Warriors grab big lead in NLC wrestling tourney; 23 Valley grapplers advance to finals

PALMER — It’s a good thing the Northern Lights Conference Championships are hosted by a Valley school, because the final round will certainly have a Valley flavor.

Valley schools moved 23 grapplers into the conference championship round, which is slated for Saturday at 1 p.m. at Palmer High School. The other three teams in the conference – Kodiak, Kenai and Soldotna — combined to hold only seven of the 30 possible spots in the championship finals.

Wasilla, which holds a commanding lead in the team standings after the first day of the two-day event, moved a event-high 10 grapplers into the finals. Wasilla finished with 284 points after the first day, well ahead of second-place Colony and it’s 251.5 points in the standings. Host Palmer stands in third after Day 1, with 235 points.

Each wrestler in the finals received an automatic bid to next week’s state championships. The top 5 wrestlers in each weight class advance to state.

Team scores:

1. Wasilla 284; 2. Colony 251.5; 3. Palmer 235; 4. Kodiak 185.5; 5. Kenai 74.5; 6. Soldotna 22.

Championship semifinals:

98 pounds — L. Albrecht, Was m.d. B. Adams, Col 9-0; B. McKimson, Was p. W. Spencer, Col 5:59; 106 — H. Steffensen, Ken p. M. Kageyama, Kod 3:34; J. Valdez, Kod d. S. Simpson, Col 8-3; 113 — A. Caballa, Kod m.d. J. Sanders, Pal 15-3; B. Abbott, Was p. J. Nero, Col 3:39; 120 — M. Cochran, Pal m.d. J. Gentz, Was 14-2; A. Shannon, Was d. J. Small, Kod 1-0; 126 — S. Carpenter, Was p. M. VanderMartin, Col 1:48; E. Burris, Kod d. A. Molesky, Pal 8-6; 132 — R. Steiner, Was m.d. A. Troxell-Tom, Ken 14-1; S. Adams, Col d. W. McGann, Pal 7-0; 138 — E. Steffensen, Ken t.f. K. Gonzalez, Kod 17-1; K. Lucas, Col m.d. C. Bendixen, Pal 19-7; 145 — N. McKimson, Was p. E. Fouch, Pal 5:14; B. Marks, Was d. S. Sampson, Col 8-6 OT; 152 — B. Serna, Was p. K. Nash, Col 1:59; H. Molesky, Pal d. D. Morrow, Was 7-3; 160 — L. Heun, Pal p. D. Carter, Ken 0:35; L. Conway, Col d. M. Aho, Ken 6-4; 170 — S. Root, Col p. C. White, Pal 0:43; M. Swineheart, Pal p. Z. Doan, Col 4:33; 182 — Sa. Root, Col m.d. Z. Rockstad, Was 14-1; C. Nielsen, Pal d. T. Strief, Sol 7-1; 195 — K. Powers, Kod p. B. Schultz, Was 3:39; T. Bigley, Kod d. C. Smith, Pal 15-8; 220 — I. MacKenzie, Col m.d. N. Wandersee, Kod 11-2; Q. Wright, Was d. B. Button, Was 11-6; 285 — B. Thompson, Pal p. M. Daigle, Col 1:33; C. Frohling, Pal d. S. Sega, Kod 4-2.