to attempt the one-hand reach by touching a suspended ball while remaining balanced on the other hand during the Traditional Games on Sunday at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Sports

Striving for the perfect balance of competition, camaraderie at seventh annual Traditional Games

More than 250 participants pursue personal goals while helping others during Indigenous events.

Donovan Jackson, 12, of Juneau competes in the one-foot high kick during the 2022 Traditional Games on April 2, 2022. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire file photo)

Sports

Record number of participants expected for seventh annual Traditional Games

Teams from Alaska, Canada and Lower 48 to compete in 12 Indigenous skills events starting Friday.

Juneau’s PJ Foy, shown winning the 2023 100 yard butterfly in 48.27 for Thunder Mountain High School during the ASAA state championships at the Dimond Park Aquatics Center on Nov. 4, 2023, qualified for the 2024 June Olympic Team Trials by swimming a 100 long course meters butterfly in a personal best 53.44 on March 16, 2024, at the Speedo Sectionals in Federal Way, Washington. (Klas Stolpe for the Juneau Empire)

Sports

Foy ‘flies’ through 100 meters to qualify for Olympic Swim Trials

“To do what nobody else can do, I need to do what nobody else will do”

Angoon’s Levi Johnson Jr. takes a shot under the basket against Hydaburg during the B Bracket championship of the 75th Gold Medal Basketball Tournament on Saturday at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Sports

Hoonah takes two titles, Angoon and POW one each in 75th Gold Medal Basketball Tournament

Longtime participants say little has changed over decades as huge crowds from communities show up.

Metlakatla’s Drena Hayward (#15) passes the ball to a teammate in their opening game against Yakutat during the 75th Gold Medal Basketball Tournament on Sunday morning at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Sports

75th Gold Medal Basketball Tournament opens with all harboring hopes for week ahead

Winners and losers not reading too much into opening games with some teammates still to arrive.

Hoonah’s Mark Prpich (22) drives the lane against Juneau’s Doug Draowski (5) on Saturday during last year’s Gold Medal championship game for M bracket at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé on March 25, 2023. Prpich finished the game with 10 points. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

Sports

75th Gold Medal Basketball Tournament tips off Sunday

25 regional teams to compete for titles in four brackets; no Juneau teams playing this year.

The author and his wife ride a lift at Eaglecrest over the weekend. (Photo by Jeff Lund)

Sports

I Went to the Woods: All you can eat pizza

There are times you’re confronted with the culmination of your career as an active human and you end…

Iditarod winner Brent Sass poses for photos with lead dogs Morello, left, and Slater after winning the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Nome, Alaska, March 15, 2022. A second musher has been disqualified from the world’s most famous sled dog race. The governing body of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race said in a one-sentence statement late Thursday night, Feb. 22, 2024, that it has withdrawn 2022 champion Brent Sass just days before the start of this year’s race. (Anne Raup/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

Sports

Assault claims roil Iditarod sled dog race as 2 top mushers are disqualified, then 1 reinstated

Claims of violence against women are roiling the world’s most famous sled dog race — Alaska’s Iditarod —…

A man walks a Fairbanks street during an ice-fog episode in January 2012. (Photo by Ned Rozell)

Sports

Alaska Science Forum: Ice fog not often a part of northern life

An old friend — a character not seen in these parts for a few years — showed up…

Juneau Ski Club U16 racer Eva Meyer competes in a slalom run during the Coca-Cola Classic Sunday at Girdwood. (Photo courtesy Bob Eastaugh)

Sports

Meyer, Satre lead Juneau Ski Club down Girdwood course

First competition of the ski season gives JSC firm footing for national qualifications

Juneau athletes compete in the state softball title (left), Gold Medal Basketball Tournament (center) and ASAA State Swim & Dive Championships during some of 2023’s local highlight sports moments. (Juneau Empire)

Sports

Juneau’s top 10 sports stories of 2023

State titles for many, a historic losing season and death of a coaching icon among headline moments.

Colony High School senior Jasmine Anderson, Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé junior Emma Fellman, Service High School senior Preston Kwon and Thunder Mountain High School senior PJ Foy at the USA Swimming 2023 Speedo Winter Junior Championships in Westmont, Illinois. (Courtesy photo)

Sports

Foy chasing FMC Natatorium pool record

Glacier Swim Club stars competing at USA junior championships

A light dusting of snow covers the ground at Eaglecrest Ski Area on Wednesday morning. The planned opening for the ski area has been delayed a week until Saturday, Dec. 9, according to General Manager Dave Scanlan. (Photo courtesy of Eaglecrest Ski Area)

Sports

Eaglecrest delays scheduled opening by one week until next Saturday, Dec. 9

Warm temperatures and rain dissolved much of ski area’s snowpack, but cold and snow in forecast.