Division II wrestling preview: Huskies showing growth in 3rd year

WASILLA — After Redington Jr/Sr High School opened its doors in 2015, Abe Salmon and his assistants started at the ground level, working to put together a wrestling program. Two years later, participation has doubled, and the Huskies are fresh off their best team performance in a tournament in school history.

The Huskies finished fifth among a dozen teams in the Throwdown in Snow Town tournament in Valdez with 118.5 total points. Redington was just five points shy of third place. Salmon said it was, “by far,” Redington’s strongest performance to date.

“We’re starting to come around a little bit,” Salmon, Redington’s third-year head coach, said.

Redington has 26 wrestlers currently on the 2017 roster. Salmon said the Huskies had about 15 in 2015, but only about eight or nine last season.

“I’m pretty happy about it,” Salmon said of the participation.

Salmon and fellow coach Brad Drake, a former head coach at Houston, also work with the Redington’s middle school program. There were about 35 middle school wrestlers last year, and Salmon is hoping for around 40 this year. Next season, the first class of sixth graders Salmon worked with will be freshmen. Salmon said the Redington coaches are also working hard to build the middle school program to feed the high school team.

“We’re really hoping in two to three years the numbers really start skyrocketing,” Salmon said.

The Huskies placed five in the top 4 during the Valdez tourney. Freshman James Paris won the 106-pound class.

“They wrestled really well,” Salmon said of the Huskies.

Senior Tony Keene (170 pounds) and Kyler Rumfelt (220) each finished second in their weight class. Junior Jonathon Kirby (120) and senior Jordan Morganflash (126) both finished fourth.

The Huskies also wrestled in a pair of duals in Glennallen during the road trip, and scored a dual win over Seward.

“Having the numbers alone helps. We’re a lot more competitive and winning some matches,” Salmon said.

Salmon said he’s excited about what’s ahead for his wrestlers.

“We’re hoping to make a little noise at regions,” Salmon said.

Redington also returns Eli Benson, the lone state qualifier for the Huskies last season.

Houston Hawks

Houston also had a strong showing at the Valdez tournament, placing second in the team standings with 157.5 total points, falling shy of only Wasilla, the 4A runner-up last season.

The Hawks are also coming off a strong 2016 season. Houston was second in the Kachemak Conference tournament last year, and placed eighth in state.

Houston returns four wrestlers who advanced to state last year. Damien Jessup, Robert Ritter, Shawn Graham and Dylan Jackson are all back. Ritter was second in regions last season. Graham and Jackson both finished third, and Jessup was fourth. Jackson also finished fifth at state.

Jackson is off to a big start in 2017. The senior won the 285-pound weight class at the Valdez tournament and Houston’s Altercation tournament during the opening weekend of the season. Justin Gericke also won the 195-pound class at the Valdez tourney.

Susitna Valley

The Susitna Rams of the Division II Denali Conference currently has six wrestlers on the roster, head coach Bryan Kirby said via email.

There is a pair of returning state qualifiers, Dalton Pinard and Aiden Jolley, in the group made up of five sophomores and one senior. Jolley finished second in his weight class at the Homer Round Robin Rumble last week.

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