Warrior grapplers win Bob Bailey Invite

JEREMIAH BARTZ/ Frontiersman sports editor

EAGLE RIVER - The score's now Wasilla 1, South 1.

After the South Anchorage Wolverine wrestling squad edged topped Wasilla in the team standings and won the Palmer Invitational last week, the Warriors had the upper hand on Saturday winning the team title of the Bob Bailey Invitational at Chugiak High School.

Led by five grapplers in the championship finals, the Warriors earned 220.5 total points to win the overall crown. South, with three athletes in the finals, finished second with 195.5 points.

Defending state champions Alan Bartelli and Jake Wade each won titles. Duane Carpenter also won his weight class. In one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament, Carpenter, possibly the top wrestler at the 4A level, defeated Anchorage Christian School's Zach Shelley, seen as the top grappler in the 3A class, 10-6 in the 140-pound weight class. In a rematch of the 103-pound state title match last year, Bartelli scored an 11-2 major decision over Skyview sophomore Michaela Hutch-inson in the 112-pound final.

Wade defeated Seward senior Coty Beck 5-2 in the 189-pound final.

Sam Miller and Trevor Pempek each finished second for Wasilla. Dillingham's Dan Savo earned a 7-4 win over Miller in the 119-pound final, while Pempek suffered a loss to Skyview's Clark Buffington in the 1562-pound final.

A pair of Warriors advanced to the consolation finals. Danny Lyles notched a forfeit win at 125. Cesar Barrara dropped a 7-4 decision to Bethel's Gilbert McIntyre at 135.

Led by senior Clinton Banzhaf, Houston finished 13th in the team standings with 58 total points.

Banzhaf, part of a strong Hawk 3A squad, finished second in a 4A tournament for the second consecutive week. South Anchorage's Scott Lucas defeated Banzhaf in the 215-pound final.

Twenty-eight teams participated in the Bob Bailey Invite. Wasilla hosts the 21-team North/South Invite this weekend. Action starts Friday at WHS.