The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé wrestling team may have to rent a private jet to carry the number of Crimson Bears that dominated the Alaska School Activities Association Southeast Region V Championships in Haines on Saturday and will advance to the state tournament.
“Just super proud of these guys,” JDHS coach Adam Messmer said. “Pleasantly I wasn’t shocked by the results, we wrestled pretty amazing. We had a lot of matches that were against ourselves, but we had some young kids show up and some old kids show up.”
Eleven wrestlers won weight division titles and 12 were runners-up meaning the Crimson Bears advance 23 grapplers on to the ASAA State Wrestling Championships next weekend at Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center.
“I am hoping we will be having at least five wrestlers with a good shot at state titles,” Messmer said. “And maybe a few other surprises. Just placing at state is a huge feat so we are just kind of focusing on that not necessarily winning it all. Just taking each match one at a time and advancing.”
JDHS won the Region V Division I team title with 223 points to Ketchikan’s 150.
“This is our second region championship in a row,” Messmer said. “After not winning one for about 18 seasons this feels good and looks good for our future with the number of kids we have.”
TheJuneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé wrestling team pose with their ASAA Southeast Region V Championship titles and trophies Saturday at Haines. (Photo courtesy Crimson Bears)
At 152 pounds JDHS senior Justus Darbonne defeated sophomore teammate Ethan Van Kirk by 13-10 decision for the title. Darbonne improves his season record to 22-2 as he advances to State and Van Kirk takes a 13-8 mark on to the show as well.
“Everybody kind of ran from that bracket because both Jed and Ethan were super tough,” Messmer said. “Ethan came about a half a second away from winning that match. I think this was the sixth time they have faced each other this year and Justus has gotten the better of him every time so this was most likely the last time Ethan was going to get another shot at him, but Justus prevailed again.”
JDHS senior Colton Cummins improved his season record to 27-3 and defeated sophomore teammate Felix Hesson (7-8) by 18-1 technical fall for the 135-pound title. Junior teammate Quintin McCoy (3-15) placed fifth here.
“He is firing on all cylinders,” Messmer said. “When we went up to Lancers (Anchorage tournament) he had an amazing first day and then he kind of changed things up there and it didn’t work out for him. He is getting back to the way that he should be wrestling and the way he wrestles best. All the matches here were pretty much dominant and one-sided. Trying to keep him focused on keeping that same mindset.”
At 119 pounds sophomore Camden Messmer improved his record to 22-1 and pinned classmate Tristen Ridgeway (8-6) in the second period to win the region title.
“Camden’s one loss (East’s undefeated senior Max Francisco) was at the Lancers finals,” coach Messmer said of his son. “Tristen has been putting in the work and he actually gave Camden a run for his money in the first round and into the second. He threw Camden a couple times and stopped a couple of his shots. With Tristan banging away with Camden in the practice room over and over again it definitely toughed him up and I think he is going to surprise some people up at state as well.”
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé sophomores Camden Messmer and Tristan Ridgeway grapple in the ASAA Southeast Region V 119-pound Championship Saturday at Haines. (Photo courtesy Crimson Bears)
JDHS sophomore Jed Davis (23-3) pinned Ketchikan senior Hunter Cowan (21-7) in the second period for the 145-pound title. JDHS senior Owen Woodruff (13-5) placed third here and sophomore teammate Elliot Klinger (4-6) placed fourth. Davis also was voted, by coaches ballot, as the Boys Division I Outstanding Wrestler for the tournament.
“That is no small feat,” Messmer said of the honor. “He won that because Hunter is a really good wrestler and a senior and you knew it was going to be a close match. Jed pinning him was above and beyond…And Owen had a really tough match against Hunter right off the bat and we were excited about that one.”
JDHS freshman Nixie Schooler (17-3) pinned Wrangell sophomore Hailey Cook (25-6) in the first period to win the ASAA Southeast Girls 107-pound championship (JDHS freshman Sunny Dutton placed third at 120 pounds).
“You let Nixie be Nixie,” Messmer said of preparing her for the next step. “She actually is really coachable, she just gets into her own mindset. You just sit there and let her go to work and I think she will be fine. She wrestled her two toughest opponents up at Lancer and had both those girls on their backs for a period of time before she lost. I think now the jitters are off and she is ready to come back with a little revenge.”
At 130 pounds JDHS junior Oliver Abel (12-10) defeated freshman teammate Caleb Aube (10-7) by 13-4 major decision for the title.
At 112 pounds JDHS freshman Joshua Beedle (16-7) pinned classmate Michael Carson (3-5) in the second period to win the title.
“For a freshman he is wrestling outstanding,” coach Messmer said. “Oliver is wrestling well, and Caleb, another freshman who I expect big things out of in the future.
JDHS sophomore Jaxin Jim (10-8) pinned senior teammate Carvin Hass (10-10) in the second period for the 171-pound title. Sophomore teammate Tyler Ouderkerk (0-9) placed third here.
At 160 pounds JDHS junior Alexzondro Marx-Beierly (14-5) defeated senior teammate Hayden Aube (11-4) by 6-5 decision for the title. JDHS freshman Ivan Shockley (8-4) placed third here and junior teammate Samuel Buttner sixth.
“Hayden had the better of Alex every single time this year and Alex pulled out the win,” Messmer said. “We also had Ivon Shockley there too and he is not very far behind those guys, we think he is going to fill in that slot pretty nicely.”
At 189 pounds JDHS sophomore Darren Foster (15-8) defeated freshman teammate Hugo Rank (8-11) by 17-2 technical fall. Senior teammate Hyrum Fish (1-4) placed third.
JDHS junior Richard Tupou (3-2) defeated Ketchikan’s Easton Yoder (6-6) by 10-7 decision for the 285-pound title. JDHS junior Kyle Carter (3-7) pinned Yoder for the second-place state position. JDHS freshman Sean Fairchild (0-5) placed fourth.
“I think Tupou is going to shock some people,” Messmer said. “I think our heavyweights will.”
At 103 pounds Ketchikan freshman Mattoon Glover (11-7) pinned JDHS freshman Carson Kautz (3-9) for the championship.
At 140 pounds KTN senior Gage Massin (26-5) pinned JDHS sophomore Xavier Thibeault (5-3) for the title.
“We bumped Xavier up to 140 because we had so many 130- and 135-pound wrestlers,” Messmer said. “He actually came up to me and said he wanted to go to 140 because he thought he might have a chance at state. He ended up beating two Ketchikan kids to make it to the finals and ended up taking second which was really good for our scoring.”
At 215 pounds Ketchikan senior Paul Thompson (20-2) pinned JDHS senior Denali Schijvens (4-4) in the third period.
“Paul is a pretty decorated wrestler,” Messmer said. “It was a pretty scrappy match. You get up to 215 and those guys are jacked out of their minds. There was a lot of muscle flying around…we took the loss, but I think he learned a lot there.”
At 125 pounds Ketchikan senior Titan Linne (24-5) pinned freshman teammate Mark Margaja (17-13) for the title. JDHS sophomore Joseph Webster (9-9) placed third.
“It is pretty fun when you are winning them all,” coach Messmer said. “Our senior class set an example in practice and it will be something that keeps on giving. We had some natural-born leaders and they showed the work ethic. They might not be the team captain leading everything, but they showed the kids in their group that are younger, and sometimes that means beating them a bunch of times but sometimes that is what it takes. And of course our team captains have been inspirational all season.”
Mt. Edgecumbe High School won the girls team title and Hoonah senior Krista Howland was voted the Girls Outstanding Wrestler. MEHS won the boys DII team title and MEHS senior Richard Didrickson was voted the DII Boys Outstanding Wrestler. The Kake Thunderbirds won the Team Sportsmanship Trophy.
Girls champions and runner-ups: 100 pounds – 1. Haines sr. Camelia Bell, 2. KTN sr. Gabrielle Bueno; 107 – 1. JDHS fr. Schooler, 2. WRG so. Cook; 114 – MEHS sr. Nevaeh George, 2. Metlakatla fr. Ashlynn Leask; 120 – 1. WRG sr. Della Churchill, 2. MEHS jr. Tahira Akaran; 126 – 1. HNH sr. Krista Howland, 2. WRG fr. Kourtney Barnes; 132 – 1. KTN jr. Summer Boling, 2. MEHS jr. Halena Slats; 138 – 1. MET sr. Lexi Cook, 2. Craig jr. Abigail Patten; 145 – 1. HNH fr. Harlee Brown, 2. KTN sr. Abigail Henson; 152 – 1. MEHS Ariana Olana, 2. Ariana Bell; 165 – 1. MEHS sr. Alexia Zacharof, 2. WRG sr. Vanessa Barnes; 185 – Hydaburg Clara Frank, 2. MEHS so. Charity Mila; 235 – 1. MEHS so. Sophie Didrickson, 2. KAK fr. Sassy Sharclane-Wooton.
Girls team Scoring: MEHS 155.5, KTN 73, MET 70, WRG 70, HNH 44, HYD 32, JDHS 32, HNS 20, CRG 18, KAK 10, Petersburg 0, Sitka 0, Southeast Island School District 0.
DII boys champions and runner-ups: 103 – 1. HNS fr. Finn Crowe, 2. MEHS Derek Wilson; 112 – 1. MEHS so. Ben Balluta, 2. SIT fr. JD Keith; 119 – 1. Skagway jr. Brenden Moncibaiz, 2. MEHS sr. Evan Andrew; 125 – 1. HNS sr. Hayden Jimenez, 2. MEHS sr. Ralphie Steeves; 130 – 1. MEHS jr. Elden Andrew, 2. CRG sr. Logan Lewis; 135 – 1. SIT so. Killan Hammock, 2. KAK sr. Talen Davis; 140 – 1. WRG so. Jackson Carney, 2. HNH so. Lawrence Howland; 145 – 1. HNS jr. Colton Combs, 2. WRG jr. Ian Nelson; 152 – 1. WRG so. Everett Meissner, 2. MEHS jr. Torian Dull; 160 – MEHS so. Jorge Sandoval, 2. MET jr. Sebastian Martinez; 171 – HNS sr. Dalton Henry, 2. MEHS sr. Samson Smith; 189 – 1. MEHS so. Kaden Herrmann, 2. MEHS jr. Carlos Sandoval; 215 – 1. MEHS sr. Richard Didrickson, 2. HNS jr. James Stickler; 285 – 1. MEHS sr. Donovan Standifer, 2. PSG sr. Angus Olsen.
DII boys team scoring: MEHS 227.5, WRG 146, HNS 115, SIT 67, MET 49.5, SKG 40, PSG 37, CRG 32.5, HNH 32, KAK 21, SISD 7, HYD 4.
