Olympians Faulkner, Schumacher earn Pride of Alaska honors in Sports Hall of Fame Directors Awards

Apr. 18—Olympians Kristen Faulkner and Gus Schumacher were named Pride of Alaska winners for the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame Directors Awards this week.

Faulkner and Schumacher were joined by Sobina Clendaniel and Jack Leveque, the winners in the girls and boys categories for the Pride of Alaska award.

Schumacher, a 25-year-old from Anchorage, starred on both the World Cup and Winter Olympics scene, becoming the third American man in history to win an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing. He is the first-ever four-time recipient of the award with his previous honors coming in 2024, 2020 and in the boys category in 2018.

Faulkner, an Olympic cyclist from Homer, takes home the honor for the second year in a row after she won three gold medals last month at the Pan-Am Games in South America.

Clendaniel, a wrestler from Seward, won a trio of medals at three different national youth wrestling tournaments in the past calendar year.

Leveque, a cross-country skier from Anchorage, is also bringing home the boys award for the second year in a row after defending his state titles in both the classic and freestyle races as well as earning a second straight Skimeister title. He also won a junior national title last month in a 10K classic race in Cable, Wisconsin.

Aside from the four Pride of Alaska winners, three other awards were announced Thursday.

Alaska Winter Stars ski club founder and head coach Jan Buron earned the Joe Floyd Award, given for significant contribution to Alaska sports. Buron coached and was instrumental to the development of three winners on this year's list, including both Schumacher and Leveque.

UAA's Elaina Mack of King Cove was the adult winner of the Trajan Langdon Award, given for exhibiting leadership, integrity and sportsmanship. She stayed loyal to the Seawolves program last summer after former head coach Ryan McCarthy and several players and staff departed for Division I Fresno State. She was the lone returner this past season and helped lead the team to a winning record as its second-leading scorer with a career-high 434 points.

The Trajan Langdon Award's youth winners were the Kenai Ice Hawks girls 12U hockey team. The Ice Hawks became the first all-girls team to win a title in the coed 12UB Alaska State Championship Hockey Tournament.

"Alaska is a big state," Alaska Sports Hall of Fame executive director Harlow Robinson said in a statement. "Every year our challenge is to make sure every worthy candidate is considered and every year we come away from the process in awe of of how many talented athletes we have across our state from a wide range of sports."

The winners will be honored June 3 during the Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Anchorage Museum, where they'll be honored alongside the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2026, which was announced in December. The class includes Anchorage adventurer Dick Griffith, Kotzebue basketball player Butch Lincoln and Anchorage bowler Sean Rash. There will also be two moments inducted: the triple-overtime state basketball championship game between East and Bartlett in 1993, and Ephriam Kalmakoff's record-setting Mount Marathon victory in 1928.