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JDHS revives the wrestling dual meet
Crimson Bears boys topple Dimond Lynx, girls defeat Southeast champ Mt. Edgecumbe Lady Braves
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé wrestling team brought back the old-school dual meet in the George Houston Gymnasium on Thursday, with the Crimson Bears boys grappling Anchorage’s Dimond High School Lynx and the Crimson Bears girls taking on the 10-time defending Southeast champion Mt. Edgecumbe Lady Braves. All four teams will wrestle in the Southeast Showdown Friday and Saturday.
“I think it went great,” JDHS coach Adam Messmer said. “Sounded like Dimond had a lot of fun. We did take every match, but there were some close ones in there. The girls did good. They had some tough matches, too. We had some kids on both sides that got a little gassed, so maybe more sprints on Monday. But having all these other teams here to watch it is great. We don’t get to do a lot of duals in Southeast so it is nice for kids who don’t get to go up north and see exactly what a dual is. It is a little bit more team scoring than one-on-one scoring, more of a team aspect.”
Three-time defending Southeast Region V champion JDHS toppled Dimond 81-0 behind 14 weight-class wins. That included five forfeits — three to begin the dual — seven pins, one technical fall and one major decision. Dual scoring awards six team points for a pin, forfeit, injury or disqualification; five team points for a technical fall (winning a match by 15 or more points); four team points for a major decision (winning a match by 8-14 points); and three team points for a decision (winning a match by 1-7 points).
“First of all, thank you to Juneau,” Dimond coach Anthony Lema said. “You have been very hospitable and we appreciate you. This trip means everything. This is the first time in the recorded history that Dimond wrestling has traveled to Juneau that we know of. So this means everything to us. We have been fundraising all summer long. Ever since last year we thought about this and we have been fundraising for 14 months. You guys put it to us tonight but we appreciate that. That is what is going to make us better. We have a motto, ‘We get 1% better every day.’ And this is what is going to help us get there. The highlight for me is just that while everybody was nervous, they got up and laced their shoes up and put on their singlet and got out there no matter what. The highlight for me was stepping out on the mat. We are excited for tomorrow and Saturday.”
The JDHS girls earned a closer victory over the Lady Braves, 45-24. The Crimson Bears earned three forfeits, one at the beginning of the dual and two in the final weights. In between, both teams earned three pins apiece. JDHS had one decision and MEHS one forfeit win.
“This is super exciting,” MEHS coach Deirdre Creed said. “This is the first time Juneau has had a full lineup so there was a lot of really good competing on the girls’ side, which was really exciting to see. We weren’t able to bring our entire girls’ squad but it was nice to see that at regions there will be some competition at all the weights. The more girls we see, the higher the competition level goes up so we will see girls sport grow and grow.”
JDHS sophomore Fiona McFarlin earned the first forfeit at 100 pounds and MEHS sophomore Kaija Donath the second at 107 pounds to tie the match at 6-6.
JDHS junior Nixie Schooler followed at 114 pounds with a pin of MEHS freshman Haylee Apassingok with 38 seconds left in their first period. Freshman Leighton Hall scored a pin over MEHS freshman Olivya Chagluak-Sosa with 1:26 left in their opening period at 120 pounds to give JDHS an 18-6 lead.
“It was exciting,” Schooler said. “I didn’t get to dual last year when we had a dual so it felt good to wrestle one and to be with my team. I thought it was pretty cool that we had enough girls to do an actual dual this year, and it just felt good seeing my teammates wrestle and win. We have a chance to take a team title now. I think we can. It would be cool to win it for our home tournament.”
MEHS sophomore Audrina Dull topped JDHS junior Lacie Whitehead at 126 pounds. Dull scored an early takedown, Whitehead reversed and Dull escaped. Whitehead earned a takedown as the first period ticked away but Dull reversed and scored a near fall. Dull earned a pin with 1:50 left in the second period to close the Lady Braves to 18-12.
MEHS junior Andrea Collins pinned JDHS junior Toriana Johnson in the second period of their 132-pound match to tie the team score at 18-18. Collins had an early first-period takedown. Johnson scored two takedowns in the second period, but Dull escaped twice and scored the final takedown leading to the fall.
JDHS freshman Feangai Kivalu earned a 7-5 decision over MEHS senior Ashlynn Lonewolf at 138 pounds to give the Crimson Bears a 21-18 lead. Lonewolf controlled the first period, but Kivalu earned a takedown and near fall in the second period to take a lead. Lonewolf closed the second period with a reversal, but Kivalu was too solid in the final minutes.
MEHS senior Ilana Kalke scored a hard-earned pin over JDHS junior Harlee Brown at 145 pounds to give the Lady Braves a 24-21 lead. Brown had the early scoring with a takedown and near fall and continued that into the second period, leading 13-3 before she was caught in a reversal.
JDHS sophomore Ciara Dutton regained the Crimson Bears’ lead with a pin at 0:31 of the first period over MEHS sophomore Kira Oxereok-Weyapuk at 152 pounds for a 27-24 lead. JDHS junior Keira Jenkins scored a forfeit at 165 pounds for 33-24 and sophomore Phoebe Martin scored a forfeit at 185 pounds for 39-24. Sophomore Alea Faatoia scored a forfeit at 235 pounds for a 45-24 team score.
On the boys’ side, JDHS freshman Tanner Freebury opened the dual with a forfeit win at 103 pounds, freshman Logan Sivertesen followed with a forfeit win at 112 pounds and sophomore Maddox Scott earned a forfeit win at 119 pounds for an 18-0 lead before grapplers sweated on the mat.
JDHS junior Carson Kautz scored a 15-5 major decision win over Dimond freshman Liam Lienhart at 125 pounds for a 22-0 team lead. Kautz had a takedown in the first period, lost Lienhart and was taken down, but pulled a reversal. He scored another reversal in the second period and a near fall and added a takedown in the third period.
JDHS sophomore Landon Hill followed with a pin (0:43 first period) over Dimond sophomore Arthur Johnson at 130 pounds, pushing the lead to 28-0, and freshman Wyatt Hickok earned a forfeit at 135 pounds for 34-0. Junior Michael Carson won by forfeit at 140 pounds for 40-0.
JDHS senior Gage Keller got on the mat at 145 pounds and pinned Dimond freshman Isaac Abyo at 0:57. William Hulson scored a technical fall (17-0) at 2:49 of the second period over Dimond sophomore Christian Paraoan at 152 pounds for a 51-0 team lead.
JDHS senior Ethan Van Kirk pinned Dimond junior Anthony Vanzant at 160 pounds.
Van Kirk is one of the JDHS wrestlers coming off the Crimson Bears’ football season.
“It feels good, it feels good,” Van Kirk said. “A pretty quick turnaround. It has been like four days since I was off the field, but it feels good to be back. I am happy to be back.”
And it didn’t take Van Kirk long to put an opponent on their back, earning a takedown with 1:50 on the first period clock and winning in 17 seconds.
“It was a good match,” Van Kirk said. “He seemed like a really good kid, but I just came out here to do what I do and it worked out well.”
JDHS freshman Koji Rank followed with a first-period pin over Dimond junior Joseph Stuermer at 171 pounds, and senior Sam Buttner pinned Dimond senior Miles Benicio in the first period at 189 pounds to push the team lead to 69-0.
JDHS junior Hugo Rank scored a first-round pin over Dimond sophomore Tristan Mason at 215 pounds for a 75-0 team lead. Rank had an early takedown, but Mason reversed and forced a near fall. Rank escaped, took Mason down and scored a near fall before ending the match.
JDHS junior Sean Fairchild ended the boys’ match with a clash against Dimond sophomore Talaiasi Fotukava at 285 pounds. Fairchild was called for an early stall and the two went out of bounds twice in the early seconds.
“It is a good start to the season,” Fairchild said. “I wanted to do more, but you have to start somewhere. Baby steps.”
Fairchild is one of the JDHS football team members going into the program.
“There is a fitness level in football,” Fairchild said. “But there is a whole other level to wrestling as in conditioning.”
Fotukava scored a takedown and a near fall with 1:10 left in the first period, but Fairchild scored his own reversal and near fall.
“I didn’t really settle down,” Fairchild said. “I was just going, trying to see what was open and just doing it. Just trying to out-strength him. I need better conditioning, get more conditioned to wrestling and working on my shots.”
Fairchild trailed 8-6 in the match when he scored the pin with 40 seconds left in the first period to push JDHS to an 81-0 team win.
JDHS will host the Southeast Showdown beginning at 4 p.m. Friday, with the hope to wrestle to the semifinals, and then resume at 9 a.m. Saturday. Roughly 350 wrestlers will be attending, including boys and girls from Angoon, Craig, Dimond, Haines, Hoonah, JDHS, Kake, Metlakatla, MEHS, Petersburg, Sitka, Skagway, Thorne Bay and Wrangell.
The Crimson Bears will honor their senior grapplers at a tentative time of 6 p.m. Saturday before finals. The tournament is planned to have podium placings of first through seventh place to allow for more wrestling.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at sports@juneauindependent.com
