Palmer win great for Valley wrestling

The Colony Knights and Wasilla Warriors have owned Valley prep wrestling for darn near a decade.

Scratch that.

The Knights and the Warriors have owned Alaska prep wrestling for nearly a decade. And the Palmer Moose have been the veritable third wheel during that stretch, eager to shoot in and show they deserve to be part of the conversation.

Tuesday, Palmer beat Colony in a dual for the second time in four days. These are big wins for the Moose, but make a much greater statement about Valley wrestling as a whole.

Palmer, the first Valley school to ever hang a wrestling state championship banner, is back.

The Moose were once led by Alaska coaching legends Lancer Smith and Lennie Zalesky. Palmer was a prep power in the 1990s, and won it all in 1996. But at some point, Palmer fell into a wrestling rut, and has spent much of the last 10 years watching their chief rivals live at the top of the podium.

But I say again, Palmer is back.

Head coach Dale Ewart and his staff has rebuilt the program. The Moose are for real again, built with a stockpile of underclassman projected to keep the Moose thriving for years to come. This is made possible by the rekindling of the relationship between the Palmer High and Palmer Junior Middle School programs. There’s also a new youth freestyle program on the Palmer side of the Mat-Su Valley. There are feeder programs for the Moose. And judging by the results so far this season, PJMS is feeding the high school with quality talent.

Wasilla is the defending state champion and appears ready to stretch the Valley’s streak of nine straight state team titles to an even 10. Colony remains a power with the potential to put together a dangerous squad in any meet. But Palmer is back in the conversation.

With Wasilla and Colony at their best, no other school district in the state can touch Valley wrestling right now. And the recent success of the Moose only reinforces that strength.

As a whole, right now, Valley wrestling is second to none. There are the nine straight state titles. But there is also the Valley’s annual domination of the Tanana Tournament in Fairbanks, the unofficial middle school state championships in Alaska. Valley middle school programs have won the Tanana tourney in each of the last 18 years.

Palmer’s win Tuesday was just a dual, but it shows the Moose can compete with some of the top teams in the state, and win.

With respect to the Colony faithful. Palmer’s dual win over the Knights was big for the Moose, but even better for the Valley.

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