Valley grapplers off to great start in 2015

WASILLA — Prep programs across the Valley enjoyed tremendous success during the 2014-15 school year.

Colony captured a Northern Lights Conference championship and the 4A state crown. Houston earned the Kachemak Conference title, and finished third in the 123A state tournament. Wasilla was the runner-up in the NLC, and placed third in the 4A state tourney.

Five Valley programs (Colony, Wasilla, Palmer, Houston and Susitna Valley) placed at least one wrestler in either the 123A or 4A state finals. Ten Valley wrestlers competed for an individual state crown, and five won state titles.

That’s a ton of success for the Valley.

If the first two weeks of the new season are any indication, the Valley should boast a number of the top grapplers, and programs, once again in 2015.

Colony Knights

Colony, which won its fifth state title in school history last year, notched a top-2 finish in each of the first two weeks of the season. The Knights were second in The Altercation, hosted by Houston High, and won the Throwdown in Snowtown last week in Valdez.

“We wrestled well at The Altercation, and at the Throwdown in Snowtown, we wrestled well there too,” Colony head coach Todd Hopkins said recently.

Colony returned nine wrestlers who placed in the top 6 of the state tournament last year — Gabe Whisman, Sam Sisco, Daniel Colley, Chace Booth, Caleb Hopkins, Jordan Nero, Robert Haan, Dawson Nash and Isaiah Christy. Sisco won the 4A state title at 106. Booth advanced to the finals, and placed second at 126.

The Knights also have Bryce Adams back. Adams, who did not wrestle last year, won a state championship as a freshman.

Overall, Hopkins said he’s excited about the potential of his 2015 squad.

“We’ve got lots of depth. We’re younger than last year,” Hopkins said. “Right now we have four seniors out of the 80 kids (on the team).”

The Knights will compete in the Jerry Palmer meet at Bartlett High School Saturday. Next week, the Knights will host the Colony Invitational. It all starts Thursday, when Colony hosts a quad meet with four programs that have combined to win 24 state team titles. Colony, five state titles, will be joined by 11-time 4A state champion Service, six-time 123A champion Bethel and two-time 123A champion Kotzebue.

The quad will feature both team champions from last season, Colony (4A) and Kotzebue (123A).

Hopkins said Colony and Service will both face Bethel and Kotzebue in dual meets. Wrestling will start at 1 p.m. at CHS.

“Four really strong, traditionally strong programs. It should be a fun afternoon. We’re excited about it,” Hopkins said.

Wasilla Warriors

Wasilla, which finished second in the NLC and third in state last year, is also off to a strong start. The Warriors finished third in The Altercation at Houston in Week 1, and showed its overall depth in Week 2. Last week, Wasilla split its squad and sent teams to both the Throwdown in Snowtown in Valdez and the West Anchorage Open. Wasilla finished as the runner-up in both tournaments.

“The first couple weekends went pretty well,” Wasilla head coach Shawn Hayes said. “The depth is good. We’re definitely loaded in the middle weights.”

Like Colony, Wasilla also boasts a younger team.

“We only have three seniors. We have lots of freshmen and sophomores. The sophomores and juniors are the core of the team,” Hayes said. “It should be a good year.”

The Warriors return seven wrestlers (Micah Mathis, Dillon Simpson, Berit Sturgeon, Hayden Steiner, Troy Newland, Samuel Wolff and Chase Minnick) who placed in the top 6 in state last year. Mathis won the 4A state title at 98 pounds.

Wasilla will compete at the Halloween Monster Bash Duals at South Anchorage High School this weekend.

Palmer Moose

Palmer sports the smallest squad among the Valley 4A programs, but Moose coach Daniel Graham said he’s excited about the group of grapplers Palmer has on the mat. Despite having only about 30 kids on the roster, Palmer is also off to a great start, grabbing tournament victories in each of the first two weeks of the season.

Palmer opened the year with a win at the Barrow Scramble, and followed that by earning the team title at the West Anchorage Open last week.

“It’s pretty exciting. Usually when you have a team that puts up team scores like we are, you have 70 to 80 kids in the room. We have a small team, but everybody in the room is pretty good,” Graham said.

Much like Colony and Wasilla, Palmer is also young.

“Most of that comprises of sophomores and freshmen,” Graham said of his roster.

Palmer returns a pair of wrestlers who placed at state last year. Wyatt McGann was third at 138, and Austin Farris advanced to the state finals and placed second at 195.

McGann and Farris were among four Moose who won their weight class during the West Anchorage Open. Jeff Glynn and Christian Kurka also won titles at West.

Graham said he expects those four (McGann, Farris, Glynn and Kurka) to be among Palmer’s leaders this year. Graham also noted Odin Andersen and Lucas Santana.

Houston Hawks

Houston enjoyed a historic 2014 season. The Hawks won their first conference title, accomplishing the feat on their home mat, and finished third in the state tournament. The enthusiasm from the 2014 season has spilled into the new year. The Hawks boast the largest squad during Brian Cook’s tenure as head coach.

“We have a big team, a lot of young guys,” Cook said recently. “We have 44 right now, the biggest team we’ve ever had.”

With 44 athletes on the team, the Houston program has drawn about 10 percent of the school’s total enrollment.

“I’m really happy with that. It’s really exciting. Winning regions at home kind of set the stage for us to get a bigger team. (People) saw that we are a winning program. A lot of kids wanted to join,” Cook said.

Houston returns three wrestlers who placed in the top 6 of the 123A state tourney — Sean Lang, Kendel Beasley and Kavan Weinberger. A fourth, Etienne Kinney, was a win away from placing at state. Terry Jackson also returns after a strong 2014 season.

Cook also noted Ezra Lincecum, Bobby House and Michael House.

“I think we’re going to be in a good spot,” Cook said of the Hawks. “I think by the end of the season, we’ll be right back in there. It’ll be a dogfight at regions. It’s what makes it fun.”

Houston continues its season this weekend at the King of the Mountain meet in Seward.

Susitna Valley Rams

Susitna Valley has only about six athletes on the squad, but features one of the top talents in his weight class at the 123A level.

Heavyweight Marshall Pinard finished as the state runner-up last season. This year, Pinard has started the season with individual titles in back-to-back weeks. Pinard pinned his way to victory in both The Altercation at Houston and the Homer Rumble.

Redington Huskies

The Redington Huskies are the newest prep wrestlers in the Valley.

Redington’s first head wrestling coach, Abe Salmon, said he’s excited about the potential of the program he’s working to build.

Salmon said Redington currently has about 18 kids on the team, which is close to his goal for the season.

“I was hoping for around 20 the first year,” Salmon said.

With about 18, Salmon has managed pull about 25 percent of the boys currently attending Redington, which includes freshmen and sophomores this year.

“The expectation was try to recruit as many kids as I could. I’m still trying to do that,” said Salmon, a former Wasilla High standout and longtime assistant coach in the WHS program.

Salmon said all about four or five of his athletes have wrestled before.

“Most of them are trying it for the first time. We’re trying to keep it fun for kids just being introduced,” Salmon said.

Redington will compete in the 123A Kachemak Conference.

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