Warriors ready to rebound at state

WASILLA — In 2003, the Wasilla Warriors finished as the Northern Lights Conference runners-up. A week later, the Warriors earned the right to call themselves state champions.

Wasilla is hoping for something similar this weekend.

Once again, Wasilla is the NLC runner-up, but the Warriors are one of a small handful of squads expected to compete for the team title during the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Wrestling Championships, which start today at Bartlett High School in Anchorage.

“It’s possible,” Wasilla head coach Shawn Hayes said of winning a state title on the heels of finishing as the region runner-up. “We’ve done it before. In (2003) we lost to Skyview, and then won state by quite a bit.”

The defending state champion Warriors, who beat Service by 23.5 points to win the crown last year, are in the hunt for their sixth title in the last 10 years. Wasilla is also hoping to keep the championship in the Valley for the 10th straight year. Colony won four consecutive championships during one stretch of the last decade.

Hayes will take 20 wrestlers and five reigning NLC champions into the state meet. NLC champion Kodiak is taking a state-best 22 wrestlers to the meet. Cook Inlet Conference runner-up South Anchorage will also have 20 wrestlers. CIC champion Service qualified 15 wrestlers, Mid-Alaska Conference champion Lathrop has 16 and Southeast Conference champion Ketchikan has 10.

Each of the three Valley programs has at least 15 wrestlers in the state tourney. Palmer qualified 17 and Colony passed 15 through the region meet.

The top six wrestlers in each weight class of the NLC and the CIC advance to the state meet.

While teams try to qualify as many grapplers as possible, Hayes said things can change week to week.

“Things match up differently,” Hayes said. “A lot of the kids who make it to finals in regions don’t make it to finals in state.”

Wasilla and Service have battled throughout the year, trading team titles of regular-season meets back and forth. But this weekend will mark the first time this season Wasilla will meet Service in a tournament in which a team can have two scoring wrestlers in a weight class. Hayes said Service’s group of 15 is a very tough group, but Wasilla is hoping depth gives the Warriors an edge.

“We really don’t know how well the second team is going to do,” Hayes said.

Wasilla will have a pair of defending state champions on the mat this weekend, seniors Abe Fox and Tyler Adams. Fox won the crown at 119 last year and is the top seed in the new 120-pound class. Adams, a state champ at 130 last year, will compete for the 145-pound title. Fox, Adams and 220-pounder Adam Akelkok will all represent Wasilla as No. 1 seeds of their respective brackets during the tourney.

Palmer’s 17 qualifiers are the most during Dale Ewart’s run as head coach of the Moose program. Heading into the region tournament, Ewart said he’d like to see 15 Palmer grapplers qualify. The Moose also have set a goal of a top 5 finish in the state tourney team standings.

“We’ve had some pretty high goals, pretty high benchmarks, but I think it’s obtainable,” Ewart said recently.

Colony placed 15 in the state tournament, including five who wrestled for a region title last week. Sawyer Root (152) and Simon Root (160) both won NLC titles last week, while Spencer Adams (126), Ian MacKenzie (195) and Ty Farber (220) advanced to the finals and placed second.

Mat-Su Valley

state qualifiers

Wasilla (20):

106 — Brandon Abbot, 3rd; 113 — Andrew Shannon, 2nd; Elijah Hall, 6th; 120— Abe Fox, 1st; Shannon Carpenter, 4th; 132 — Blake Marks, 4th; Wyatt Nelson, 6th; 138 — Nate McKimson, 1st; Bryce Serna, 2nd; 145 — Tyler Adams, 1st; 152 — Christian Lowe, 4th; Mitchell Rilatos, 5th; 160 — Charles Mincher, 5th; 170 — Hayden Seltenreich, 5th; 182 — Alex Fuller, 3rd; 195 — Austine Gonzlez, 1st; Tyler Seims, 5th; 220 — Adam Akelkok, 1st; Andrew Pettit, 5th; 285 — Ryan Pomrenke, 2nd.

Palmer (17):

106 — Mason Cochran, 4th; 120 — Aaron Molesky, 5th; Justin Gentz, 6th; 126 — Nate Pempek, 1st; Ellias Stratton, 6th; 132 — Eli Fouch, 3rd; 138 — Collin Bendixen, 4th; Hunter Molesky, 5th; 145 — Luke Heun, 3rd; Daniel Medina, 6th; 152 — AJ Gentz, 6th; 170 — Slade Storud, 4th; 182 — Caleb Nielson, 4th; 195 — Ben Button, 4th; Joel Ryno, 6th; 220 — Cole Frohling, 3rd; 285 — Brian Thompson, 1st.

Colony (15):

106 — Soren Simpson, 6th; 113 — Wade Booth, 3rd; Donovan Ellibee, 5th; 126 — Spencer Root, 2nd; Napoleon Media, 5th; 132 — Kamber Lucas, 5th; 145 — Jeremy Warzwick, 5th; 152 — Sawyer Root, 1st; 160 — Simon Root, 1st; 170 — Andrew Simpson, 6th; Andrew Knowles, 6th; 182 — Seth Root, 5th; 195 — Ian MacKenzie, 2nd; 220 — Ty Farber, 2nd; 285 — Justin Booth, 4th; Mitchell Daigle, 6th.

State seeds: (Top 6)

106 pounds — 1. Girard, East; 2. Fetko, Ser; 3. Alvarado, South; 4. Caballa, Kod; 5. Steffensen, Ken; 6. Cruz, Kod.

113 — 1. Hendrix, Lat; 2. Nanez, Ser; 3. Ottum, South; 4. Booth, Col; 5. Fried, Kod; 6. Larson, Ser.

120 — 1. Fox, Was; 2. Llorente, Kod; 3. Hammond, South; 4. Burris, Kod; 5. Carpenter, Was; 6. Lontz, Ket.

126 — 1. Pounds, Ser, 2. Decker, NP; 3. Agnew, WV; 4. Pempek, Pal; 5. Adams, Col; 6. Hu, Dim.

132 — 1. Achman, Lat; 2. Steffensen, Ken; 3. White, Kod; 4. Hogenson, South; 5. Reilly, TM; 6. Huck, West.

138 — 1. Lunsford, Ser; 2. McKimson, Was; 3. M Downing, East; 4. Serna, Was; 5. A. Downing, East; 6. Gillan, Lat.

145 — 1. Adams, Was; 2. Tennis, Sol; 3. Taus, ER; 4. Zimmerman, Lat; 5. Heun, Pal; 6. Mackey, Ket.

152 — 1. Skieens, Ser; 2. Pena, West; 3. Hamilton, Ket; 4. Corbett, East; 5. Sa. Root, Col; 6. Lepola, Kod.

160 — 1. Murakami, Ser; 2. Si. Root, Col; 3. Shangin, Sou; 4. Rogers, NP; 5. Foust, Sol; 6. Yavorskey, Kod.

170 — 1. Wiggins, East; 2. Dunbar, Ser; 3. Cheney, Lat; 4. Sheets, ER; 5. Powers, Kod; 6. Parsons, Kod.

182 — 1. Morrison, Chu; 2 Johnson, Kod; 3. Lopez, South; 4. Strieff, Sol; 5. Fuller, Was; 6. Nielson, Pal.

195 — 1. Ellis, Ser; 2. Crews, West; 3. Gonzales, Was; 4. Mederios, Chu; 5. MacKenzie, Col; 6. Owens, Kod.

220 — 1. Akelkok, Was; 2. Zorea, Ser; 3. Frohling, Pal; 4. Farber, Col; 5. Gudschinsky, Lat; 6. Burroughs, Chu.

285 — 1. Green, Bar; 2. Pilli, Ser; 3. Pomrenke, Was; 4. Trombley, Chu; 5. Thompson, Pal; 6. Garris-Shoemaker, WV.