Liana Carney pins an opponent in the first round at last Friday's tournament in Ketchikan. She was one of six Wrangell High School wrestlers to claim a regional championship in their weight division.
Wolves wrestler Ethan Blatchley attempts to pin Jonas Baekkelund of Petersburg High School at last Friday's regional tournament in Ketchikan. Blatchley took second place in the 171 weight division.
The Wrangell Wolves wrestling team continued its strong season last weekend with several wrestlers taking first place in Southeast regionals and then making a solid showing the next day at the Bill Weiss Tournament, also in Ketchikan.
Several wrestlers also claimed high state rankings.
"Really happy about the weekend, it was genuinely a good time," Assistant Coach Jack Carney said.
Six Wrangell wrestlers took first place in their respective weight divisions: Liana Carney, Jamie Early, Mia Wiederspohn, Ryan Rooney, Rowen Wiederspohn and Jake Eastaugh. Collectively, the Wolves took second place in regionals on Friday, behind Mt. Edgecumbe High School.
Among just the Division 2A schools that competed, Wrangell took first place.
Following regionals, Wrangell stayed in Ketchikan for the Bill Weiss Tournament. Weiss was the sports editor for the Ketchikan Daily News, and donated a lot of time to wrestling. After retiring, he continued to help with wrestling events. This tournament is named in his honor.
The Wolves took third place Saturday, with a collective 158 points. Mt. Edgecumbe and Ketchikan High School took first and second place, respectively. Within their own weight divisions, Wrangell had four first place winners: Carney, Early, Mia Wiederspohn and Rowen Wiederspohn.
Rooney was ranked first in the 160 division, and Eastaugh was first in the 215 division, according to Coach Carney's postings on the Wolves Facebook page of the team's state rankings. Rowen Wiederspohn was ranked third in the 189 division. James Shilts was ranked fifth in the 145 division. Randy Churchill was ranked sixth in the 160 division.
In the girls' divisions, Wrangell also had several high state rankings. Carney was ranked second in the 145 division, and Early was ranked third. Lillian Younce was ranked third in the 160 division.
"Most of the team is ranked top six," Carney said.
The coach also said Rooney and Carney were voted "outstanding wrestlers" by all the coaches at regionals. It was a vote of confidence in both, as it is uncommon for the outstanding male and female wrestler to come from one team, he said.
Carney also mentioned that Mia and Rowen Wiederspohn made the fastest pins of regionals, combined going through six matches in less than four minutes.
The entire team showed their skills last week and all did very well, the coach said. "They all did their part. ... I'm, just really proud of how focused they were and how disciplined they were."
With regionals out of the way, the Wolves have about a month to rest and prepare for the state tournament May 21-22, with the site still to be determined.
Reader Comments(0)