Moose win West wrestling tournament; Colony first at Valdez

ANCHORAGE — With a strong final round, the Palmer Moose captured their second team title in as many weeks.

Palmer, which won the Barrow Scramble last week, crowned four individual champions and finished with 234 overall points to win the West Anchorage Open at West High School Saturday evening.

Wyatt McGann sparked the Moose late, upsetting defending 123A state champion Michael Lucas of Holy Rosary Academy 2-0 in the 145-pound final to win the first of four titles for Palmer. Jeff Glynn (152), Christian Kurka (170) and Austin Farris (195) also won their weight classes to help Palmer finish 21 points head of runner-up Wasilla in the team standings.

In one of a pair of all-Valley matches in the finals, Glynn edged Wasilla’s Andrue Shepersky 3-2 at 152 pounds. The rivals met in the finals for the second straight week. Last week, in the final round of The Altercation at Houston High School, Shepersky beat Glynn 4-3.

The Moose and Warriors also placed wrestlers in the 170-pound final, with Palmer’s Christian Kurka pinning Wasilla’s Nick Gross at the 5-minute, 30-second mark. Austin Farris also won his weight class for the Moose, winning a round-robin bracket at 195.

The Moose, 4-0 in the finals, also placed eight grapplers in the third-place matches. That group was led by Odin Andersen (98) and Austin Kollander (285), who each finished third.

Wasilla moved six wrestlers into the finals, and three won their weight classes. Defending state champion Micah Mathis finished first for the second straight week, pinning Eagle River’s Austin Kraft in the 113-pound final. Mathis won a 4A state title at 98 pounds last year. Berit Sturgeon and Samuel Wolff also finished first for the Warriors. Sturgeon pinned Kodiak’s Shaun Walton at 132 pounds, and Samuel Wolff edged Grace Christian’s Evan Bockman 4-3 at 138.

In addition to Shepersky and Gross, Christian Alexander also advanced to the finals for the Warriors, and placed second at 126.

Cole George (152) and Michael Roehl (182) each placed third for Wasilla.

Wasilla also sent a team to the Throwdown in Snowtown meet in Valdez.

Ollie Severance led Redington with a fourth-place finish at 182.

Knights win Valdez meet

VALDEZ — The Colony Knights won the Throwdown in Snowtown, using six individual titles to finish with a meet-high 219 points in the team standings.

Defending state champion Sam Sisco and Bryce Adams, who won a state title as a freshman in 2013, each won their weight classes to help Colony win its first team title of the 2015 season. Sisco finished first in a round-robin bracket at 113 pounds. Adams edged Colony teammate Eric Christy 3-2 in the 132-pound final.

Rush Fannon, Chace Booth, Jordan Nero and Isaiah Christy also won their respective weight class. Fannon won a round-robin bracket at 98. Booth beat Wasilla’s Travis Newland 6-1 at 145. Nero edged Chugiak’s Brandon Lowe 4-2 at 170. Christy pinned Wasilla’s Jonathon Inch in the 195-pound final.

Austin Edwards (98), Trace Severson (106), Levi Hopkins (120), Eric Christy (132) and Robert Haan (182) each finished second for the Knights.

Wasilla, which also sent a team to the West Anchorage Open, finished second in the team standings with 169.5 points.

Kayden Wall, Isaiah Elvsaas and Chase Minnick each finished first for the Warriors. Wall won a round-robin bracket at 106 pounds. Elvsaas beat Wasilla teammate Dillon Simpson 5-1 at 126. Minnick was first in a round-robin bracket at 220.

Simpson (126), Inch (195), Levi Schumacher (113) and Hayden Steiner (138) each finished second for the Warriors.

West Anchorage Open

Friday-Saturday, Anchorage

Team scores:

1. Palmer 234; 2. Wasilla 213; 3. Service 168; 4. Kodiak 165; 5. Bartlett 141; 6. Eagle River 140; 7. Grace Christian 109.5; 8. Anchorage Christian 108; 9. Dimond 104; 10. West 90.5; 11. Holy Rosary 35; 12. Barrow 30; 13. East 24; 14. Redington 20.

Championship finals:

98 pounds — 1. K. Blackwell, Ser; 2. I. Guillermo, ACS; 3. C. Blank, ER; 4. J. Briones, West (round-robin bracket); 106 — B. Gonzalez, Kod d. J. Briones, West 9-3; 113 — M. Mathis, Was p. A. Kraft, ER 1:47; 120 — W. Salter, ER p. O. Garcia, Gar 1:33; 126 — S. LeMay, ACS d. J. Divelbiss, Dim 8-2; 132 — B. Sturgeon, Was p. S. Walton, Kod 2:14; 138 — S. Wolff, Was d. E. Bockman, Gra 4-3; 145 — W. McGann, pal d. M. Lucas, HR 2-0; 132 — J. Glynn, Pal d. A. Shepersky, Was 3-2; 160 — M. Amico, ER t.f. R. Martin, Gra 16-0; 170 — C. Kurka, Pal p. N. Gross, Was 5:30; 182 — M. Herrera, Ser d. J. King, East 1-0; 195 — 1. A. Farris, Pal; 2. K. Calderera, Ser; 3. G. Nicholson, ACS; 4. O. Lugo, Bar (round-robin bracket); 220 — 1. C. Phelps, Ser d. H. Bigley, Kod 11-0; 285 — T. Mila, Bar p. M. Speziale, Bar 1:57.

Third-place matches:

98 — O. Andersen, Pal p. B. Rogers, Dim 2:48; 113 — S. Swanson, Kod p. D. Richards, Pal 0:27; 120 — B. Faulkner, Ser m.d. J. Fetko, Dim 10-2; 126 — C. Alexander, p. W. Brewer, Kod 1:21; 132 — G. Barkhurst, ER p. T. Theising, Pal 2:00; 138 — Q. Lema, Ser d. N. Reeves, Pal 5-4 OT; 145 — N. Juliussen, Gra p. G. Bond, Gra 4:11; 152 — C. George, Was d. T. Farless, West 5-2; 160 — J. Pace, Bar d. B. Dyer, Pal 7-2; 170 — C. Deville, ACS d. D. Harrison, West 4-0; 182 — M. Roehl, Was p. O. Severance, Red 1:51; 220 — H. Grey, Bar p. R. Carrington, Pal 4:05; 285 — A. Kollander, Pal p. K. Anderson, Pal 1:55.

Throwdown in Snowtown

Friday-Saturday, Valdez

Team scores:

1. Colony 219; 2. Wasilla 169.5; 3. Glennallen 135.5; 4. Chugiak 101.5; 5. Seward 50; 6. Valdez 41; 7. Palmer 37; 8. Cordova 34.

Championship final:

98 pounds — R. Fannon, Col p. A. Edwards, Col 3:07; 106 — 1. K. Wall, Was; 2. T. Severson, Col; 3. C. Packer, Col; 4. K. Sarmiento (round-robin bracket); 113 — 1. S. Sisco, Col; 2. L. Schumacher, Was; 3. K. Torres, Col; 4. C. Peck, Chu (round-robin bracket); 120 — J. Virgin, Gle d. L. Hopkins, Col 4-1; 126 — I. Elvsaas, Was d. D. Simpson, Was 5-1; 132 — B. Adams, Col d. E. Christy, Col 3-2; 138 — C. Greene, Val d. H. Steiner, Was 12-6; 145 — C. Booth, Col d. T. Newland, Was 6-1; 152 — C. Gerlach, Gl d. J. Butler, Chu 11-1; 160 — D. Budke, Chu d. J. Edwards, Chu 9-1; 170 — J. Nero, Col d. B. Lowe, Chu 4-2; 182 — J. White, Gle p. R. Haan, Col 4:58; 195 — I. Christy, Col p. J. Inch, Was 2:52; 220 — 1. C. Minnick, Was; 2. J. Rhodes, Gle; 3. D. Fujimoto, Chu; 4. T. Tunnell, Val (round-robin bracket); 285 — 1. J. Schutter, Sew; 2. S. Gialopsos, Cor; 3. Q. Bujan, Val; 4. P. Hettick, Sew (round-robin bracket).

Third-place:

98 — N. Stoltenberg, Chu p. A. Jewell, Cor 4:33; 120 — K. Torres, Col p. I. Hansen, Was 5:07; 126 — S. Dorsey, Gl p. S. Hauze, Sew 1:27; 132 — M. Agoney, Was d. A. Hacker, Was 18-13; 138 — C. Hopkins, Col t.f. F. Urbano, Col 16-0; 145 — J. Watkins, Pal d. L. Farris, Pal 4-3; 152 — B. Easley, Col d. Z. Hamberger, Cor 5:46; 160 — J. Miller, Gl p. E. Clark, Was 1:50; 170 — Z. Rogers, Pal p. B. Knighten, Col 1:57; 182 — C. Wilson, Was d. C. Eby, Col 10-8 OT; 195 — T. McConkey, Glen p. T. Wheeler, Pal 3:12;