Unusual tiebreaker gives Warriors duals title

WASILLA — A tiebreaker gave the Wasilla Warriors the win at the Alaska State Duals Meet Championships at Bartlett High School on Saturday.

Wasilla and Service wrestled to a 34-34 tie in the final match of the bracketed tournament, which pits teams against each other rather than individuals. Tournament officials needed to go through a list of potential tiebreakers, before finding an eighth method, most first points, to break the tie.

Colony finished third in the tournament, beating North Pole 42-33.

Wasilla advanced to the final with a 39-28 win over Colony earlier in the day. Ryker Steiner (112 pounds), Abe Fox (119), Jed Diederich (125), Tyler Adams (130), Adam Akelkok (189) and Jake Johnson (215) all pinned their opponents during the dual.

Nate Wolfe (171) and Renn Wright (285) recorded pins for Colony, while Kyle Boss scored a major decision at 160 for the Knights.

In the first round, Wasilla beat South Anchorage 61-16 and Colony edged Lathrop 35-24.

Alaska State Duals Meet Championships

Saturday, Bartlett High School

Championship final: Wasilla 34, Service 34 (WHS wins by tiebreaker)

103 pounds — T. Mockta, Ser p. F. Warner, Was 2:44; 112 — R. Steiner, Was d. M. Freed, Ser 6-1; 119 — A. Fox, Was d. T. Mockta, Ser 7-3; 125 — C. Lacey, Ser m.d. C. Miller, Was 19-7; 130 — J. Lunsford, Ser d. T. Adams, Was 9-4; 135 — C. Lowe, Was p. J. Pounds, Ser 3:24; 140 — Jen. Diederich p. Shandly, Ser 0:50; 145 — D. Johnsen, Was m.d. T. Turney, Ser 1-0; 152 — K. Banning, Ser p. D. Wiggins, Was 0:59; 160 — R. Skleens, Ser p. D. Jacobson, Was 1:03; 171 — Y. Makitrin, Was p. F. Dunbar, Ser 2:20; 189 — S. Ellis, Ser p. A. Akelkok, Was 1:38; 215 — J. Johnson, Was p. D. Zorea, Ser 1:56; 285 — J. Jeffords, Ser d. R. Pomreke, Was 5-2.

Semifinal: Wasilla 39, Colony 28

103 — W. Booth, Col d. F. Warner, Was 9-7; 112 — R. Steiner, Was p. n/a, Col 1:39; 119 — A. Fox, Was p. n/a, Col 1:23; 125 — Jed Diederich, Was p. T. Maulkins, Col 0:42; 130 — T. Adams, Was p. R. Ertz, Col 2:29; 135 — L. Faulkner, Col d. C. Lowe, Col 11-3; 140 — Jen. Diederich, Was d. A. Smith, Col 10-3; 145 — D. Johnsen, Was d. J. Fujimoto, Col 6-1; 152 — S. Root, Col d. D. Jacobson, Was 7-2; 160 — K. Boss, Col m.d. D. Wiggins, Was 13-3; 171 — N. Wolfe, Col p. Y. Makitrin, Was 3:14; 189 — A. Akelkok, Was p. Q. Wright, Col 4:31; 215 — J. Johnson, Was p. T. Farber, Col 0:52; 285 — R. Wright, Col p. R. Pomrenke, Was 2:03.

Quarterfinal: Wasilla 61, South Anchorage 16

103 — K. Hammond, Sou p. F. Warner, Was 1:53; 112 — R. Steiner, Was p. L. Foster, Sou 4:23; 119 — A. Fox, Was d. J. Hogenson, Sou 7-2; 125 — C. Miller, Was p. C. Bowerson, Sou 2:37; 130 — T. Adams, Was p. S. Ellis, Sou 2:48; 140 — C. Lowe, Was p. T. Miller, Sou 2:42; 145 — D. Johnsen, Was p. N. Hakala, Sou 1:28; 152 — J. Shangin, Sou p. D. Wiggins, Was 0:45; 160 — D. Jacobson, Was m.d. B. Daniel, Sou 11-1; 171 — J. Dennehy, Sou m.d. Y. Makitrin, Was 18-4; 189 — A. Akelkok, Was p. C. Cucullu, Sou 3:30; 215 — J. Johnson, Was p. C. Reeves, Sou 1:15; 285 — R. Pomrenke, Was p. J. Tucker, Sou 3:09.

Quarterfinal: Colony 35, Lathrop 34

103 — W. Booth, Col m.d. P. Warnke, Lat 10-0; 112 — A. Hendrix, Lat p. Z. Vera, Col 1:53; 119 — K. Larson, Lat p. N. Media, Col 5:19; 125 — D. Achman, Lat p. T. Maulkins, Col 0:55; 130 — T. Gillen, Lat p. R. Erte, Col 5:26; 135 — L. Faulkner, Col d. S. Zimmerman, Lat 5-2; 140 — S. Temple, Lat m.d. A. Smith, Col 15-4; 145 — S. Root, Col d. J. Dickenson, Lat 9-4; 152 — K. Boss, Col d. T. Osborn, Lat 3-0; 160 — N. Wolfe, Col p. S. Cheney, Lat 5:28; 171 — B. Wiese, p. S. Rench, Col 2:21; 189 — Q. Wright, Col wbfft; 215 — A. Gudchinscky, Lat d. T. Farber, Col 12-8; 285 — R. Wright, Col p. C. Foster, Lat 2:48.

Hawks, Moose win titles at Kodiak

KODIAK — A trio of Mat-Su Valley grapplers won their weight classes during the Robin Hervey Invitational at Kodiak High School on Saturday.

Three Houston Hawks — Drew Drake, Aaron Reese and Luke Wagner — won their brackets. Palmer’s LJ Leppanen also finished first in the tourney.

Drake edged Palmer’s Luke Huen in the 130-pound finals. Reese finished first at 171, and Wagner, a freshman, won the 215-pound bracket.

Leppanen was first at 135.

Houston and Palmer moved a combined 11 grapplers to the final round. Aaron Molesky (112), Hunter Molesky (140), AJ Gentz (145), Daniel Medina (152) and Cole Frohling (285) each wrestled in the finals and placed second. Houston’s Garrett Elder was edged by Kodiak’s David Castonguay, the state’s top-ranked wrestler in the class. Elder and Castonguay were tied at 2 with 20 seconds left in the match, but Castonguay was able to pull out the victory.

Castonguay was one of seven Bears to win titles. The host won the team title with 279 total points. Palmer was second with 157.5.

Knights to host event Friday

COLONY — The Colony Knights, the four-time defending 4A state champions, will host a duals meet and tournament this weekend.

Teams from Houston, Service, Ketchikan, Thunder Mountain and Colony are slated to compete. The duals start Friday at 3 p.m. and the tourney starts Saturday at 9 a.m.

— Jeremiah Bartz