Randy Churchill, center, receives his medal for first place in the 160-pound weight class at the Anchorage Christian School wrestling tournament last weekend.
Della Churchill, second from right, took third place in her weight class at the Anchorage Christian School wrestling tournament last weekend.
Ethan Blatchley, center, won first place for his weight class at the Anchorage Christian School wrestling tournament.
Brother and sister wrestlers Della and Randy Churchill expressed excitement last Friday as the siblings prepared to leave for a meet in Anchorage. That excitement translated to fierce grappling and big wins.
The Wrangell High School wrestling squad took on competitors from all over the state at the Anchorage Christian Schools tournament last Friday and Saturday, with seniors Randy Churchill and Ethan Blatchley winning first place in their weight classes.
Churchill bested his first three opponents in the 160-pound weight class in under a minute for each. He first pinned Brayden Woods of Homer High School in 48 seconds, then David Grey of Anchorage's Grace Christian in 45 seconds. He took down Warren Blood of Valdez High in a mere 13 seconds.
The semifinal competition was a little tougher, taking Churchill 1:25 to pin Andy Peterson of Nome High. Finally, he took first place by pinning Jason Young of Sitka in 3:03.
Blatchley won first in the 171-pound weight class by taking on opponents from Fairbanks' Hutchison, Nome, Sitka, Valdez and Wasilla's Redington high schools. His last match against Wyatt Milnes of Redington came down to a decision call, with Blatchley taking it 6 to 4.
Della Churchill took down both of her first opponents in less than 20 seconds each (Kelly Hansen of Soldotna, 19 seconds; Lacey Samuelson of Bethel, 18 seconds), but fell to Kaylana Nations of Fairbanks' Lathrop in 2:53 in the semifinal. Churchill was able to bounce back in the consolation semifinal, taking down Nyah O'Neil of Anchorage's Dimond High in 21 seconds. She went on to win third place by besting Megan Baise of the Fairbanks West Valley Wolfpack in 2:50. Churchill came in fourth overall in the girls division.
"It was nice to see Ethan, Randy and Della earn the seed they got at the beginning of the tournament," head coach Jack Carney said. "They all have game plans in what to do to improve between now and state. Everyone won a match at the tourney, even the three freshmen that attended."
Three wrestlers, Vanessa Johnson, Cody Barnes and Jackson Powers, were knocked out of competition at the tournament. Carney said the three went from the tournament to Eagle River to compete at another competition, where Johnson took first in an overtime match and Barnes and Powers took third in their divisions.
Ian Nelson, wrestling in the 135-pound weight class, came within one match of placing in the top six for his weight class at the Anchorage Christian tournament.
"It was a great weekend. Eight of our 19 wrestlers were able to make the trip," Carney said. "Southeast in general performed well at the tournament with lots of individual champs and finalists."
The Wolves are scheduled to attend the Bill Weiss tournament this weekend in Ketchikan.
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