Alaska wrestlers hit jackpot in Reno

WASILLA — Alaska and Mat-Su wrestlers shined on a national stage Thursday at the Reno Tournament of Champions, which bills itself as the nation’s toughest high school tournament.

Colony High’s Angelo Bellotte won a 6-4 decision over Tulsa Union (Okla.) High’s Cody McKenzie Thursday evening at the Reno Convention Center to claim seventh place at 189 pounds, while Wasilla’s Mike Chafin finished eighth at 119.

The big story for Alaskan wrestlers was South Anchorage’s Jessy Amos (189 pounds) who became only the fifth Alaskan in history to win the Reno event.

Wrestling as a member of the Palmer Moose, Amos beat Temecula (Calif.) High School’s Jake Meredith by a score of 3-1 in the finals.

Palmer wrestling coach Dale Ewart said several Alaska wrestlers participated as members of Mat-Su teams, including Amos and Chugiak’s Nolan McBryde (160), who both wrestled for Palmer.

“The Anchorage schools weren’t going to go, so they came with us,” Ewart said via cell phone from the event Thursday.

Kodiak’s Jimmy Eggemeyer also reached the finals, but lost to No. 1 seed Jordan Oliver of Easton Area (Pa.) High School.

Both Eggemeyer and Amos won their second career Alaska state championships last weekend at Chugiak High School. Despite that, neither was seeded entering the Reno tournament.

That meant Eggemeyer had to knock off the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 6 seeds to reach Thursday’s final against Oliver, while Amos had to get past top-seeded Cole Shafer of Wasatch (Utah) High and No. 4 Raymond Pina of Sunnyside (Ariz.) High to reach the championship.

While Amos and Eggemeyer stole the show, several local wrestlers also had an outstanding week. Among them Chafin and Bellotte, who both found their way to the podium Thursday after two solid days of wrestling.

Bellotte had one of the more impressive runs of the tournament. After losing in the first round Wednesday, he stormed back through the consolation round to win five consecutive matches — including a win over the tournament’s No. 8 seed — before finally losing in the consolation quarterfinals.

But he again fought back, beating McKenzie to pick up his third podium finish in as many weeks. Bellotte finished third in the state last weekend and was runner-up at the Northern Lights Conference tournament the week before.

Chafin, the NLC runner-up to Colony’s Kyle Wilson, finished a disappointing fourth at last weekend’s state tournament, and said the good Reno showing was a nice way to come back from the state experience.

“I’m feeling a lot better about myself now,” Chafin said. “Last week was eating me up a little bit.”

Chafin said watching the college portion of the Reno tournament got him in the right frame of mind this week.

“I just kinda got fired up watching that I think,” he said.

While many of the Alaska wrestlers in Reno hail from different high schools, Chafin said the Alaskans stick together when they go Outside.

“We’re all hanging out together, cheering each other on,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun.”

He noted that Wilson — one of his chief rivals during the high school season — was among his biggest supporters in Reno. After Wilson was knocked out of the tournament by Zain Oburke of Calvary Chapel (Calif.), the Colony wrestler was yelling his support as Chafin avenged the loss in the next round.

“Kyle was right there cheering me on,” Chafin said.

Chafin then went on to beat No. 3-seeded Cy Swartzlender of Lakeview (Ore.) before losing to No. 10 Jake Briggs of Bella Vista (Calif.) High and No. 4 Luke Goettl of Mingus (Ariz.) High to place eighth.

Other Alaskans to place included McBryde and the Dillingham duo of Wes Richards (135) and Joe Hunt (112), all of whom finished eighth.

McBryde, a junior, won his second consecutive Alaska Class 4A title at 160 pounds last weekend, while Hunt and Richards, both seniors, were runners-up in their respective weight classes at the 1-2-3A state tournament. Hunt was an Alaska 1-2-3A state champion at 103 pounds last season, while Richards is a two-time 1-2-3A state champion who was upset this year in the finals at state by Valdez’s Josh Merioles.

Before this year, only five Alaskans had reached the finals in Reno, and only four had won titles. Palmer’s Gabe McMahon was the first Alaskan to bring home a title, winning the 160 pound division in 1995. The next Alaskan to reach the finals was Wasilla’s Jed Wade, who won at 189 in 2003. In 2005, Wade’s brother, Jake, was runner-up at 189 pounds, while Skyview’s Eli Hutchison won at 130 pounds. Last year, Chugiak’s Cayle Byers became the fourth Alaskan to win in Reno when he won at 189.

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