Two of the most accomplished athletes to ever come from the Kenai Peninsula have just been inducted into the 2024 Alaska Sports Hall of Fame. Peninsula sports legends Allie Ostrander and Dallas Seavey will be inducted into Alaska’s 16th Hall of Fame class this coming April.
Ostrander, a running marvel from the Kenai Peninsula and graduate of Kenai Central High School, captured three NCAA Division I steeplechase championships and has a storied career at Mount Marathon.
At Boise State, she was a 13-time All-American in track and cross country—she was the national runner-up at the 2015 cross country championships—before turning pro after her junior year.
At Mount Marathon, she won the 2017 women’s race with the second-fastest time in history and was a six-time junior girls champion, making her sixth victory an overall victory by beating all of the boys.
During her senior year at Kenai High School, she won the Nike National Cross-Country high school championship. Since 2019 she has run professionally, and finished 8th in the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials for the Steeplechase.
“Allie is, at this point, certainly in a very short list of the greatest runners in our state sports history and very worthy of being selected,” said Harlow Robinson, Executive Director of ASHoF.
Also inducted into the Hall of Fame was 5-time Iditarod Champion, and Seward, Alaska native, Dallas Seavey.
“When you look at his accomplishments at this stage of his career, they stack up with any of the great mushers that have been inducted into the Hall of Fame already, especially the five Iditarod championships,” said Robinson.
In 2021 Seavey won his fifth Iditarod in 13 entries, tying the mark set by Hall of Fame musher Rick Swenson, a record which was once thought to be an unbreakable. Benchmarks are something of a specialty for Seavey, however, who in 2005 set the record for youngest musher to enter in Alaska’s most famous race when he competed at only 18 years old. Beyond that, Dallas also holds the record for the fastest ever completion time–he won in 2021 with a staggeringly fast run of 7 days, 14 hours, 57 seconds.
In a Facebook post put out on Thursday, Seavey said, “I am so honored to have been chosen to join the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame. This is an unforgettable opportunity, and I am so thankful to have the support from my Alaska team that has allowed me to reach this major achievement. I am also so grateful for the support I have received from each one of you, and for you all believing in me over the years! My team & I can’t say thanks enough.”
Seavey is a third generation musher from Seward.
Ostrander and Seavey join ten-time Special Olympics World Games medalist Bobby Hill as a part of the 2024 Hall of Fame class.
For a full list of inductees, visit the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame website.