Underwood and Franz each competed for four seasons for the Wolfpack, helping them capture the Region VI team titles in 2008 and last year.
Underwood’s teammates voted her the Wolfpack’s Most Inspirational Swimmer last season, and she is scheduled to be a sprint freestyler for the Nanooks.
In a University of Alaska Fairbanks press release, Lemley said he has followed Underwood’s entire prep career.
“From her freshman year until now, she’s made great strides, especially in the sprint freestyle,” he said. “Her best time in the 50 free would have made our varsity top 10 last year.”
Underwood has competed for the Stingrays and Midnight Sun club programs for eight years, and she plans to major in psychology and possibly minor in photography at UAF.
Franz aided West Valley’s region title run in 2009 with a third-place finish of 5 minutes, 58.25 seconds in the 500 free. The time would be sixth on the Nanooks’ depth chart.
“Maddy has shown steady improvement over the course of her high school career,” Lemley said. “From her 12th place finish in the 500 free in 7:02.08 as a freshman to her third-place finish this season, she’s dropped over a minute in that event.”
Franz, who also swims locally for Midnight Sun, aspires to be a nurse or a physical therapist.
Perkins spent four seasons as a backstroker and freestyler for North Pole, helping the Patriots take the region team trophy in 2007 and winning an individual title and qualifying for the state meet as a junior in 2008.
Her best 100 backstroke time of 1:08.90 puts her fifth on the Nanooks depth chart.
Lemley said Perkins seemed to fit in well with the Nanooks when she made her campus visit.
“We think that chemistry is so important in terms of everyone working well together,” Lemley said. “We’re thrilled to have her on our team next year and look forward to adding more depth to our backstrokers.”
Perkins also competes for the Patriots’ track and field team, and she swam for Midnight Sun for 12 years.
Sokaitis to coach Post
Al Sokaitis, who guided the Alaska Nanooks men’s basketball team from 1996-2004, was named Thursday as the men’s head coach at Post University, an NCAA Division II program in Waterbury, Conn.
“My philosophy is not simply coaching this Post University basketball team, it is coaching a program that includes academics in conjunction with athletics,” Sokaitis said in a release from Post. “It is not only about being a good player on the floor, but also learning how to handle life in general, which is the key to success later in life.”
Sokaitis, a native of New Britain, Conn., compiled a 108-11 coaching record with the Nanooks, including 43-15 mark his last two seasons, when Alaska earned back-to-back appearances in the Division II Tournament for the first time in the program’s history.
Another highlight of his Nanooks tenure was a victory over Weber State in the final of the 2002 Top of the World Classic at the Carlson Center, marking the first time in NCAA men’s basketball history that a Division II team captured the championship of an eight-team Division I tournament.
Before going to Post, Sokaitis’ last coaching stint with a team was the Alaska Dream of the American Basketball Association in 2008. The Anchorage-based squad included a few former Nanooks players and its only action was winning its three games against teams from Las Vegas and California for the title in the Dare to Dream Tournament at the Carlson Center.
Last year, he worked with China’s national team and did individual coaching with New York Knicks center David Lee.
Sokaitis’ 20 years of coaching includes the men’s and women’s teams at Western State College in Gunnison, Colo., from 2004-07, and the men’s teams at Southern Maine (1990-96) and North Adams State in Massachusetts (1987-90). He led Southern Maine to two D-II Tournament berths and North Adams to three D-III tournament appearances.
He takes over at Post from Mike Donnelly. The Eagles finished 13-17 overall and 9-9 in the Central Athletic Collegiate Conference last season.
Contact the Daily News-Miner sports department at 459-7581.
Post a Comment