The Wrangell Wolves wrestling team traveled to Anchorage this past weekend to take part in the Anchorage Christian School tournament – and two members of the team walked away with a place in the finals.
Teams from 44 schools and more than 400 wrestlers attended the tournament at ACS – a meet which is highly beneficial to the Wolves team according to head coach Jeff Rooney.
“The competition at ACS allows us to seed our wrestlers more efficiently at the regional and state meets,” Rooney said. “The wrestlers who attend get to see great competition from the northern schools that we would not see otherwise until our state meet.”
The sheer magnitude of the tournament is beneficial to the wrestlers from Wrangell as well, Rooney added.
“It enables our wrestlers to catch a glimpse of what a large tournament has to offer and also what level of expectations each participant has to adhere to while maintaining their involvement,” Rooney said.
Meeting – and exceeding – expectations is what the Wolves did very well in the bracketed 32-man competition.
Two Wrangell wrestlers, Kurt Dingwall and Tanner Thomassen, placed in the 5th and 6th places respectively during the consolation finals on Saturday, Oct. 29.
Dingwall, a varsity wrestler for the Wolves, drew a high seed on Friday and wrestled hard, though he ultimately ended up in the consolation bracket on Saturday.
“Kurt wrestled hard,” Rooney said. “By mid-day on Friday, he had taken on and lost an overtime match to the No. 1 seed, Kotzebue’s Doug O’Hara. But it wasn’t before he had defeated two very strong opponents.”
On Saturday, Dingwall came back with a vengeance to defeat three of his four opponents for a 5th place finish.
“I was very happy to see his level of intensity both on and off the mat,” Rooney added. “I’m looking forward to a lot more top finishes from him as the season goes on.”
The other top-placer for Wrangell, junior Tanner Thomassen, won two rounds against his competition before being paired off against No. 2 Michael Ace of Valdez. Thomassen fell 16-7 in that match before rebounding in the consolation round for another shot at Ace. After a tough run, Thomassen took 6th place in a 7-4 decision for Valdez.
“We’re looking to see Tanner improve with every match,” Rooney said. “We are also looking forward to many more high placements for him.”
Wrangell finished the tournament in 17th place on a score of 51 points. Nikiski won the tournament with a final score of 207 points.
The ACS tournament is the largest single high school wrestling meet during the regular season in Alaska. The Wolves’ next meet will be this weekend at Craig.
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