Wrangell’s high school wrestling team finished in third overall during the weekend’s Pilot Invitational at Thunder Mountain High School in Juneau.
“It was a great tournament,” said Wolves coach Jeff Rooney. “Some great competition all around.”
Included in the competition were the Colony High School Knights, a 4A team from Palmer. Rooney said the team raised the level of the tournament and challenged his players.
“They did very well,” he commented. Of the 12 taken to Juneau, five ended up competing in the finals, with two finishing in first.
Ian Jenson took first
in the Varsity 132, opening up with a pin in 1:16 over Christian Batac of Thunder Mountain. He won
against Anthony Torres of Colony by fall in 3:05, and in the final round bested Colony’s Daniel Colley by majority decision.
In the 170 bracket, Dawson Miller finished in first place after winning one match by forfeiture and beating Simon Ganchenko from Colony High School in an 11-7 decision.
Wrestling in the
98-pound bracket, Jonah Comstock took second place overall. In his first round he pinned Dwight King of Ketchikan in 1:35, and was pinned himself the next round by Colony High School’s Austin Edwards in 3:12. Comstock finished his third round with a win over Mt. Edgecumbe’s Gabriel Klushkan, winning by fall in 3:49.
Sam Armstrong came in second place in the crowded 145 bracket. He advanced with a pair of wins by fall and a third by 5-1 decision before going against Ketchikan’s Max Collins in the final. Collins won by 14-8 decision.
Competing in the 182-pound bracket, Darren Shilts finished in second place. After a bye round, he pinned Ketchikan’s Gerik Sherrill in 1:02, and was pinned in the final by Chayse Eby from Colony in six minutes.
Caleb Groshong finished the Varsity 220 in third place, coming away with a 3-1 showing. He pinned Tim Williams from Metlakatla in 42 seconds before being relegated to the secondary in his next bout. He went on to finish two more matches with pins, at 0:49 and 2:36.
Elizabeth Johnson and Hannah Brown
competed together in the girls’ 132 bracket, respectively
finishing in third and fourth place. Both won initial
matches before moving to the secondary bracket. In
the final, Johnson pinned
her teammate with a time of 1:46.
In the 113 bracket, J.D. Barratt finished with one win over Royale Lowe from Mt. Edgecumbe. Dillon Rooney finished in fourth place in the Varsity 160, coming off with a 2-2 showing.
In the Varsity 152, Sig Decker and Hunter Wiederspohn competed
against a full roster. Finishing up in the secondary
bracket, Decker dispatched his classmate by fall in 38
seconds, before coming in fourth behind Thunder Mountain’s Deven Mason by 13-4 decision.
“It went very well,” Rooney summed up.
The team will next be heading to Ketchikan this weekend for the Bill Weiss Tournament.
“It’s kind of an instrumental 4-A tournament,” Rooney commented. The competition
will see teams from Bethel and Glenallen, and will include
students from Prince of Wales and Petersburg schools, who were unable to make Juneau’s invitational.
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