Kenai basketball heads to state
Published 1:30 pm Thursday, March 12, 2026
The Kenai Central High School boys and girls basketball teams will compete in the March Madness Alaska 3A/4A state championships next week in Anchorage, March 18-21.
Both teams automatically qualified for state during the Region III 3A South Central Conference basketball tournament hosted by Kenai March 5-7. The Kardinal boys placed first and the girls team placed second in their respective divisions.
The Houston boys also qualified for state in placing second during the South Central tourney. The Grace Christian girls will be heading to the state championships as well after winning first place in the South Central girls tournament.
The Homer boys and Nikiski girls both earned a potential at-large berth for state after winning third place in the regional tournament.
For the South Central Conference Cheerleading Tournament, Kenai Central also won first place, followed by Grace Christian in second and Homer in third.
Cheerleading and basketball All-Conference results were also recognized during the South Central Conference Awards Ceremony held last weekend.
Cheer Sportsmanship Awards were given to Homer’s Ashley Ruiz, Kenai’s Daisy Bella Fisk and Grace Christian’s Ashlyn Eldridge. Grace Christian’s Jenna Walton and Abigail McKay; Kenai’s Cara Graves, Ella Siemers, Sylvia McGraw and Kayani Whicker; and Homer’s Ellen Barrett, Thea James and Anna Springer were all named to the cheerleading South-Central All-Conference Team. McKay was also named MVP. Homer cheerleading coach Michelle Thornton was named Coach of the Year.
Basketball Sportsmanship Awards were given to Houston’s Koko Sua and Karlee Wertman; Redington’s Ikaia Flores and Iselin Swalling; Nikiski’s Ryder Maguire and Maya Deveer; Homer’s Parker Overson and Emily Stafford; Kenai’s Garrett McCanna and Willow Graham; and Grace Christian’s Jaden Helton.
Kenai’s Carter Eiter, Carter Felchle and Reid Titus; Houston’s Billy Rusher and Blake Baskett; Redington’s Levi Zydonis; Nikiski’s Kameron Bird; and Homer’s Ben Engebretsen and CJ Burns were named to the boys basketball South Central All-Conference 1st Team. Kenai’s Miles Metteer was named the South Central Conference MVP for the boys.
Redington’s Cameryn Ingraham, Ikaia Flores and Jake Murdock; Kenai’s Mason Tunseth; Nikiski’s Ryder Maguire; Homer’s Parker Overson; and Houston’s Sebastian Sanford were named to the boys’ South Central All-Conference 2nd Team.
For the girls, Redington’s Kaydence Seymore; Grace’s Molly Schild and Poppy Wiggers-Pidduck; Nikiski’s Abby White and Blakeley Jorgensen; Kenai’s Maci Miller, Bryleigh Williams and Zana Lundahl; and Homer’s Keagan Niebuhr were named to the girls South Central All-Conference 1st Team. Grace’s MJ Van der Horst was named South Central Conference MVP.
Houston’s Karlee Wertman, Danyel Loyd and TaNea Cook; Grace’s Faith Salima; Kenai’s Grace Every and Ellsi Miller; Nikiski’s Evelyn Reichert; Redington’s Abi Dagomos and Janessa Gubler; and Homer’s Amalinda Norman and Abigail Ostrom were named to the girls South Central All-Conference 2nd Team.
Redington boys head coach Matthew Murphy and Kenai girls head coach Jacob Songer were named South-Central Conference Coaches of the Year.
