Wrangell's Liana Carney, bottom, and Petersburg's Ruby Massin, top, grapple in a finals match at the Sitka Scramble on Saturday. Carney won the match 11-9, improving her season record to 28-1 and is a favorite to win the 119-pound title at the Southeast Region V Championships in Juneau this weekend. Massin has a 17-1 season record and is a favorite to win the 125 pound weight division.
At the regional tournament in Juneau last week, Wrangell Wolves freshman wrestler Ryan Rooney (center) was voted "Outstanding Wrestler" in his division.
The Wrangell Wolves wrestling team had a good showing at the regional tournament last week in Juneau. Going against 10 other teams in the tournament, Wrangell was able to walk away with a third place finish. They were only 10 points shy of second place, according to Assistant Coach Jack Carney, which went to Craig High School. Mt. Edgecumbe took first place.
Among the team, five wrestlers were able to claim first place in their brackets: Ryan Rooney in the 103 bracket, Jonah Comstock in the 112 bracket, Liana Carney in the 112G bracket, Hunter Wiederspohn in the 152 bracket, and Dillon Rooney in the 189 bracket.
Carney pointed out that with this past tournament, Comstock is now a three-time regional champ, and Dillon Rooney is a two-time regional champ.
Ryan Rooney also won the "Outstanding Wrestler" award at the tournament. Carney said that this was a terrific accomplishment for a freshman wrestler. He added that Ryan Rooney is currently ranked No. 1 in the state.
"Coaches look at who had a good tournament, but who also had a really good season overall," he said.
Now that Regionals are finished, the only thing left in the season is the state competition in Anchorage, which will take place on Dec. 14 and 15. Six Wrangell wrestlers qualified to attend the tournament. An additional three wrestlers were also invited to compete for their performance. This means that a total of 9 out of 11 wrestlers will be at the state tournament, Carney said.
"That's phenomenal, in an individual sport, for 9 out of 11 to qualify themselves for State."
Joining the five regional champions at the state tournament are Fenton Jim, Jake Eastaugh, Rowen Wiederspohn, and Elizabeth Johnson. Carney said that he is predicting the Wrangell Wolves will finish in the top seven at State, and among the top three 2A teams. He added that he is very proud of his team's performance through the entire season, especially considering that the Wrangell Wolves only had four returning wrestlers this season. It showed how much effort the largely freshman team was making to compete at such a high level.
"I'm really impressed with how hard this team is performing," he said.
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