WASILLA — Alan Bartelli seemed to be everywhere Saturday during the final day of the Alaska Class 4A state wrestling tournament at Chugiak High. Whether taking time to talk to old friends or engaging in spirited sparring sessions with former teammates and coaches, the former Wasilla High standout looked right at home in the Chugiak High School gym.

He should. After all, the former Wasilla High standout pretty much owned the tournament while he was in high school.

“It’s nice to see everybody, see how they’re doing,” Bartelli said during a break in the tournament. In his four seasons at Wasilla, Bartelli won three individual state titles and was a four-time state finalist. He also helped the Warriors to state team titles in his first three years with the program, and compiled a state-record 170 career wins, including a state-best 56-2 mark his senior season.

Now a freshman wrestling at 125 pounds for the Boise State Broncos, Bartelli has taken his game to the next level. He’s got a 2-0 mark in dual meet competition for the team, and earlier this season won the 125-pound amateur division title at the University of Wyoming’s Cowboy Open tournament and placed second at the Best of the West tournament at Southern Oregon University.

While success came easy for Bartelli at Wasilla, he’s found he can’t dominate at the college level like he did in high school. In one tournament this season, he went just 1-2 and failed to place — something that would have been unheard of during his tenure at Wasilla.

“You don’t have that intimidation factor,” he said.

While in high school, Bartelli could usually be counted on to win just by showing up. But at the NCAA level, he said that’s just not the case.

“I don’t know any of my matches that haven’t been close,” he said. “You could be the NCAA No. 1-ranked in the nation, and in order to get there, every one of your matches is going to be one or two points.”

The heaviest Bartelli wrestled in high school was at 119 pounds, and he said the move up to 125 has been nice because he doesn’t have to worry about his weight all the time.

“It doesn’t drain me for tournaments. I don’t have to cut weight much so it gives me a lot more time to focus on technique,” he said.

Bartelli’s technique was already pretty good when he left Wasilla, and he credited the team’s coaching staff — and in particular, mentor Nick Dougherty — with helping him get ready for the next level.

“He always expressed to me that I could definitely have it in me,” Bartelli said of Dougherty. “Ever since the beginning, he’s been encouraging me and going over the little things a little bit more than I needed.”

The two remain close. During this week’s state tournament, Bartelli worked up a pretty good sweat tangling with his former coach, who he still talks to on a weekly basis.

“We keep in contact, usually after tournaments, just talk about what I should work on,” Bartelli said.

While he misses his Warrior wrestling family, Bartelli said the transition to college has been made easier by the fact that Boise State has a tight-knit program free from the day-to-day drama that characterizes most competitive college programs.

“A lot of the other teams, they have little fights, a lot of differences on the team,” he said. “Boise State is definitely known for their ability to all get along and all have fun and just good team unity, more of a team effort.”

That doesn’t mean college wrestling is all fun and games. Far from it. Bartelli said he’s been wrestling since the moment he stepped on campus, and the environment has been intense.

“It’s a big change in the intensity, but I’m having a blast,” he said.

As for how far his college career can take him, Bartelli said he’ll just have to wait and see. With so many good wrestlers to compete against, he knows he can’t dominate like he did in high school. But he’s also a driven athlete with high expectations for himself.

“Like I’ve always had in mind, I’m shooting for All-American,” he said. “You never know if that’s going to happen, but as long as I go as hard as I can, work as hard as I can, anything can happen.”

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@

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