The final round

WASILLA — During the last several seasons, there hasn’t been much of a race for the 4A team title. Lopsided margins of victory have trumped the dramatic finish, and on several occasions in the last decade, the team championship had been decided before the final round had even began.

But those who know Alaska wrestling best believe things will be different this year when more than 200 wrestlers from across Last Frontier hit the mat this weekend during the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Wrestling Championships at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla.

“There’s going to be some tough teams there,” Wasilla head coach Shawn Hayes said Wednesday evening.

Hayes’ Warriors qualified a meet-high 21 wrestlers for the state meet, but Wasilla is one of eight teams with at least a dozen grapplers mixed in on the state brackets of the 14 weight classes. While Hayes is certainly pleased with the idea of bringing 21 wrestlers to the state meet, he’s not expecting his team to have any easy road to a title during the two-day tournament.

“We had good region tournament, the kids wrestled really well,” Hayes said. “We’re going to be in the hunt for the state title, but nothing is sewn up.”

Wasilla and four-time defending state champion Colony are among the teams expected to compete for the top team prize. The Knights qualified 13 wrestlers for the state meet.

Colony and Wasilla have combined to win the last seven state titles.

Service and South Anchorage, which moved 16 and 17 wrestlers respectively into the state meet, will try to become the first Anchorage area school to win the 4A title since Chugiak won it all in 2002. Mid-Alaska Conference champion Lathrop and NLC runner-up Kodiak have 16 representatives each. East Anchorage has 13 wrestling in state, and North Pole has 12 wrestlers.

With several big teams in the state meet, the 4A tournament could feature its closest race for the title in years.

During Colony’s four-peat, the Knights scored at least 43 more points than the runner-up each year. The Knights posted 100 more points than second-place North Pole in 2008 and 59 more than runner-up Chugiak in 2006.

Wasilla had similar success during its three-season run, holding at least a 30-point advantage in each season. The Warriors were 72 points ahead of second-place Skyview in the 2004 state tourney.

Before the NLC tournament, Colony head coach Dave Booth said the state tourney team title could be decided by which team grabs a few unexpected wins.

“Whichever team can go in there and get a couple upsets, that’s the team that’s going to win the tourney,” Booth said.

Of the 21 Warriors in the state tourney, five posted top-six finishes during the 2009 state meet. Two of those state-placers, Tyler Adams (130 pounds) and Jake Johnson (215), won NLC titles last week during the conference tournament and are currently ranked at the top of their respective weight classes according to the latest rankings released by the wrestling website akmat.org.

Johnson was the runner-up at 215 last year and Adams finished fourth at 119.

Jeremy White (fourth at 189) and Derek Johnsen (fifth at 140) also placed in the 2009 state meet.

Abe Fox also won an NLC title last week and is currently ranked first at 119 pounds. Fox did not wrestle in the state tourney last year.

Adams, Johnson and Fox were among 10 Warriors to advance to the final round of the NLC championships.

Five of the 13 Colony wrestlers who qualified for state earned NLC titles last week. Luke Faulkner (135), Kyle Boss (152), Nate Wolfe (160), Quace Wright (189) and Renn Wright (215) all won individual conference titles last week. Boss and Renn Wright are both ranked first in the state, while Faulkner and Wolfe are each ranked second. Quace Wright is a third-ranked wrestler.

Last season, Renn Wright was the state runner-up at heavyweight. Boss finished third at 145, Fualkner was fifth at 130 and Wolfe was width at 145 during the 2009 tourney.

Palmer moved eight wrestlers into the state tourney, including a pair of conference runner-ups, LJ Leppanen (135) and Cole Frohling (215). Houston will have six wrestlers in the tourney, a group led by MAC champion Arron Reese (171).

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.