6 Valley wrestlers win state titles; Knights runner-up in Division I team standings

ANCHORAGE — It was a long journey, but Colony senior Caleb Hopkins finally found his way to the top of the podium.

After consecutive state runner-up finishes as a sophomore and a junior, Hopkins earned his first career state title with a 9-0 win over Dimond’s Auston Vreeland during the 182-pound match of the Division I championship round during the final day of the ASAA/First National Bank State Wrestling Championships Saturday night at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.

“I really wanted it. I did everything I needed to do,” Hopkins said prior to the tournament awards ceremony. “I’m on top finally.”

As a sophomore, Hopkins finished second at 138 pounds. Last year, he was second at 160.

“The first year I thought about it all of the time,” Hopkins said of the loss in the finals. “Second year, I had to forget about it and move forward.”

Hopkins said he had to focus on the future, and not dwell on the past.

“I had a couple of things that didn’t go my may. A lot of things weren’t under my control,” Hopkins said. “I had to focus on the things under my control.”

During the two-day tournament, Hopkins, the top seed at 182, pinned his first two opponents and earned a 15-0 win by technical fall in the semifinals before blanking Vreeland 9-0 in the finals.

“I really wish I could have gotten a pin for the team, but I didn’t get scored on. I wrestled smart. I’m proud of myself for that,” Hopkins said.

Hopkins, who finished his senior season 29-2, was one of four Colony wrestlers and six Valley grapplers to score gold.

Colony junior Marcus Riedlinger, the No. 6 seed, stunned the top three seeds in the 113-pound class en route to his first career state title. Riedlinger earned three points during the final 17 seconds of his match to upset top-seeded Jacob Spencer of Lathrop 6-4 in the finals. Riedlinger earned an escape with 17 seconds left and recorded the go-ahead takedown with a second left on the clock.

Riedlinger said he certainly didn’t enter the weekend expecting to win a state championship.

“No, not at all,” he said.

His goal was fairly simple.

“Win as much as I can,” Riedlinger said.

And Riedlinger kept winning.

Riedlinger took out the No. 3 seed with a 13-7 win over Eagle River’s Josh Robles in the quarterfinals. In the semis, Riedlinger pinned the second seed, Thunder Mountain’s Jahrease Mays in the first round.

Juniors Eric Christy and Rush Fannon also earned titles for the Knights.

In the lone all-Valley match of the final round, Christy held on to edge Palmer junior Levi Farris in the 170-pound final. Farris took the first lead in the match, with an early takedown. Christy used nearfall points in the second period to take the 6-2 lead. Farris was able to cut the advantage to 6-5 with a late escape. Christy, the top seed, finished his season 39-0. The third-seeded Farris finished 27-7.

Fannon scored his second straight state title, winning at 126 pounds. In a close match, top-seeded Jacob Shack of South Anchorage was forced to forfeit due to injury 26 seconds into the second period. Fannon finished the year 35-4.

A pair of Wasilla wrestlers also earned a state title.

Junior Andrue Shepersky bested Northern Lights Conference rival Bechler Metcalf of Soldotna 4-3 in the 152-pound final. After a scoreless first period, Shepersky used a take down midway through the second to take a 4-2 lead. Shepersky, who finished the season 25-2, also earned wins by pin and major decision during the tournament.

Senior Isaiah Elvsaas earned his second straight state crown without breaking a sweat. His opponent in the 138-pound final, South Anchorage’ Micah Ee, forfeited due to injury. Elvsaas, who earned his first title at 126 pounds last year, finished the season 17-0.

Colony’s Jared Hopkins and Simon Ganchenko, and Wasilla’s Alexander Logsdon also wrestled in the finals and finished second. Hopkins, a freshman, finished second at 106. Ganchenko was second at 195. Logsdon was the runner-up at 120.

Three Valley squads finished among the top 5 teams in the Division I standings. Lathrop edged Colony, the 2016 champion, by just two points to win the 2017 team title. The Malemutes finished with 320 total points, just ahead of Colony’s 318. Wasilla was fourth with 160.5 points, just ahead of Palmer’s 159.

A combined 31 wrestlers placed for Colony, Wasilla and Palmer.

The Knights placed 15 in the top 6, and 12 in the top 3. TJ Clapp (98), Rett Gallagher (106), Aidan Ehmann (113), Vincent Cramer (120), Sam Sisco (132), Trace Severson (145) were third; and Kayden Payne (126), Cody Gamble (160) and Coa Gamble (182) placed sixth.

Wasilla and Palmer finished with eight wrestlers each in the top 6.

Wasilla’s Jack Fuller (98), Micah Mathis (126) were third; Maximus Stokes (220) placed fourth; Wesley Fraker (113) was fifth; and Christion Alexander (132) finished sixth.

Palmer’s Hunter Bleakney (152), Jason Watkins (160), Jeff Glynn (182), Christian Kurka (220) and Lucas Santana placed third; Garrett Blydenburgh (98) was fourth; and Zion Rogers finished fifth.

A pair of Valley wrestlers reached the Division II finals. Houston senior Dylan Jackson finished second at 285. Mt. Edgecumbe’s Haley Osborne handed Jackson his first loss of the season with a 2-0 victory. Redington’s James Paris was second at 98 pounds. Jonathon Kirby also placed for Redington, finishing sixth at 120. Damien Jessup placed fifth at 138 for Houston. Aiden Jolley led Susitna Valley with a third-place finish at 182.

Kristina Gerasimyuk represented Wasilla in the girls’ finals and placed second at 113. Teeana Nicholia placed third at 132 for the Moose.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com

ASAA/First National Bank State Wrestling Championships

Friday-Saturday, Alaska Airlines Center

Division I team standings:

1. Lathrop 320, 2. Colony 318; 3. South Anchorage 264; 4. Wasilla 160.5; 5. Palmer 159; 6. Soldotna 82.5; 7. Ketchikan 80; 8. North Pole 79 9. Dimond 55, 10. Eagle River 53, 11. Kodiak 50, 12. Thunder Mountain 44, 13. West Anchorage 42.5, 14. Service 35, 15. Kenai 28, 16. East Anchorage 24, 17. Chugiak 20, 18. Bartlett 16, 19. West Valley.

Division I individual results:

Championship finals:

98 pounds — Ad. Concepcion, Sou d. J. Bockert, Lat 10-4; 106 — Ae. Concepcion, Sou m.d. J. Hopkins, Col 9-0; 113 — M. Riedlinger, Col d. J. Spencer, Lat 6-4; 120 — G. Hutchison, Sol d. A. Logsdon, Was 6-0; 126 — R. Fannon, Col won by inj fft J. Shack, Sou 2:26; 132 —K. Ames, Lat m.d. B. Linne, Ket 14-3; 138 — I. Elvsaas, Was won by inj fft M. Ee, Sou; 145 — W. Bockert, Lat d. S. Martin, Sou 11-10; 152 — A. Shepersky, Was d. B. Metcalf, Sol 4-3; 160 — J. Nummer, Kod d. Z. Tolver, Lat 7-6; 170 — E. Christy, Col d. L. Farris, Pal 6-5; 182 — C. Hopkins, Col m.d. A. Vreeland, Dim 9-0; 195 — B. Antesberger, NP t.f. S. Ganchenko, Col 23-8; 220 — C. Tupou, TM d. J. Edwards, Lat 10-6; 285 — P. Vaafut, West p. J. Faletagoai, Dim 4:24.

Third-place:

98 — T. Clapp, Col d. G. Blydenburgh, Pal 8-4; 106 — R. Gallagher, Col d. L. Craig, Sol 12-9; 113 — A. Ehmann, Col p. P. Rauwolf, Ket 3:42; 120 — V. Cramer, Col d. N. Mayo, Sou 10-8; 126 — M. Mathis, Was d. T. Cha, Sou 11-5; 132 — S. Sisco, Col d. R. Harris, Sou 9-5; 138 — J. Opp, Lat d. C. Ott, Lat 6-5 TB; 145 — T. Severson, Col d. G. Burningham, ER 6-0; 152 — H. Bleakney, Pal d. W. Story, Lat 5-2; 160 — J. Watkins, Pal d. J. Anderson, Sou 8-3; 170 — T. Farless, Ser p. D. Niebles, Chu 3:34; 182 — J. Glynn, Pal d. C. Edwards, Lat 7-3; 195 — B. Dunham, Ken d. R. Sweet, Sou 8-7; 220 — C. Kurka, Pal d. M. Stokes, Was 5-3; 285 — L. Santana, Pal p. H. Saafi, Sou 0:59.

Fifth-place:

98 — J. Fuller, Was d. A. Killian-Dalrymple, Lat 4-2; 106 — R. Lechuga, Lat won by fft C. Blank ER; 113 — W. Fraker, Was won by fft J. Mays, TM; 120 — D. Peterson, NP won by fft A. Kraft, ER; 126 — J. Sanchez, Lat d. K. Payne, Col 12-6; 132 — M. Sanchez, Lat won by fft C. Alexander, Was; 138 — S. Walton, Kod p. I. Coon, WV 4:16; 145 — B. Deyarmon, Sou d. S. Martin, Lat 9-2; 152 — R. Oxholm, Dim d. N. Kisgen, Lat 3-2; 160 — Z. Rogers, Pal p. C. Gamble, Col 2:09; 170 — J. Opp, Lat d. Z. Kosa, Lat 8-2; 182 — M. Fisher, NP m.d. C. Gamble, Col 12-1; 195 — T. Finley, Lat p. C. Harris, Ket 3:56; 220 — T. Cross, Sou won by fft K. Caldarera, Ser; 285 — M. Stafford, ER d. J. Fitzpatrick, East 4-3 TB.