Published Feb 7, 2023

The Seawolves’ triumph over the Tribe featured several standout performances by gymnasts to help the team record a season-high in points yet again and the sixth most in a single meet in program history.

“We improved over the last three meets, and this is finally paying off,” Boggasch said. “We’ve started to implement some of those corrections early on in the season and it just takes a little bit to figure it out. We still have a fairly inexperienced team.”

Senior Rachel Decious recorded a pair of individual wins in floor and tied with freshman teammate Paola Ruano Barahona for first in beam. Sophomores Alyssa Manley and Montana Fairbairn also notched individual victories in bars and vault.

UAA narrowly trailed about halfway through the meet but was able to pull ahead and edge out William & Mary by posting the ninth-best floor total in Seawolves program history at 48.775 in the final rotation. The Seawolves also earned the third-best balance beam total in program history at 48.875.

Published Feb 7, 2023

UA’s President Pat Pitney joined U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski to discuss the University of Alaska Fiscal Foundation Act and the potential benefits it will bring to Alaska’s higher education system.

Published Feb 6, 2023 by Jeff Olsen

The Nanooks (15-9-2) enter the national rankings at No. 20, tied with Northeastern.

They are also on the brink of cracking the USA Today’s Top 20. There they’re sitting as the top team receiving votes (52), just behind 20th-ranked University of Massachusetts Lowell (61).

“It’s nice to get the recognition,” coach Erik Largen said. “But in reality, it’s probably based on our record and not people who have seen us play.”

Another reality is, however, that Largen’s team has earned the right to play meaningful games in their final six outings of the season, meaningful in that they’ll have an impact on whether the Nanooks are one of 16 teams that will receive an invitation to the NCAA Tournament that begins March 23.

Published Feb 6, 2023 by Scott Jaschik

Most of the best students in Alaska high schools leave the state for college. And a state scholarship designed to change that is not working, The Anchorage Daily News reported.

The Alaska Performance Scholarship was first established in 2011 to keep the best students in the state for college. There are three tiers to the scholarship, the highest of which is $4,755 per year.

The Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education recently released a report that found a record-low 22 percent of eligible students chose to use the scholarship in 2022, dropping from a high of 39 percent in 2016.

“We’re consciously working on bringing that number up to 50 [percent],” said Pat Pitney, president of the University of Alaska.