Wasilla girls win North Pole tournament; Colony boys, girls second at Grace Christian tourney

The Colony Knights and Wasilla Warriors used the final weekend of the prep wrestling regular season to record top-two finishes in the team standings.

Wasilla earned the girls team title at the John Tobin Invitational at North Pole, and the boys finished second. Colony had a pair of runner-up finishes during the Grace Grizzly Shakedown at Grace Christian School.

Wasilla used 192 total points to win the Tobin girls team title. Danielle Steiner was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler for the girls after knocking off the top two seeds in her weight class. She beat North Pole’s Jordynn Colby 6-1 in the 120-pound final. Taryn Wright pinned North Pole’s Londyn Evans in the 126-pound final. Brynlee Lutz earned another tourney title with a 15-0 win by technical fall at 138. Lydia Taysom pinned Lathrop’s Maddie Oestreich to win at 145.

Taylor Cooley (100), McKenzie Ray (132) and McKinley Hafen (165) finished second for Wasilla.

Wasilla had four individual winners in the boys tourney. Max Perkins edged North Pole’s Hendrix Turner at 140. Corbin Lutz edged North Pole’s Kaden Bush at 145. Marcus Martinez defeated North Pole’s Eli Worthington at 152. Max Moat pinned Shepherd Robinson at 215. Brigg Pettijohn was also second for Wasilla.

Colony placed second in both the boys and girls tournaments. The Knights finished with 273 total points in the boys team standings and 122 in the girls. South Anchorage won both team titles, with 337.5 total points for the boys and 126.5 for the girls.

Colony also crowned a combined five individual champions.

Three of those came in the girls tournament. Colony’s Grace Loutzenhiser earned a 15-5 major decision over Nome’s Renee Brown in the 100-pound final. Hayden Vanderpool edged South’s Julia Dunlap 7-6 at 114 points. Braelyn Troxell beat top-seeded Pagen Lester of Newhalen 22-1.

Cailynn Belgarde also advanced to the finals, and placed second at 138. Tanelleice Trebizo was third at 114 for Colony.

In the boys tournament, four matches in the finals featured a Colony and South wrestler. Colony’s Isaiah Schultz pinned South’s Shaw Gerondale in the 135-pound final. Thor Nelson notched a 21-4 win by technical fall over South’s Madden Pitka at 189. South’s Levi Shivers edged Colony’s Tristen Mayer 4-2 at 145. South’s Shane Ostermiller beat Colony’s Jackson Gerstner 15-0 at 152.

David Walz (103), Ethan Mitchell (112), John Bennis (145) and Jackson Weller (285) each finished third.

Palmer, which was fourth in the girls standings, crowned a pair of champs. Abigail Paddock scored an 8-0 major decision over Homer’s Saorise Cook, the top seed, at 132. Palmer’s Lillie VanSiegman beat Colony’s Cailynn Belgarde 10-0 at 138.

Linsey Flores-Romo was third at 185 for the Palmer girls, and Henry Clark placed third at 119 for the Moose boys.

Redington also had an individual champ. Josephine Granger pinned East Anchorage’s Heaven Copeland to win the girls 145-pound title.

Ashlynn Akers (112) and Lilly Fogelman (152) were third for the Redington girls, and Triston Charley (189) placed third for the Redington boys.

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