Throughout the year, the Mariners charted new territory. They competed deeper into regional and state playoffs than ever before. They broke school records along the way and set the bar higher for those who now follow.

Here’s a look back at 2005 — one wild ride in the history of Homer sports.

Wrestling

Homer’s Simeon Daigle and Camron Hagen finished in fourth place to lead the Mariners at the 4A Alaska Wrestling Championship in February.

Daigle broke the school and state record for technical falls in 2005 with 16, breaking the old mark of 13 held by two wrestlers. He also set the school record for wins with 47, varsity points with 247 and near falls with 85.

Louden Greiner broke the state record for career pins with 91 but so did Bobby Dunbar of Bartlett with 102. Greiner became the all-time win leader at Homer with 123 and set the single season pin record for the school with 33.

Photo by Ben Stuart, Homer News Claire Siekaniec blocks the shot of Soldotna's Christa Kennedy.

XC Ski

Both the boys and girls Mariner cross-country ski teams finished fourth out of 10 teams at the Region III ski meet in February. Snow conditions were inconsistent at best.

At state, Morgan Jones finished 20th overall, which put him first among the peninsula’s underclass boys.

Hockey

The Mariner hockey team won its first hockey trophy with a second-place finish at the Greatland State Hockey Tournament in 2005 — falling to Houston 4-1 in the championship game.

The Mariners didn’t have home ice, but they had a strong senior class and three pairs of brothers on the team.

The program moved up to 4A in October, and with new ice the Mariners avenged their loss to Houston by beating the Hawks 3-2.

Photo by Ben Stuart, Homer News Nyssa Baechler winds up at the state tournament in Fairbanks.

Girls BB

The Homer Community was buzzing after the Mariners won their final two games to claim fourth place at the 4A State Championships in March. Other than senior star Bailey Lowney, the group relied heavily on younger talent, including freshmen Allison Horazdovsky and Reba Temple.

The girls made state by finishing second in the region after a thrilling three-overtime loss to Wasilla in the championship game.

Boys BB

Soldotna knocked the Mariner boys from a ticket to state in the third-place game at the region tournament in March.

In November, a new coach and a defense-first attitude has already started to pay dividends.

Photo by Ben Stuart, Homer News Justin Adams checks Skyview's Cody Haberman along the boards.

New Rink

After years of dreaming and fund-raising, Homer got its first indoor ice arena in April. The rink now hosts hockey games and figure skating practice, as well as public skating. In March 2006, the rink will host the curling event for the 2006 Arctic Winter Games.

Girls Soccer

After winning regions for the second time in two years, the Mariner girls soccer team also won the school’s first two games at the state championships in May. Led by sophomore Claire Siekaniec on offense and sophomore Kathryn McCarron in the net, the girls beat Palmer 1-0 and Wasilla 3-1.

Photo by Ben Stuart, Homer News Johnny Taylor pitches against Kodiak.

Boys Soccer

Brazilian exchange student Francis Carvahlo turned some heads with his strong play throughout the year, but it wasn’t enough to get the boys past the region tournament in May. Palmer knocked the boys out of contention early in the first round.

Baseball

In back-to-back weeks the Mariner baseball team put together the two best games of any team in 2005. On May 28 Homer beat the defending state champion Kodiak Bears 8-7 in the South Central Conference championship game. Neither team led by more than three runs at any time in the game, and the lead switched hands in each of the final three innings.

In the top of the seventh inning, Justin Adams made a diving catch in the outfield that spurred a Homer rally and punched their ticket to State.

In Fairbanks in June, after destroying West Valley 12-0 in the semi-final game, the Mariners ran into a gritty Sitka team.

After 14 innings and four-and-a-half hours of gut-wrenching play Sitka beat Homer 9-6 in the longest Alaska championship baseball game ever.

Softball

The Mariners earned the No.1 seed in the small schools state tournament in Fairbanks in June, but dropped a pair of one-run games to Sitka and Eielson to get bounced early.

Track

Speedster Erika Klaar was the lone Mariner to compete at state from a young team in May. At the State Track and Field Championships in Fairbanks, she missed qualifying for the finals in the 100-meter sprint by a mere four-hundredths of a second. Her time of 13.21 was good enough for her to finish fifth in heat two of the event.

Photo by Ben Stuart, Homer News Dylan Toole jumps over a Ketchikan keeper.

Football

The Mariner football team made the state playoffs for the first time in school history in October and nearly advanced to the finals, but lost to Eilson in the semi-finals 21-20.

Head Football Coach Kelly Blake said the Mariners, who finished with a 4-5 overall record, were able to accomplish a lot despite not having any phenomenal athletes. He said solid athletes like Justin Smith, Canyon McKinstry, Camron Hagen and Noah McWilliams were able to take Homer to new heights because of the way Homer bonded as a team.

Volleyball

A young Mariner volleyball team in 2005 nearly made it to the third-place game in the Northern Lights Conference Tournament in November, but lost a close game to Skyview.

XC Running

As a sign of good things to come for the Mariners, runners Tia Halpin and Katie Arsenault ran their fastest ever times at Tsalteshi Trails Oct. 24 to finish 66th and 69th respectively among 84 girls at the state cross country championships.

Photo by Ben Stuart, Homer News Deanie Andree swims in her final home meet.

Swimming

In a year filled with expectations, and in a meet packed with pressure in Palmer, the boys and girls swimmers swept team region titles for the first time in school history.

The Homer girls scored 78 points, edging Kodiak by seven points. They also beat Soldotna, the team that knocked Homer out of the top region spot in 2004 by 15 points. The Mariner boys came from behind and beat out Wasilla by 13 points.

At state in November Kevin Wythe, Brian Ritchie, John Brennand-Sheffler and Lauren Bell made the finals in individual events, and the boys and girls both qualified in the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays.

A look ahead to 2006

The hockey, basketball, wrestling and cross-country skiing teams are halfway through their seasons now and will continue their runs in 2006.

Both basketball teams look promising in the region this year, the hockey team is improving with new ice, wrestlers are making a run for state and the ski team is, once again, praying for snow.