Seattle Seahawks nose tackle Brandon Pili earned Alaska Athlete of the Week honors after a historic showing.
The 26-year-old from Anchorage made the most of extended playing time by registering two tackles on defense and forcing a fumble on special teams in a 38-14 victory in primetime over Washington on Sunday Night Football.
Pili was the first Alaska player to force a fumble in the NFL since 2011.
Sunday was also the first time Pili had been part of the kickoff team since his days in Alaska.
Also receiving votes:
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Reese Woodward – The Eagle River swimmer led the Wolves to a second straight CIC team title. Woodward, a senior, posted times that rank among the best in Alaska high school swimming history in the 100-yard butterfly and 200 IM. She clocked 55.66 seconds to win the 100 fly and 2:05.96 to win the 200 IM. She also swam legs on victorious relay teams to finish as the meet’s top scorer.
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Carter Woodhead – The Dimond High defenseman opened the Cook Inlet Conference hockey schedule by putting up a six-spot Saturday afternoon in Dimond’s 10-1 win over Bartlett at Ben Boeke Arena. A senior co-captain, Woodhead produced four goals and two assists, including two unassisted tallies, one of those on the power play.
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Claire Wallstrum – Wallstrum broke the Colony High School record for the women’s 11-dive with a score of 462.55. That topped Charlize McManus’ mark of 456.25. She also broke the Region III women’s 11-dive record previously held by Jade Chan of Wasilla High School in 2018 of 427.85.
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UAA hockey team – Despite being outshot 49-20, the Seawolves shocked 6th-ranked Denver 4-3 in overtime Friday in Denver, their first win over a ranked opponent in nearly two years. Sophomore Dimitry Kebreau scored his first goal of the season at 3:55 in overtime to lift UAA. Goaltender Tyler Krivtsov made a career-high 46 saves and Joey Potter scored twice for the Seawolves.
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Ava Earl – Earl and Northwestern put on a scary good performance at the Big Ten Championships. The Division I standout and Girdwood native covered the 6-kilometer course in East Lansing, Mich., in 20 minutes, 24.5 seconds to place 13th individually, leading the ‘Cats to a third-place showing and achieving the program’s highest conference finish since 1986.
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Rachel Cockman – The former West Valley hoops standout scored 10 points and hit both 3-point attempts for Galitos of the Portuguese League. She added three rebounds, one assist and one steal in the 67-48 loss.
The Alaska Athlete of the Week is selected by a panel each Monday. If you have an athlete of the week recommendation you can email it to info@alaskasportshall.org.
