{"id":44807,"date":"2019-03-18T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/heres-how-thunder-mountain-did-at-traditional-games\/"},"modified":"2019-03-18T13:22:41","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T21:22:41","slug":"heres-how-thunder-mountain-did-at-traditional-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/heres-how-thunder-mountain-did-at-traditional-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s how Juneau athletes did at Traditional Games"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t
Bethel and Whitehorse emerged with team titles as the 2019 Traditional Games<\/a> came to a halt on Sunday night at Thunder Mountain High School.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t It was the second year in a row Sealaska Heritage Institute and others have put on the games, which are rooted in Alaska Native culture and celebrated every year at the NYO Games in Anchorage<\/a> and World Eskimo-Indian Olympics in Fairbanks. Juneau athletes spent the last several months training for the games with after-school practices.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “It was a lot of fun meeting new people,” said Yaakoosge Daakahidi’s Josh Sheakley, who won golds in the one-hand reach and seal hop. “I haven’t seen the majority of the people here.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Whitehorse’s Kate Koepke won eight gold medals to lead all athletes. Matthew Quinto of TMHS and Makiyan Ivanoff of Anchorage each had four golds to lead the boys.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Thunder Mountain High School tallied the most points of the five Juneau schools represented in the indigenous sports event, finishing behind Bethel and Anchorage in the large schools division.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t The teams at Thunder Mountain, Yaakoosge Daakahidi and Juneau-Douglas high schools will now prepare for the NYO Games on April 25-27 in Anchorage.<\/p>\n