Falcons soar to title over Huskies and Knights
- Klas Stolpe
- 5 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Thunder Mountain Middle School grapplers win away tournament
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Thunder Mountain Middle School wrestling team dominated last weekend’s Blatchley Rumble at Sitka’s Blatchley Middle School.
“The kids did amazing and many stood out,” TMMS wrestling coach Ken Brown said. “I was impressed with all of our kids and how hard they worked.”
The Falcons put 15 grapplers in Saturday’s championship matches against wrestlers from Sitka’s BMS Huskies and Ketchikan’s Schoenbar Middle School Knights.
The teams also participated in round robin matches on Friday. In Saturday’s tournament setting TMMS placed first with 765 points, SMS had 649.5 and BMS 494.5.
“Our focus the last two weeks has been on finding the joy in hard work,” TMMS assistant and Juneau Youth Wrestling coach Jason Hass said. “When you are grateful for the opportunity to compete and have fun sweating towards the long-term goals, greatness is sure to follow.”
Saturday champions for TMMS included 84-pound Troy Peters by pin over BMS’ Jerick Keith at 2:09; 110-pound Logan Sivertsen pinned teammate Cash Miller at 1:49; 114-pound Hunter Ridle pinned SMS’ Maximus Birch at 2:08; girls’ 120-pound Leighton Hall pinned SMS’ Sydney Crim at 2:05; 126-pound Andrew Erickson pinned SMS’ Isaac Lee at 1:38; girls’ 128-pound Minali Reid pinned SMS’ Kyrene Harney at 3:55; girls’ 136-pound Ngai Kivalu by 13-2 major decision over teammate Sierra Savage; and 140-pound Steven Fairchild pinned BMS’ Damien Sam at 4:27.
“Steven had the match of the night,” coach Brown said. “He forced his opponent to pin himself. Stevie has really good defensive wrestling and can shift his body in weird ways to make his opponent make mistakes. He was all beat up, but he got a much-deserved win.”
TMMS runners up included girls’ 105.5-pound Janessa Dutton, 110-pound Cash Miller, girls’ 145-pound Sinira Tomanogi, 210-pound Kolten Krueger and 148-pound Matvii Kozodoi.
Other weight bracket champions included SMS 98-pound Jude White over teammate Cyrus Yoder by pin at 2:40; BMS’ 105-pound Marshall Branch by 13-4 major decision over SMS’ Nolan Zaguri; BMS’ 105.5-pound Ruthann Routon pinned TMHS’ Dutton at 3:50; SMS’ 118-pound Abe Pennino pinned teammate Paul King at 2:33; SMS’ 132-pound Rylan Jones pinned TMHS’ Cole Savland at 2:44; SMS girls’ 145-pound Kendall Hamilton by 14-7 decision over TMHS’ Tomanogi; BMS’ 148-pound Garrett Johnson by 17-1 technical fall over TMHS’ Kozodoi; and SMS’ 210-pound Mason Garrison pinned TMHS’ Krueger at 1:25.
“I think the middle schoolers are noticing the success our high school program is having,” coach Hass said. “The acknowledgment of this success is inspiring the younger wrestlers to ‘buy-in’ to the program and trust the process… Middle school is an interesting age. Many of our young men and women are still growing into their bodies and building the brain-to-body connections. But this rate of development happens so fast it is an honor to witness.”
TMMS third-place finishers included 84-pound Finley Hulson, 110-pound Jacob Hansen, 114-pound Momar Diouf, 118-pound Woody Collins, 126-pound Jimmy Carson, 132-pound Cole Savland, 136-pound Sierra Savage, 140-pound Calen Sooter, 148-pound Haylee Dyer-Ondreka, and 210-pound William Lansing.
TMMS fourth-place finishers included 105-pound Eli Underwood-Knowles, 114-pound Harper Durham, 118-pound Gavin Tobacco, 132-pound Otto Lindoff, 140-pound Wyatt Hickok, 148-pound Aaro Eckerson, and 210-pound Koji Rank.
TMMS coaches also noted strong wrestling by Falcons’ 84-pound Neviah Blanton, 105-pound Finn Troutman, 105-pound Tanner Freebury, 120-pound Amelia Ryder, 128-pound Hinai Kuma, 132-pound Guy Hunter, 140-pound Boe Reigard, 140-pound Kael Prince, 148-pound Sean Smack and 210-pound Jeremiah Filipo.
TMMS’ Sooter, Sivertsen and Peters recorded six pins each in the tournament; Hickok, Hall, Carson, Rank, Lansing and Reigard five each; Miller, Ondreka, Erickson and Fairchild four each; Prince, Underwood-Knowles, Collins, Kivalu, Savage, Ridle, Hansen, Smack, Reid and Blanto three each; Kozodoi, Troutman, Eckerson, Hulson, Dutton, Lindoff and Savland two each; and Krueger, Diouf, Tobacco, Filipo and Tomanogi one each. Hickok had the fastest pin in 0:12, Ridle in 0:14, Prince in 0:16, Krueger in 0:20 and Miller in 0:21 among the many Falcons grapplers. Erickson totaled the most technical falls with three.
“I have never traveled with a more respectful group of middle schoolers,” coach Hass said. “These young men and women represented Juneau wrestling so well, on and off the mat.”
TMMS travels to Ketchikan for the Southeast Regional Middles School Tournament, which is Friday and Saturday.
“Our quickly expanding girls contingent is especially exciting to watch grow,” coach Hass said. “I am completely confident that they will be a force to be reckoned with next weekend at regionals and into their high school career. Leading them are eighth graders Haylee (Ondrejka), Minali (Reid), Leighton (Hall), Nigi (Kivalu) and Sinira and Hinai (Kuma)… Our boys are posting huge wins, including team leaders Andrew (Eriksen) and Logan (Sivertsen).
TMMS will host the Harben Middle School Invitational Feb. 13-14 in the Falcons gym. The JYWC is hosting its annual Southeast Clash elementary-age tournament at TMHS on Feb. 21 and JYWC will take a contingent of middle school wrestlers to the 50th annual Tanana Invitational, which is considered the unofficial middle school state tournament.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
