Alaska Sports Blog

Alaska’s Janay DeLoach continues to build confidence leading up to next month’s Olympic Trials.

The 26-year-old won the women’s long jump at last night’s IAAF World Challenge in Deagu, South Korea, competing at the stadium that hosted last year’s world championships.

DeLoach, of Eielson High fame, finished with a winning mark of 22 feet, 3½ inches.

That was well off her personal-best jump of 22-10¾, which ranks No. 2 in the world.

So far this year the Olympic hopeful has won a national championship and a silver medal at the world championships.

Given up for goners, the Bowdoin College women came all the way back from a 4-1 deficit to serve up a 5-4 victory over No. 4 Middlebury and capture the NCAA D3 Regional title in Vermont.

The player that came all the way across the country to attend Bowdoin made the difference.

Anchorage’s Emma Lewis won a three-set thriller in the final match to secure the championship, rallying to beat Brittney Faber 5-7, 7-6, 6-2 at No. 4 singles.

Lewis, of South High fame, improved to 14-4 in singles this season.

She had lost to Faber at No. 1 doubles earlier in the day. But when it mattered most, she came through.

The NCAA Regional title was the second for Bowdoin since 2008.

Bowdoin faces Emory in the national quarterfinals Monday in Cary, N.C.

After missing the entire season last year with a left elbow injury, pitcher Matt Way of Sitka is scheduled Saturday to make his first start since August 2010.

The 25-year-old southpaw is playing in Texas for the Lerado Lemurs of the American Association, an independent professional league.

Way was a fifth-round MLB draft pick of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009. He spent two seasons in the team’s minor league system before his injury last year. He was released after spring training this year.

In search of a fresh start, he landed in Lerado.

“I definitely have to prove myself again,” Way told me. “That’s why I’m here.”

In 22 career pro starts, mostly with Class-A Lakewood, he was 13-9 with a 3.22 ERA. He also struck out 170 and walked just 42 in 168 innings.

He seemed poised for another strong season before an elbow injury sidelined him the entire year.

“I have been very successful at every level I have been at but injures kept me off the field,” he said.

Now he’s back on the bump.

“I feel good,” Way said. “Now I have to prove that I can still pitch and compete at a very high level. Once I do that I will hopefully get picked back up by a Major League club.”

The ‘AK Kid’ finally got back into the win column.

Cordova’s Cody McKenzie beat wrestler-turned-mixed martial arts fighter Marcus LeVesseur on the FUEL TV undercard in Fairfax, Va., for his 12th career professional victory but his first since December 2010.

McKenzie survived an early flurry from LeVesseur, a 4-time NCAA D3 champion who was 155-0 on the mat, who wanted to keep the fight on the ground.

Against a lot of fighters, especially strikers, that would be a good idea. But McKenzie is a submission specialist, and is comfortable on his back.

It wasn’t long before McKenzie went to his signature move, the guillotine choke, and forced LeVesseur to tap at the 3:05 mark of the first round.

“It feels fantastic,” McKenzie told mmajunkie.com. “It’s been way too long. I think it’s been over a year in a half. It’s been ridiculous.”

McKenzie improved his career record to 13-2, with 12 of those wins coming by submission.

The Alaska fighter had lost only twice since his last win, but that was a long enough skid. He credited his comeback to a better diet and healthier lifestyle.

“I went through a lot of injuries and just wasn’t training properly or living right,” he said. “I’m real happy to be back with the win.”

What a difference a year makes for Anthony Davis of Fairbanks.

Last year, the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs 800-meter runner watched the NCAA D2 Championships from home.

This year, he’ll likely be invited to the party.

Davis, of Lathrop High fame, finished third at the RMAC Championships with a lifetime best time of 1:51.25 that should be good enough to punch his ticket to the national championships in Pueblo, Colo., in two weeks.

He hit a national qualifying mark, but he will have to wait until next week to find out if he makes the field.

In one year, Davis shaved four seconds off his 800 time.

Kodiak’s Trevor Dunbar just missed winning his first career title at the Pac-12 Track and Field Championships today in Eugene, Ore.

But the University of Oregon runner settled for his first all-conference result.

Dunbar raced to a third-place finish in the men’s 1,500 meters as Oregon runners went 3-4-7-8 to flex their muscles.

This is how close the top 3 was:

3:47.33 Lawi Lalang Arizona [gold]
3:47.66 Chris Derrick Stanford [silver]
3:47.84 Trevor Dunbar Oregon [bronze]

Inside an octagon during a mixed martial arts fight is probably the only time you can elbow a police officer in the head and get away with it.

Alaska’s Jake Heun did that during the main event of the Crown Fighting Championships in St. George, Utah, where he knocked out local cop Jarad Carson in the a first round TKO.

“It was an elbow and 14 unanswered punches followed,” Heun told me.

The referee reportedly paused slightly before calling the fight, promoting officials to ask the athletic commission to review the decision.

Heun, of Bartlett High fame, said there is nothing controversial about his victory, moving his professional record to 3-2.

“If anything the ref was a little late,” he said.