14 Valley athletes advance to state wrestling finals

WASILLA — A half-dozen Valley wrestlers who captured state championships last season returned to the mat this year. Saturday, all six will have a shot to defend their title.

Colony’s Levi Hopkins, Dawson Nash and Robert Haan, and Wasilla’s Micah Mathis, Samuel Wolff and Ezra Lincecum are among 14 Valley grapplers who grabbed wins during the championship semifinal round of the ASAA/First National Bank State Wrestling Championships Friday evening at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.

Nash and Haan each won their semifinal matches with by pin. Nash stuck Ketchikan’s Cameron Harris at the 1:42 mark of a 182-pound semis. Haan followed by needed a mere 1:15 to pin South’s Elisha Lincoln. Hopkins also enjoyed a big win, beating Eagle River’s Grant Burningham by technical fall in a 138-pound semifinal.

Mathis is one win away from his third straight state title after a 7-2 victory over Colony’s Trace Severson at 120 pounds. At 145, Wolff used an 11-3 win by major decision over Lathrop’s Wyatt Story to return to the finals. At 285, Lincecum — who won a 123A state title with Houston last year — edged the top seed, Palmer’s Austin Farris, 4-2.

Wasilla leads the Valley with six wrestlers in the finals. The Warriors will also have an all-Wasilla final at 145 with Wolff taking on teammate Hayden Steiner, who beat Kodiak’s Josh Nummer 9-5 in the semifinals. Isaiah Elvsaas (126 pounds) and Dillon Simpson (132) also advanced to the finals for the Warriors. Elvsaas edged South’s Spencer Martin 3-1 at 126. Simpson needed a pin over Wasilla teammate Christion Alexander to advance at 132.

Colony has five wrestlers in the final. In addition to the three defending state champs, Caleb Hopkins and Rush Fannon also punched their ticket to the finals. Hopkins will wrestle in the finals for the second straight year after a 10-1 major decision win over Adam Hernandez of Dimond at 160. Fannon beat Soldotna’s Gideon Hutchison 5-1 at 113.

Palmer has a pair in the championship finals.

After beating the No. 3 and No. 2 seeds in consecutive matches Friday, Palmer’s Odin Andersen will wrestle for a title at 106. Andersen pinned Colony’s Vincent Cramer, the second seed, in 42 seconds in the semis.

Levi Farris also beat a No. 2 seed in the semifinals, Soldotna’s Bechler Metcalf 9-2 in the semifinals.

The 4A semifinal round featured 23 Valley wrestlers.

In the 123A semifinals, Susitna Valley senior Marshall Pinard advanced to the finals at 285 with a pin of Cordova’s Stellos Gialopsos.

After the first day of the 4A tournament, Colony held a small lead over Wasilla in the team standings. The Knights will enter Day 2 with 191 points, just ahead of Wasilla’s 189.5. Also after Day 1, Palmer stood in a first-place tie with defending state champion South with 85 points.

Wrestling continues Saturday at 9 a.m. with the girls’ quarterfinals and the boys’ consolation rounds. Championship introductions are slated for Saturday at 6 p.m.

ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Wrestling Championships

Friday, Anchorage

Team scores (Day 1):

1. Colony 191; 2. Wasilla 189.5; 3. Lathrop 152; 4. North Pole 86.5; 5. Palmer 85; 5. South Anchorage 85; 7. Ketchikan 79; 8. Service 57; 9. Thunder Mountain 45.5; 10. Chugiak 42; 11. Soldotna 38; 12. Eagle River 35; 13. East 33; 14. Dimond 25.5; 15. Kodiak 23; 16. Kenai 22.5; 17. Bartlett 20.5; 18. West Anchorage 14; 19. West Valley 13.

Championship semifinals:

98 pounds — A. Concepcion, South p. L. Craig, Sol 3:12; S. Benefield, NP d. A. Edwards, Col 11-6; 106 — M. Rodriguez, Ket p. J. Mays, TM 9-1; O. Andersen, Pal p. V. Cramer, Col 0:42; 113 — J. Spencer, Lat m.d. V. Tenebro, Ket 15-4; R. Fannon, d. G. Hutchison, Sol 5-1; 120 — M. Mathis, Was d. T. Severson, Col 7-2; J. Shack, Sou d. B. Linne, Ket 4-2; 126 — I. Elvsaas, Was d. S. Martin, Sou 3-1; J. Perkins, Ser d. I. Rodman, Was 3-1; 132 — D. Simpson, Was p. C. Alexander, Was 1:26; P. Matheny, Lat d. J. Divelbiss, Dim 5-3 SV; 138 — L. Hopkins, Col t.f. G. Burningham, ER 16-0; W. Bockert, Lat p. B. Sturgeon, Was 2:12; 145 — S. Wolff, Was m.d. W. Story, Lat 11-3; H. Steiner, Was d. J. Nummer, Kod 9-5; 152 — K. McEnerney, Ken m.d. A. Shepersky, Was 11-3; L. Farris, Pal d. B. Metcalf, Sol 9-2; 160 — C. Hopkins, Col m.d. A. Hernandez, Dim 10-1; J. Malnoske, East m.d. J. Watkins, Pal; 170 — C. Edwards, Lat d. T. Farless, Ser 5-4; D. Budke, Chug d. C. Kurka, Pal 7-5; 182 — D. Nash, Col p. C. Harris, Ket 1:42; B. Antesberger, NP d. C. Fontana, NP 6-1; 195 — R. Haan, Col p. E. Lincoln, Sou 1:15; B. Antesberger, NP m.d. C. Eby, Col 13-3; 220 — C. Weldon, TM t.f. G. Cole, WV 15-0; K. Caldarera, Ser d. J. Edwards, Lat 6-1; 285 — E. Lincecum, Was d. A. Farris, Pal 4-2; J. Jeong, Lat p. P. Vaafuti, West 0:55.