BIG KNIGHT: Colony wins 5th state wrestling title in school history

CHUGIAK — Sometimes it can be tough to keep a wrestler off the mat, especially if its a senior working toward the biggest goal of all.

Late this week, only hours away from the state tournament, Colony senior Kamber Lucas was on crutches after a teammate fell on his ankle during practice. Just prior to the Northern Lights Conference Championships, Palmer senior Ben Button, who suffered an offseason ankle injury, had an infection in his surgery site.

But on Saturday, neither would be denied.

Lucas won his first individual state title and helped clinch Colony’s fifth team title in school history, and Button became the first Palmer wrestler in more than a decade to earn back-to-back individual titles during the final day of the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Championships at Chugiak High School.

Lucas and Button were among eight Valley finalists, and five to titles. Colony freshman Sam Sisco won a championship at 106 pounds. Wasilla senior D.J. Morrow (170 pounds) and freshman Micah Mathis won state wrestling gold for the Warriors.

Sisco and Lucas helped Colony finally separate from South Anchorage in a race for the team title. With the two wins in the final round, Colony finished with 264 total points. South Anchorage was second at 255.5, while 2014 state champion Wasilla finished third with 227. More than 100 points separated Wasilla and fourth-place Kodiak (115) in the team standings. Palmer was 11th with 83.5 total points.

Sisco earned Colony’s first title of the night. The freshman edged West Anchorage’s Jaidyn Bianchi 4-3. Bianchi had beat Sisco twice before earlier in the season.

Lucas, who missed the first half of the season with a shoulder injury, battled some additional adversity in the days leading up to the state tournament.

“Someone landed on my ankle, and I walked around on crutches the whole next day,” said Lucas, who beat West Anchorage’s Chardo Elliott 7-1 in the 160-pound final.

Lucas said he was concerned about whether he’d be able to wrestle.

“It was a stressful deal,” Lucas said. “I wasn’t really sure I’d be able to do it.”

Support from his fellow Knights was key, Lucas said.

“I talked to my coaches, and they said wrestle like it’s just any other tournament. I’ve got to thank my coaches and teammates. I know I couldn’t have done without them.”

Lucas’ teammates can thank him too. Colony spent the two-day tournament in a back-and-forth battle with the South Anchorage Wolverines. South surged during the championship semifinals Friday night and finished the first day at the top of the team standings, 46.5 points ahead of the second-place Knights. But Colony had a monster second day. The Knights moved a half-dozen into the consolation final, and a meet-high 15 Colony wrestlers placed, finishing in the top 6.

Heading into the final round, Colony was back in first place with 256 points. But South was just behind at 245.5.

The big difference between the two powers heading into the finals, was the number of wrestlers in the championships. South had seven wrestlers in the final round, compared to just three for Colony.

But the Knights crowed a pair of champions — Sisco and Lucas. That combined with South wrestlers going 2-5 in the finals, was enough for Colony to come away with the title.

The win by Lucas gave Colony 264 total points. That sealed it for the Knights, giving Colony just enough regardless of what happened for the remainder of the championship round.

“We grinded it out as a team,” Lucas said.

Colony head coach Todd Hopkins called the Knights title, “a total team effort.”

“We had a phenomenal second day,” Hopkins said. “We talked at the beginning of the day about taking it one match at a time. Especially the seniors, wrestle like it’s the last match of your career.”

Like Lucas, Button, Palmer’s senior standout, also faced adversity during his senior season. Button used a 9-2 win over Kodiak’s Nolan Wandersee to win the 220-pound final for the second consecutive year. With the win, Button became Palmer’s first wrestler to win consecutive titles since Andy Andersen won championships in 2001 and 2002.

“It feels great,” Button said. “It feels like going down in history. You look at state, and how many two-timers have been at Palmer?”

The win should feel even better for Button considering a major ankle injury suffered during the prep football season put his senior season of wrestling in jeopardy.

“Right away I was scared, really scared,” Button said.

Button, who returned to the mat in January, couldn’t run. But he focused on other ways to stay in shape.

“It was supposed to be three months with no weight bearing,” Button said of the injury suffered in late September. “I was not going to be able to run. But you don’t have to really run to wrestle.”

Then less than a week before the NLC meet, Button figured out there was an infection in his surgery site. His broken ankle was pinned after the injury, and the pins had to be removed before he could return from the mat.

With the infection in the surgery site, again, the final stretch of Button’s high school wrestling career was in jeopardy. But the senior prevailed. powering through the region and state meets en route to his second state championship.

Morrow and Mathis represented Wasilla on the top of the podium. Both were the top seeds in their respective weight classes. Morrow pinned his way into the final where he scored a 3-0 win over South Anchorage’s Gabe McSharry.

Mathis won a battle of ninth-graders in the 98-pound final, bating Lathrop’s Micah Ee 3-0.

Colony’s Chace Booth, Palmer’s Austin Farris and Wasilla’s Zech Rockstad also advanced to the finals. Kodiak’s Jay-Ar Small held on to edge Booth 3-2 in the 126-pound final. Chugiak senior Jesse Nelson edged Farris at 195.

In another close final, Service’s Nicholas Stevens capped an undefeated season by beating Rockstad 1-0 in the 285-pound final.

ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Championships

Friday-Saturday, Chugiak High

Team scores:

1. Colony 264; 2. South 255.5; 3. Wasilla 227; 4. Kodiak 115; 5. Lathrop 111.5; 6. Chugiak 101; 7. East 97; 8. Soldotna 96; 9. Service 91; 10. Ken 89; 11. Palmer 83.5; 12. North Pole 12; 13. West Valley 62; 14. West 61; 15. Eagle River 29.5; 16. Bartlett 26; 17. Dimond 21.5.

Championship finals:

98 pounds — M. Mathis, Was d. M. Ee Lat 3-0; 106 — S. Sisco, Col d. J. Bianchi, West 4-3; 113 — A. Craig, Sol d. T. Jones, Lat 3-0; 120 — S. Hutchison, Sol d. M. Glover, Sou 5-0; 126 — J. Small, Kod d. C. Booth, Col 3-2; 138 — D. Rogers, NP d. N. Ottum, Sou 3-1; 145 — P. Steffensen, Ken d. R. Pellumbi, Sou 2-1; 152 — E. Steffensen, Ken d. Z. Ritchie, Sou 3-0; 160 — K Lucas, Col d. C. Elliott, East 7-1; 170 — D. Morrow, Was d. G. McSharry, Sou 3-0; 182 — A. Correa-Medina, Sou d. J. Dickinson, Lat 7-4; 195 — J. Nelson, Chu d. A. Farris, Pal 3-0; 220 — B. Button, Pal d. N. Wandersee, Kod 9-2; 285 — N. Stevens, Ser d. Z. Rockstad, Was 1-0.

Third-place:

98 — R. Zimmerman, Col p. G. Whisman, Col 3:52; 106 — D. Simson, Was p. D. Lincoln, Sou 2:03; 113 — S. Harris, South d. J. Opp, WV 3-0; 120 — W. Bockert, Lat d. B. Sturgeon, Was 7-5; 126 — G. Shack, Sou d. C. Hopkins, Col 5-1; 132 — G. Alvardo, Sou p. L. Fried, Kod 4:28; 132 — R. Winter, Sol d. H. Steiner, Was 5-4; 138 — W. McGann, Pal d. S. Wolff, Was 5-1; 145 — M. Amico, ER won by fft A. Kennedy, East; 152 — S. Adams, Col m.d. E. Schumaker, NP 22-8; 160 — R. Haan, Col d. B. Blumentritt, Sol 5-4; 170 — C. Jury, Chu p. C. Ray, Col 4:19; 182 — J. Waller, Chu d. B. Antesberger, NP 6-5; 195 — A. Gold, East d. C. Minnick, Was 7-4; 220 — K. Queja, East m.d. D. Walker, NP 11-2; 285 — K. King, Est p. J. Love, WV 4:08

Fifth-place:

98 — B. Gonzales, Kod d. K. Blackwell, Ser 6-3;106 — J. Spencer, Lat won by fft W. Todd, East; 113 — D. Colley, Col d. H. Alexander, WV 2-0; 120 — Q. Lema, Ser d. R. Delacruz, Kod 12-5; 126 — S. Hoffman, Ser m.d. L. Albrecht, 16-7; 132 — J. Fetko, Ser m.d. T. Newland, Was 9-0; 138 — M. Vandermartin, Ken p. J. Nero, Col 1:55; 145 — D. Holta, Chu d. J. Sanders, Sou 5-4; 152 — J. Fricilone, WV d. J. Todd, East 6-3; 170 — A. Shannon, Was won by fft D. Budke, Chu; 170 — D. Nash, Col won by fft J. Braudis, Bar; 182 — K. Nash, Col d. F. Pearce, Was 10-5; 195 — H. Fanning, Ser d. I. Christy, Col 4-1; 220 — M. Keogh, Sou d. B. Johnston, Chu 7-1; 285 — B. Pili, Dim won by fft M. Daigle, Col.