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The first year of Thunder Mountain wrestling could not be going much better for coach Chad Requa and his Falcon squad as they prepare to send four grapplers to the state meet inAnchorage.

Junior Cameron Fronimos, 171 pounds, sophomore Thomas Riley, 112 pounds, and two freshman, Luke Swiger and Gary Speck, 160 and 215 pounds, respectively, will be competing Dec. 11-12 for the chance to be a state champion.

Requa said not only is he excited about this year, but the fact that his team is so young brings excitement and expectations for years to come.

"We expect all four of our kids to bring home hardware," he said. "Between Cameron and Thomas, they've been plugging away all year long and I will be surprised if they don't bring home a medal."

While Fronimos and Riley are older and have more experience, Requa said he expects just as much from his freshman wrestlers.

"For Luke and Gary, as freshmen, it's nice for them to go just to get experience," he said. "I don't want to say in the paper that I don't expect them to do well, because I do. But at the same time, even if they just go I'm pretty happy about that."

He said another high point from the weekend was receiving the sportsmanship award, which said a lot about the program.

"The kids represent their city and their school in a positive way, and that's a big deal," he said.

Requa also had praise for nearby Hoonah wrestlers.

"Thunder Mountain and the Hoonah wrestling team have kind of adopted each other as sister teams this year," he said. "We have enjoyed spending time with each other and learning from each other. Those kids and their coaches also deserve some recognition for the program that they have built."

Hoonah took sixth place this weekend with only eight wrestlers in six weight classes (there can only be one team scorer per weight class), so five scorers earned that sixth-place finish out of 16 teams in the small schools regional tournament.

Overall for Thunder Mountain, Riley, Fronimos, Swiger and Speck finished on top of their respective weight classes. 125-pound Wilson Suzuki went 0-1 with a third-place finish, while 140-pound Brooks Young and 145-pounders James Gilchrest and David Steiniger finished 0-2 in the tournament. 160-pound Brian Koenig came in third place and was 1-1 overall. Nicole Nicholson did not finish because she missed her weight in what was an apparent scale malfunction. Requa said she weighed in at .4 pounds above her weight class when only two hours earlier she was two pounds below it, and she did not ingest any food or fluids during those two hours.

For Hoonah, 112-pound Melissa Fisher finished third at 3-1, 112-pound Hank Yandell finished fourth, 2-2 in the tournament, 125-pound Timmy Coutlee, 3-0, came in first, 140-pound Nick Hughes finished 0-2, 145-pound Kristian Giese came in fifth place at 4-2, 145-pound Cody Anderson, 3-1, came in second, 160-pound Kole Skaflestad came in first at 4-0 for the tournament, and heavyweight Casey Mills, 3-1, came in third.