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Crimson Bears grapplers claim northern titles
JDHS puts six wrestlers on podium in Houston, win multiple matches at Haines
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé wrestling team sent two teams on mat attacks across the state over the weekend.
The Crimson Bears sent 13 wrestlers to the Houston Altercation in Houston, Alaska, an early season gathering of the state’s top wrestling teams, and another 19 to face three Division II schools in Haines.
“We have quite a few elite wrestlers on our team,” JDHS coach Adam Messmer said. “And a bunch of wrestlers that are getting close to being elite. And they need to see the competition they are up against in the state tournament, and getting them ready for the state tournament. We have been doing this for the last few years — having the top kids go to tougher tournaments up north to get them ready. That seemed to fill a hole that was lacking. And sending the kids to Haines, that is a lot of freshmen and just kids that need more matches or more mat time for one reason or another.”
The JDHS boys tied for third at the Houston Altercation while only wrestling in six of the weight classes, and the JDHS girls placed seventh with just two grapplers.
“It was a great tournament for us,” Messmer said. “The whole team performed well. We had our elite wrestlers that I expected would do well and some wrestlers that I knew would hit some hammers at some point. After the first day everybody was still in the tournament, and they run through a lot of the tournament in the first day so a lot of kids can get knocked out.”
JDHS junior Nixie Schooler pinned her way to the girls 114-pound title, topping Seward sophomore Lyla DeCastro in 37 seconds in the quarterfinals, Colony senior Tiffany Churchill at 1:06 of the semifinals and Soldotna freshman McKinley Bock at 3:05 of the finals.
“Nixie had a little hiccup at the start of her finals match,” Messmer said. “She turned it around, though. I think it was just kind of a first matches of the year, and they are tough matches.”
JDHS sophomore Madelyn Dale placed third at 126 pounds. Dale pinned her first two opponents — Student Wrestling Development Program freshman Vera Schjott and Soldotna freshman Tynlee Moore — in the first two rounds, then lost to Wasilla senior Taryn Wright in the semifinals by pin at 3:20. Dale came back with a 19-second pin of Schmitt and won third place by 13-1 major decision over SWDP senior Michaela Spencer.
“Maddie Dale did well,” Messmer said. “From where she started last season at the beginning to where she ended up placing at state was pretty remarkable. She is just a sponge. She lost in the semifinals and wrestled back to third. Her semifinal match was a very winnable match for her, and I am glad she got to end her tournament on a win. It was just one little mistake that cost her going into the finals. In her third-place match, she definitely fixed that mistake and we will probably never see that mistake again from her.”
On the boys’ side, senior Camden Messmer won the 135-pound title, senior Jed Davis the 152-pound title, sophomore Landon Hill the 130-pound title and junior Hugo Rank placed second at 215 pounds.
Messmer pinned his first three opponents — Nikiski senior Michael Fowler, Colony sophomore Regan Yundt and Houston freshman Weston Hutter — and won by 16-8 major decision in the title match over Soldotna junior Kaiser DesOrmeaux.
“Camden wrestled against a third-year DI state placer from last year at that weight,” coach Messmer said. “It was a tough match. He had a little hiccup right at the beginning of the match but turned it around and kind of just picked the kid apart.”
Davis recorded pins over Palmer junior Connor Blair and Colony freshman Jude Bailey and an 18-2 technical fall over East senior Liam Ferreira. He won the championship by fall over SWDP senior Roman Sorensen at 3:22.
Hill pinned Palmer sophomore Bentley Anderson, won by 15-0 technical fall over SWDP sophomore Josiah Witcher, defeated Soldotna sophomore Corbin Ebenezer 7-2 in the semifinals and won by 14-1 major decision over Valdez junior Logan Beck.
“Jed Davis and Landon Hill won their finals in dominant fashion,” Messmer said. “Superior wrestling. Couldn’t have wrestled two better matches. Perfect almost.”
Rank pinned his way into the finals — Houston sophomore Kole McAuley at 2:45, Soldotna senior Riley Vacek at 3:01, Soldotna sophomore Cameron Jordan at 48 seconds — before losing in the title match to Colony freshman Landon Davis by fall at 3:51.
“I think that is a match he would like to have back,” coach Messmer said. “It was super close and ended up in a throw, and Hugo landed on top of the kid. His momentum kind of carried him and the kid rolled him over. It was kind of who was going to end up on top.”
JDHS senior Jaeger Hubert had five matches at 171 pounds and won three; senior Landyn Dunn five matches at 140 pounds, winning three; sophomore Jack Pegues four matches at 135 pounds, winning two; sophomore William Hulson five matches at 152 pounds, winning three; junior Joshua Beedle five matches at 140 pounds, winning three; senior Joseph Webster three matches at 135 pounds, winning one; and sophomore Matthew Shockley four matches at 130 pounds, winning two.
“Jack Pegues surprised me,” coach Messmer said. “He missed weight by a couple ounces and ended up wrestling at 135, and he beat some top-tier kids and wrestled some really good matches against the kids he lost to. We had some first match jitters for some kids, who probably should have won their first matches, but then came back and won a couple. Pretty much any match won at this tournament is a feather in your cap.”
Student Wrestling Development Program topped the boys’ team scoring with 244 points, followed by Colony with 152.5, JDHS 134, Soldotna 134, Nikiski 132, Wasilla 87, East Anchorage 86.5, Kodiak 67, Valdez 62, Mountain City Christian Academy 60, Houston 59, Palmer 58.5, Seward 50, Grace Christian 38, Redington 37.5, Hutchison 29 and Susitna Valley.
The girls’ team scoring had Soldotna on top with 217, followed by SWDP with 107, Wasilla 84, Redington 71, Colony 67.5, Nikiski 67, JDHS 47, Seward 47, Kodiak 45.5, Valdez 45, Houston 37, Palmer 35, East 34, Hutchison 28, Newhalen 21.5 and Susitna Valley.
The Haines Invitational had limited wrestlers attending so no true tournament was held. Haines, Skagway and Hoonah formed a team to challenge the JDHS grapplers in a boys’ and girls’ final setting. There also was a boys’ and girls’ varsity alignment.
“They showed me they are hungry to improve,” JDHS assistant coach Dan Ondrejka said. “We brought a very young crew to Haines. This was the perfect way to kick off the season for them.”
Among the various championship settings 120/126-pound freshman Leighton Hall had five first-place finishes; 126-pound freshman Minali Reid had three first-place finishes; 132-pound junior Sunny Dutton two first-place finishes and two second-place finishes; 145-pound junior Harlee Brown two first-place finishes and one second place; 145-pound freshman Feangai Kivalu one first-place and two second-place finishes; 152/165-pound sophomore Ciara Dutton four first-place wins; 165-pound junior Keira Jenkins one first-place and two second-place finishes; 103-pound freshman Tanner Freebury two third-place finishes; 103-pound freshman Logan Sivertsen three second-place finishes; 112/119-pound freshman Finn Troutman one first-place and three second-place finishes; 125-pound sophomore Jayden Frickey a fifth place; 125-pound junior Carson Kautz one first-place and two second-places; 125-pound freshman Matvii Kozodoi a second and a fourth place; 125-pound sophomore Maddox Scott a first and a third place; 135-pound senior Tyler Garrison a second and a third place; 135-pound freshman Wyatt Hickok a first and three second-place finishes; 140-pound junior Michael Carson three first-place finishes; 140-pound sophomore Luke Darbonne two third-place finishes; and 189-pound junior Brody Vavalis two first-place finishes and one second-place.
“The way the tournament started was very different from how the tournament ended,” coach Ondrejka said. “Every match you could see the growth in each kid. They would come off the mat wanting to know what they did wrong, asking how can they improve. We had kids requesting to watch film with coaches after matches. It shows they are buying into what has been building for years with this team. We couldn’t have been happier with the outcome and mindset coming out this weekend heading into our home tournament.”
The JDHS boys will be hosting the Dimond Lynx boys in a dual match and the JDHS girls will host the Mt. Edgecumbe girls in a dual match, both at 5 p.m. Thursday on side-by-side mats. A dual match is a head-to-head competition between two entire schools, rather than an individual tournament. This will be a solid showing against one of the top boys teams and top girls teams in the state.
Following on Friday and Saturday will be a traditional tournament setting with Dimond joining in the mix of the attending 16 Southeast schools in the Southeast Showdown.
“The last few years the tournament has been around 210 wrestlers,” Messmer said. “I think we are going to be around 350 this weekend. It is the biggest tournament Juneau has seen in a long time.”
That tournament begins at 4 p.m. Friday with the hope to wrestle to the semifinals, and then resumes at 9 a.m. Saturday. JDHS will also honor their senior wrestlers at the tentative time of 6 p.m. Saturday, before finals. The tournament is planned to have podium placings of first through seventh place, which will allow for a little more wrestling.
“Southeast is getting big enough where we can get back to line brackets,” Messmer said. “So that is pretty exciting.”
• Contact Klas Stolpe at sports@juneauindependent.com
