Sitka meet "a really good tournament" for wrestling team

With the highest player-to-point ratio of any team competing at the Sitka Scramble last weekend, Assistant Coach Jack Carney said that the wrestling team gave their all at their most recent tournament. It showed in the results, as well. Four wrestlers were able to take first place in their brackets, and another four were able to finish in the top three.

Ryan Rooney took first place in the 103 bracket, over Colton Ewers of Sitka High School and Kadin Messmer of Petersburg High school. In the 112 bracket, Jonah Comstock took first place over Dayton Hoblet of Mt. Edgecumbe High School, Chatham Clark of Sitka High School, Robert Deason of Mt. Edgecumbe High School, and Chandler Coonradt of Sitka High School. Dillon Rooney, in the 189 bracket, took first place over Camden Erickson of Thunder Mountain, John Welsh of Sitka High School, and Kamakana Kanahele of Haines High School. Liana Carney took first place in the 119G bracket over Celeste Katcheak of Mt. Edgecumbe High School, Dahlia Berns of Mt. Edgecumbe High School, Crystal Moses of Mt. Edgecumbe High School, and Leslie McCarty of Metlakatla High School.

"We had some pretty tough competition," J. Carney said, "It ended up being a really good tournament."

He pointed out some wrestlers who performed well besides the first place finishers, too. James Shilts, a freshman wrestler who took third place in the 160B bracket, was able to beat both a senior and junior from Sitka High School.

"He was on fire," Carney said. "It was awesome for a freshman."

Fenton Jim took second place in the 130 bracket. He was able to beat two wrestlers from Mt. Edgecumbe, but lost to Lloydy Ayojiak, also from Mt. Edgecumbe. J. Carney said that Jim was doing a very good job for being a brand new wrestler, and was proud of his performance.

Another player he pointed out was Liana Carney. During the tournament, she wrestled above her weight class and won against Ruby Massin, of Petersburg. Massin is an older, more experienced, and bigger wrestler than Carney, he said. Liana Carney has had only two losses this season, he added, and one of them came from Massin.

"We're really proud of Liana's performance there," he said.

The team is looking ahead to the regional tournament, which will take place in Juneau on Dec. 7 and 8. Wrestler Wade Jack had to sit out the Sitka tournament due to a swollen knee, J. Carney said. However, he is expected to be ready to get back in the ring in time for the regional tournament. J. Carney added that, if everyone on the team gives 100 percent, most of them should easily be able to get to the state tournament in Anchorage.

"We're looking at Regionals. We're expecting to take a large portion of our team to state," he said. "We're just hoping for an injury-free regionals."