Climbing back

WASILLA — Earlier in the decade, the Wasilla Warriors stood at the top of the Alaska prep wrestling ladder.

But with the cyclical nature of high school sports, Wasilla has watched as other state power such as Colony, Lathrop and Chugiak enjoyed the success.

But now the Warriors — who won three straight state titles from 2003-05 — are eager to climb back to the top.

Wasilla, seventh in the state tourney last season, has about 88 athletes on the 2008 roster, WHS head coach Shawn Hayes said, and the Warriors are already off to a solid start with a team title in the Houston Invitational two weeks ago and a third-place finish at the traditionally tough Bob Bailey Invitational at Chugiak last Saturday.

Hayes said a key for the Warriors is putting together an experienced lineup, something Wasilla has struggled with a bit following the loss of a glut of talent after the season in which the Warriors capped their three-peat.

“When we put up three state titles in a row, all those kids were older,” Hayes said. “When we won the first title the majority of those kids were sophomores, then juniors, then seniors.

“The underclassmen hadn’t hardly seen varsity time. There was a couple years of those guys not getting experience,” Hayes said. “We were too deep at a lot of weights.”

But now the Warriors do sport a team with significant varsity experience.

Wasilla returns seven grapplers who advanced to the state tournament last season. Two of those wrestlers — Casey Katchinska and Jed Johnson — placed in the top five.

Katchinska finished fourth in the very tough 171 class.

“He’s solid,” Hayes said of Katchinska. “It’s going to be a tough state title at 171.”

Katchinska won his weight class at the Houston Invite and he finished second to Nolan McBryde at 171 at the Bob Bailey.

McBryde was the state champ at 160 last year.

Johnson finished fifth at 285 at the state tourney last year, and three of the wrestlers who finished ahead of him graduated last year.

“Jed Johnson definitely has a great chance of being a state placer,” Hayes said.

Senior Chris Crane, who finished third in the Northern Lights Conference at 189 last season, is back. Crane won the 189 class at the Bob Bailey.

Also returning are senior Chris Gross, junior Josh Brown and junior Brooke Nelson.

Gross was third in the NLC and advanced to state at 130; Brown was fourth in the NLC at fourth and qualified for state; and Nelson was fifth and 112 and competed in the state tourney.

Jacob Marshall (160), Jeremy Wright (171) and Ryan Pomrenke (215) have also done well early in the season. All three advanced to the consolation finals of the Bob Bailey.

Pat Chafin also returns at 140.

Another wrestler Hayes is excited about is Michael Spano.

“He was a first-year wrestler when he started for us and now he’s a senior,” Hayes said. “He wants to do well.”

Among the newcomers is freshman Abe Fox, who won the 103 class at the Bob Bailey. Fox also defeated fellow freshman Cole Miller in the finals of the Houston Invite two weeks ago.

The pair at 103 are among a solid group of freshman that also includes Caleb Pempek (152) and Jentry Diederich (119). Both won their respective weight classes at the Houston Invite.

Hayes said the underclassmen, the freshmen in particular, should play a key role in the success of his team.

“I think they’re going to fill some of those holes in our lineup,” Hayes said. “By the end of the year, they should be pretty tough wrestlers.”

Wasilla will join Valley programs Colony, Houston and Palmer at the Lancer Smith Memorial, an annual event hosted by Palmer High.

The event — which also includes programs from the Interior, Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula — starts Friday at 9 a.m.

Wrestling continues Saturday at 9 p.m.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.