Valley wrestlers win state titles

ANCHORAGE — As a junior, Palmer’s Cody Vansiegman entered the state tournament as a No. 3 seed, and battled his way to a state title. This season, as a senior, Vansiegman was seeded fourth in his weight class. And the Palmer standout did it again.

Vansiegman upset the top seed in his weight class and beat a Valley rival en route to earning his second straight state crown during the ASAA/First National Bank Division I State Championships Saturday evening at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.

Vansiegman edged South Anchorage’s Clayton McGuire, the No, 1 seed, before scoring a 5-1 victory over Colony’s Tristen Meyer in the finals in the 145-pound class.

Vanseigman was one of a pair of Palmer wrestlers and four Valley grapplers to earn a Division I state title. Palmer, Colony and Wasilla combined to place seven wrestlers in the finals.

“We’re trying to build the Valley back up,” Palmer first-year head coach Kyle Wilson said. “There are really good teams and really good coaches.”

Palmer junior Kaelan Vesel earned his first state title, edging South Anchorage’s Gabriel Schumaker 6-3 in the 189-pound final.

Colony crowned two boys champs, Matthew Mitchell and Noah Justice. In the Division II tournament, Redington senior Myles Campbell notched the three-peat with his third straight state title.

Mitchell, a senior, pinned Brian Grabner of the Fairbanks-based Student Wrestling Development Program in the third round of the 135-pound class to win his second career state title.

“I feel good. It was just my hard work and dedication that got me there,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell captured his first state championship as a sophomore in 2021. He was a runner-up last year.

Mitchell finished his Colony career with a state championship, and Justice ended his first season in high school and Alaska with a title.

Justice, who moved to the Valley with his family from South Carolina, pinned South Anchorage’s Dylan Frawner at the 1:50 mark to win the 103-pound weight class.

“I feel really good about it. I like the competition and how things can get switched up so fast,” Justice said.

Meyer and Nolan Gallagher (215) also advanced to the finals and placed second for the Knights. Colony placed seven in the top-six of their weight class, and finished fourth in the team standings with 191 total points.

“Overall as a program, we did well,” Colony head coach Todd Hopkins said. “The kids that were here competed hard.”

Ty Harmon (third at 130), Thomas Weller (fourth at 189) and Branden Rhodes (fifth at 160) also placed for the Knights.

Campbell led the Huskies and Valley wrestlers in the Division II tournament with his championship at 145 pounds. Campbell pinned Nolan Wald of Haines in the finals.

Joseph Spangler represented Wasilla in the finals, and placed second at 130.

Palmer was fifth in the Division I team standings with 124 points. Ezra Ginn (160) was third, Rueger Mothershead (285) placed fourth and Carter Paulson (189) was sixth.

Wasilla was sixth in the DI standings with 113 points. Chase Foss (119) and Thailyn Reynolds (140) finished third, Achilles Alexander (119) was fourth, and Eugene Obukhovskiy (145 and Kaleb Boothby (152) placed fifth.

In the Division II tourney, Redington’s Aidan Laselle advanced to the finals and placed second. Wyatt Milnes was fourth at 171. Eli Banks placed sixth at 130 for Houston.

Frontiersman managing editor Jeremiah Bartz contributed to this report. Contact the Frontiersman at sports@frontiersman.com.