Wrestlers maintain momentum in Petersburg scramble

Wrangell asserted its wrestling dominance over 10 Southeast rivals at the Viking Invite held in Petersburg on Dec. 6-7.

While the competition was not organized like a traditional bracket-style tournament, the scramble-style play gave Wrangell wrestlers plenty of opportunities to get back on the mat after a week of rest.

On the first day of competition, Wolves won 27 of their 32 matches and led the 10-school invitational with 17 pins. On day two, they picked up right where they left off, winning 34 more matches and adding 23 pins to bring the total tally to 40.

With no traditional championship matches, organizers instead hosted several "spotlight" matches. In those, Wrangell wrestlers went 5-2.

Head coach Jack Carney said the tournament served as a good launch into the final two weeks of the season. He even pulled a couple wrestlers out of competition to make sure they were healthy for the upcoming regional and state tournaments.

"Our eyes are on the prize," he said. "We don't want to get greedy. A small muscle tweak at this point in season could be really bad."

However, the competition was not without its highlights. Carney said two matches in particular stood out.

The first was Lennex Gurule's last-second victory in which he beat his Ketchikan rival by pinning him with one second on the clock. Gurule went on to beat him again in the spotlight match on the tournament's second day.

William Massin was losing 1-11 in a 160-pound matchup against a Metlakatla rival who had beaten him repeatedly all year. But then, as his coach put it, "William turned it on." Massin went on to win the match by a single point that he gained with just two seconds remaining.

This was the final regular season meet of the season. Next up is the Southeast championship tournament in Haines on Dec. 13-14. The next week, the state tournament is scheduled for Dec. 20-21 in Anchorage.

"I'm super proud of this team and we're looking forward to regions up in Haines," Carney said.