Wrangell’s wrestlers continue their season with a handful of first placements and other top-three showings, following a pair of tournaments the past two weekends.
At the Pilot Invitational in Juneau October 20 and 21, eight Wrangell High School students participated after one was pulled for an injury. Of them, in bracket play two wrestlers finished with first placements, two with seconds, and two with thirds.
“They jumped in there, they really wrestled tough,” commented coach Jeff Rooney afterward.
Competing in round-robin play in the 106-pound weight bracket, JD Barratt finished in first place and teammate Jonah Comstock came in second. Barratt won his first round match with Thunder Mountain’s Ricky Ramirez with a pin in 1:23, while Comstock bested Ketchikan’s Cassandra Stout by fall in 1:47. The two teammates squared off with each other in the next round, with Barratt winning by 13-3 majority decision. In the third round, Barratt won by pin over Stout in 41 seconds, while Comstock likewise won his match with Ramirez by fall in 4:50.
In the Varsity 113, Chase Kincaid was relegated to the consolation bracket after Nate Houston from Thunder Mountain won by fall in 47 seconds. After a bye, he squared off with Curtis Stauss, also of Thunder Mountain, who prevailed by a close 7-6 decision.
“He wrestled a tough tournament,” Rooney said.
In the girls’ 145 bracket, Hannah Brown lost her first round to Mt. Edgecumbe’s Anya Pingayak by 5-3 decision, but won her next match over Laura Ekada of Mt. Edgecumbe by 6-4 decision. Competing for third place, Brown again was matched against Pingayak, but this time had the upper hand in a 5-1 decision win.
Competing for the boys’ 145 bracket, Ian Jenson won his first round over Ketchikan’s Richard Stuart with a pin in 1:36. The next match was over Sitka student Gavin Hammock, with Jenson winning by 4-0 decision. In the final, he beat Ketchikan’s Troy Harris by 5-2 decision.
Hunter Wiederspohn took second in the 152 weight bracket, finishing his first two matches in pins with times of 36 seconds and 3:22. In the finals, Ketchikan wrestler Max Collins won by 16-3 majority decision.
In the 182-pound bracket, Dillon Rooney began with a win over Thunder Mountain’s Josh Quinto by 7-3 decision. In the next, Thunder Mountain’s Derek Mason won by pin in 5:09, after which Rooney pinned Mason’s teammate Camden Erickson in 29 seconds during the consolation semifinal. Competing for third, Rooney went on to beat Brandon Wieber of Ketchikan by 4-2 decision.
Coming off that showing, the team next shipped off to Ketchikan for the Bill Weiss Invitational on October 27 and 28. Wrangell finished in third place overall in the tournament, garnering 99 points.
Wrestlers in the 106 weight bracket were split into two pools for round-robin play, competing afterward in a final bracket round. After winning his two matches in the round-robin, Barratt went on to best Craig’s Lexis Collins in the semifinal round, finishing by fall in 3:15. He went up against Comstock in the final, after his teammate won two matches. Barratt came out with a first place finish, with Comstock in second.
Kincaid finished the 113 bracket tournament in fourth place, winning one of his two matches in the round-robin, after pinning Petersburg’s Shayla Madole in 1:46. In the finals bracket, Houston won by fall in 1:05, and Kincaid lost by fall to Petersburg’s Jolyn Toyomura in 2:46.
Competing in the 145, Jenson finished in fourth place after winning two matches in the round-robin pool. In the finals bracket, he won by 11-2 majority decision over Ketchikan’s Justin Albecker, before being beaten by Craig’s Drew Marker by 6-3 decision. In the consolation pool vying for third, he finished just behind Troy Harris from Ketchikan, who won by 7-5 decision.
Weiderspohn finished in second place in the 152 weight bracket, winning his two in the round-robin. In the bracket, he finished his first match against Christ Smith of Ketchikan with a pin in 1:24, then beat Thunder Mountain’s Jacob Ferster by 9-2 decision in the semifinal round. Ketchikan’s Collins came out on top again in the finals, winning by 8-3 decision.
Rooney finished his round-robin with a win, pinning Sully Schulz of Ketchikan in 1:48. In the bracket he finished Nicoli Bolshakoff of Ketchikan with a pin in 26 seconds, going on to win over Wieber by 3-2 decision the next round. In the finals, Rooney finished second to Cameron Harris of Ketchikan, who won by 7-2 decision.
Senior Caleb Groshong was pulled from play with an injury at Juneau, and had been unable to participate the following weekend either. “We’re hoping for a quick recovery,” said Rooney.
The team next heads to the Anchorage Christian Schools Tournament this weekend, which is an early exposure to other schools from around the state the team would be likely to come up against during the state tournament in December.
Reader Comments(0)