Wrangell wrestlers compete at Juneau invitational

A reduced Wrangell wrestling squad visited Juneau this weekend for the Pilot Invitational.

Freshman Darren Shilts earned the highest place for the Wolves, wrestling his way back to third place in the 132-lb bracket. Senior Alex Cano wrestled his way to fourth place by beating Wrangell freshman Sam Armstrong before losing a close decision to Ketchikan’s Kadin Hallstron. Sophomore Chet Armstrong scored another fourth place for the Wolves in the 152-lb. bracket. Alissa Heller also secured a fifth place finish in the 98-lb bracket.

Shilts lost his first match up to Mt. Edgecumbe wrestler and eventual second place finisher Timothy Mack, then hammered Ketchikan’s Dallas Dillard, edged Mt. Edgcumbe’s James Simeonoff and pinned Thunder Mountain’s Sam Nolan to seize third.

“He came in there, and we’ve been pushing for him to come out of his shell,” said head coach Jeffrey Rooney. “He stepped up quite a bit this weekend. We’re still getting him cleaned up on a couple of things, but he’s coming around. He hasn’t had a lot of tournaments, so we’re gonna … keep him climbing the hill.”

Cano scored a bye his first two rounds in the 126-lb bracket, then squeaked a 6-5 decision over Thunder Mountain’s Edwin Meyer before losing to Manny Budke of Hoonah in the quarter final match up. Cano then beat Armstrong 12-0 before losing to Hallstron 6-5, to secure fourth place.

Sam Armstrong pinned Sitka’s Henry Hartzog at 2:45 before losing to Mt. Edgcumbe’s Jeremy Roberts in a 10-4 decision. Sam Armstrong pinned Patrick Nick of Mt. Edgecumb at 2:33 and Hoonah’s Randy Roberts at 2:20 before losing to Cano, and then Meyer of Thunder Mountain in a 9-2 decision to finish the bracket in sixth place.

Chester Armstrong pinned Zach Eichner of Ketchikan at 1:17, then followed up by pinning Thunder Mountain’s Dante Taylor at 3:44 before falling to Petersburg’s Billy Ware 8-0 to enter the consolation bracket. Once there, he pinned Ketchikan’s Zach Eichner in 36 seconds, only to lose a 15-3 major decision to Walker Blair of Hanes.

In the 98-lb bracket, Heller secured two byes before losing to eventual 98-lb champion Deirdre Creed of Mt. Edgecumbe. Heller then pinned Ketchikan’s Connor McCormick in 41 seconds, only to lose to Sitka’s Curt Bartlett, the eventual third-place finisher. Heller then pinned Thunder Mountain’s Juan Fisher in 28 seconds to secure fifth place.

The Wolves continue their season Dec. 6 and 7 at the Region V tournament in Mt. Edgecumbe.