Long-distance rivalry with Alaska foe returns
Dec. 27—Rich Krupa currently serves as high school athletic director in Sitka, Alaska, but for much of this century, he was the school's girls tennis coach.
He was serving in that role when he and his Sitka Wolves met then-Kendrick coach Lisa Wolff and her Tigers at a basketball camp in the mid-2000s.
"We were very competitive against each other and made a good friendship, and asked if she wanted to come up to Alaska," Krupa recalled. "She said 'Yes.' "
Kendrick's subsequent visit started a tradition of travel between the two regions which has endured to this day. That friendly rivalry continues this week as Sitka's boys and girls teams come to the area to play as visitors against Kendrick, Deary and Clearwater Valley (Kooskia) on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, respectively. The Wolves have not come here in several years, with Kendrick having visited in December 2019 for the last installment of the interstate saga before it was disrupted by the COVID response.
On both sides of the Idaho-Alaska divide, the feeling is that this cross-pollination provides both an exciting experience for the youth of the teams and an excellent opportunity to build experience against diverse opposition.
"This is the first time I have taken a team outside the state of Alaska," Sitka boys coach Jarrett Hirai said. "My boys have been really excited (since) they heard this trip was in the works."
Current girls coach Mindy Bartolaba described similar sentiments within her program.
"We are very excited to be coming and playing some teams outside of Alaska," she said. "It gives us a different look and experience before we head into our conference games once we return. We have appreciated Kendrick High making the trip up to Sitka in the past, so we are happy to be finally making it down there."
Sitka's boys team is off to a 3-0 start this season, while the girls — who have regularly featured in Alaska's Class 3A state finals in recent years — are sitting at 2-1, with their defeat coming against larger-division foe Thunder Mountain (Juneau). Krupa described the boys team as a somewhat younger group that "likes to get up and down the floor," and the girls as forming a more senior-heavy group that excels defensively.
"I appreciate the hospitality that Kendrick has shown us, and reciprocate in what we do," he said. "We're looking forward to coming down, playing the teams making some new relationships, and hopefully having a couple teams come up here to Alaska for our tournament (next year)."
Among the area opponents the Wolves are set to take on, Kendrick has had a strong start to the season for both the girls (9-1) and the boys (5-1) — as has Deary, with the Mustangs sitting at 6-0 on the girls side and 4-1 for boys. The Clearwater Valley girls (5-7) and boys (2-4) are both sub-.500, but at Class 1A Division I, they represent a larger-division challenge than the 1A DII Tigers or Mustangs.
