FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson) 

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Daily Sitka Sentinel

Sitka Athlete Earns UAF All-Academic Award

By GARLAND KENNEDY

Sentinel Sports Editor

A University of Alaska Fairbanks basketball player and former Sitka High Lady Wolves basketball star scored a collegiate accolade this week  – a spot on the Nanook’s All-Academic team.

Zosha Krupa graduated from Sitka High in 2017 and is now close to finishing her degree in communications with a minor in fisheries. She learned of her All-Academic award on Tuesday, she told the Sentinel over the phone.

Though she is already a Nanook senior, Krupa said she will return to school next year to add a new minor and possibly play basketball in one more regular season.

“With NCAA, they’re giving every student athlete an extra year of eligibility, so as of right now I plan on coming back next year. And in order to come back, I added another minor- which is art – so I just decided to add that and plan on playing. I don’t know if I’ll be playing this year or not,” she said.

Regardless of the future, Krupa was happy for the sense of community on the Fairbanks team.

“I absolutely love all my teammates. It’s awesome because we have seven Alaskans, and I played against every single one of them (in high school)... I’m very grateful for it, I love my coaches and I love my teammates to death. The community up here is amazing, everyone here is so supportive,” she said.

Looking back, she linked some of her success to Sitka.

“I’m just grateful to have this opportunity at times to represent my hometown. It’s really awesome,” she said.

As a high schooler and even before, Krupa recalled building her basketball skills within a tight-knit group.

“My experience on the Sitka basketball team, I would say, is very memorable because I grew up playing with the same girls. You had my parents, Rich and Karen Krupa, working out with the kids in Community Schools, helping develop the program and once we reached high school we came prepared and knew what we were going to do,” she said. “I just made a lot of memories out of that and with coach Lundvick, who was awesome… I was really happy I was able to do that.” Her father, Rich Krupa, is Sitka High’s activities director.

Her former coach remembers Krupa fondly.

“Zoe was definitely a special player and a lot of fun to be around. Talented, and we actually had the opportunity to travel to Fairbanks last year and play in a tournament and we were able to watch Zoe play. That was a lot of fun,” Sondra Lundvick said over the phone today. Lundvick coached the Lady Wolves basketball squad until this year, when she became principal of Sitka High. Mindy Bartolaba is the team’s current coach.

For Lundvick, Krupa’s example is a reminder to high school students that there can be a future for women in sports beyond twelfth grade.

“There is another level and the opportunities that are available for girls today after high school didn’t always exist. And it’s really nice for them to see that, and it’s near and dear to my heart because I played college basketball,” Lundvick said. She played basketball at Lamar University.

Krupa’s former coach was impressed by the athlete’s sports-life-school balance as well.

“During this COVID year we’ve had, I know it’s difficult and I appreciate that Zoe’s taking advantage of having an extra year of eligibility and continuing to stay on track, get all of her academics complete – which is the goal – but enjoy the sport that she loves... College athletics is a fulltime job, you have hours and hours of things every day,” Lundvick said. “Zoe is learning huge life lessons through this and its going to make her a better adult.”

Krupa had fond memories of her time as a member of one the last Southeast teams to ride a functional Alaska Marine Highway.

“It was fun when Regions would happen because you would have 2A, 3A and some 4A all crammed onto the ferry,” she remembered.

Krupa, one of two seniors on the Fairbanks team, specializes in defensive play as a shooting guard.

“I’m known as a defensive player,” she said.

With sports around the world thrown into turmoil over the past year, Krupa’s team didn’t travel to play this season. But the small group of student athletes stuck together and practiced despite this.

“This year... it’s been a great year because there are nine girls total that are here for now. Some decided to stay home… but I’ve honestly been working on drills, just developing skills and drills and planning it more as a team, I’d say. So it’s been great because we have all of these great players and it just helps contribute,” she said.

The team opted not to engage in any sort of travel season in order to protect themselves from the coronavirus.

“We thought it was better to be safer than sorry, if one of our girls caught COVID and we were staying in a hotel… it would have been stressful,” she said.

The Nanooks, much like Sitka High teams, travel frequently in order to play.

“With this situation, we were going to have somewhat of a COVID season, it would have been certain teams that were interested in playing… but for us we kind of realized we only had nine girls here practicing and so what we decided to do is kind of opt out and we thought it would be safer and less stressful,” she said. “We travel so much, it’s exactly like Southeast, you don’t ferry, but you fly everywhere. We’ll be on two week trips.”

During the 2019-20 season, Krupa scored 81 points and made 26 steals in 29 games as a junior. She snagged 69 rebounds, 62 of them defensive, alaskananooks.com says. Last season was her first with the Nanooks, as she transferred to UAF from North Idaho College.

To earn that All-Academic nod, Krupa maintained a cumulative grade point average of 3.65. She was among four others on her team to earn an All-Academic spot.

She also made the school’s Chancellor’s List.

But keeping up good grades and athletic ability hasn’t been easy.

“With practice, it depends, when we usually have preseason and season it ranges between two, three hours a day five or six days a week. And with school, I wake up at, like, 6:30 a.m., get to the gym at 8 a.m. and start practice at 9 a.m., go from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and then take an hour break. From (noon) to 8 p.m. I range about 7 to 8 hours of school work,” she said, describing the combined work load of two fulltime jobs.

Despite her love of basketball, Krupa stressed the importance of her education.

“The main reason why I’m here is to get my education, and for me- I was a walk-on.”

Krupa returns to Sitka today for her spring break. She hopes to watch the Lady Wolves play Ketchikan.

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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.


50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....

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