More than a name change was on the singlets of the bodies dripping energy on the mats of the Juneau Wrestling Center on Mendenhall Loop Road late Wednesday.

“We’re about hard work, grit and no one wants it more than us,” Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé senior co-captain Colton Cummins said. “We’re working harder than every single team in the state, I would say. I was up north all summer training with different teams, and I think we are working harder than all of them.”

Now back to the original name and mascot of the first hearty athletes that donned the JDHS wrestling uniforms, the Crimson Bears bolster a record 55 teammates led by Cummins and classmate co-captains Hayden Aube, Justus Darbonne and Carvin Hass.

“It’s tough, it’s hard gathering everyone together,” Cummins said. “But once everyone gets their stuff together and locked in we have good practices.”

Aube said, “It is definitely a dedication thing. Having the courage to show up every day and wrestle in a large environment, having the confidence to come out here. I show up not goofing around, paying attention to show the younger guys what it is supposed to be about.”

The wrestling program was combined under Thunder Mountain the past eight years (since 2016), and had been divided among JDHS and TMHS eight years prior to that when TMHS opened in 2008.

Now, with all the mat traditions of the past combined and a coaching staff that’s been banded together for the past four seasons, JDHS is destined to defend TM’s first-ever Southeast Region V championship win over Ketchikan last season. That defense, which ended a 15-year Kayhi reign, begins with this weekend’s trip to Hoonah.

“We’re going to shake the rust off,” JDHS head coach Adam Messmer said. “For everybody, the kids and the coaches, region-wide really. It’s good to see all the new freshmen across the region. For us it’s shaking the cobwebs off…Many of the wrestlers have trained all year, wrestling at tournaments in western Idaho or with Team Alaska. Some have not been on a mat since middle school. No matter what, when they get on the mat for the first time each year, wrestling those first six minutes, it is a killer. I really have to give a lot of credit to my coaching staff, Giddeon Monette, Jason Hass, and Dan Ondrejka. We have all been coaching with each other for years and recognize each other’s strengths. All of us come from different backgrounds and have different personalities and I think that is why we work so well together.”

A number of this season’s Crimson Bears were in the ASAA State Wrestling Championships last season.

Sophomore Camden Messmer, 26 wins and four losses at 112 pounds last season, made the state semifinals and placed fourth.

“I just want to put as many hours in as I can to get better,” C. Messmer said. “This tournament I am going to look at and study my competition to see who I am going to be up against for the rest of the year. We’re like a team, we’re family…if another team makes fun of a player it really makes us come together, since that’s our family, we have each others’ back.”

Darbonne, 15-11 at 152 pounds, placed sixth.

“Every year I have wrestled since freshman year, we’ve been TMHS Falcons,” Darbonne said. “The change can bring a lot more people into the wrestling room for sure and just put wrestling back on the map for Juneau. And it’s more inviting for everyone in high school to come and show up. After watching previous leaders I’ve wrestled with, I just kind of take after them and try to guide everyone. Just listen to coach, work hard and the harder you work the better you’re going to get.”

Sophomore Landyn Dunn, 27-13 at 112 pounds, placed sixth at state. Also competing at state last season were Hass, 18-14 at 160 pounds; Aube, 11-5 at 145 pounds; senior Denali Schijvens, 23-13 at 215 pounds; junior Gunner Niere, 14-15 at 130 pounds; junior Alex Marx-Beierly, 10-13 at 152 pounds; sophomore Tristan Ridgeway, 2-8 at 119 pounds; sophomore Jed Davis, 26-10 at 125 pounds; sophomore Ethan Van Kirk, 16-8 at 140 pounds; sophomore Jackson Jim, 5-9 at 171 pounds and sophomore Darren Foster, 16-12 at 285 pounds.

“Wrestling for me has always been, like, growing up it was a sport that took a lot of effort, a lot of work,” Hass said. “I think that kind of instilled a work ethic, not just in me, but most of our wrestlers. And it is not just on the mat. It comes off the mat with you through academics, school, college applications. It’s a sport that takes dedication that can carry innumerable other paths. I just try to lead by example, not goofing off at practice, knowing when to have a fun conversation, when to listen to coach and lock in. Not distract younger kids. If you set an example usually most will follow. Wrestling is a tough sport. I totally get where fans come from sometimes…It’s hard sitting in a gym for eight hours in a hot, sweaty environment, but I think wrestling as a whole has a lot of work behind the scenes leading up to the tournaments that people don’t see… We are practicing now, been doing preseason for, like, ever. I don’t think people know the amount of work, in most sports, but especially wrestling.”

Pre-season started in August with roughly 30 athletes showing up each day and the season officially began on Oct. 2.

“The kids haven’t missed a beat,” coach Messmer said. “Last year we finished the season with 36 kids on the roster. This season I have 55. I can’t think of one kid that was a freshman, sophomore or junior last year and didn’t return this season. That along with a healthy freshmen class and a group of football players that decided to give the sport a try after coming off an unfortunately short season bodes well for us. We also have a handful of kids that are sophomores to seniors that are new to the sport. Our sport is definitely growing in this town. I know I have said this before, but I really attribute that to the environment my coaches and myself have created. We have created a family culture where everyone is looking out for each other.”

Coach Messmer noted it is too early for predictions or surprises on grappler success.

“Kind of like picking who is going to win the Super Bowl in August,” he said. “But that is most of the fun, seeing kids develop at different rates and surprise you at the end of the season.”

The JDHS Crimson Bears wrestling team includes:

Seniors: Carvin Hass, Colton Cummins, Denali Schijvens, Hayden Aube, Hyrum Fish, Javier Jimenez-Gomez, Jayden Johnson, Johnathyn Kestel, Justus Darbonne, Merrick Hartman, Noah Johnson, Owen Woodruff and Quentin Curtis.

Juniors: Alexzondro Marx-Beierly, Elias Lowell, Gunner Niere, Jace Kihlmire, Jaycen White, Kyle Carter, Marlin Cox, Noah Ault, Oliver Able, Quintin McCoy, Samuel Buttner and Wyatt Kenny.

Sophomores: Camden Messmer, Darren Foster, Ethan Van Kirk, Elliot Klinger, Felix Hesson, Gage Keller, Jaeger Hubert, Jaxin Jim, Jed Davis, Joseph Webster, Landyn Dunn, Orrin Noon, Tristen Ridgeway, Tyler Oudekerk, William Dapcevich and Xavier Thibeault.

Freshmen: Caleb Aube, Carson Kautz, Emanuel Canales-Ortiz, Hugo Rank, Ivan Shockley, Joshua Beedle, Lacy Whitehead, Michael Carson, Nixie Schooler, Sean Fairchild, Sunny Duttn and Toriana Johnson.

Schooler is one of four girls on the team and is coming off a successful middle school and club career.

“It takes me being in shape and my mom giving me rides to practice,” she said. “Wrestling the guys is hard but it is pretty cool having the team behind me. I like them and they are fun to talk to.”

Coach Messmer believes Schooler and classmate Toriana Johnson can help establish a girls program at JDHS.

“Wrestling means a lot to me,” Johnson said. “I’m pretty new to it. It’s like a coping mechanism for me. Just something to get my mind off things and have fun. The practices and the conditioning for it are hard, and the discipline. It feels nice to have teammates, people there for you, to cheer you on.”

That support has been all inclusive across the practice sessions.

“In a sport where two kids are battling against each other day in and day out we have had zero conflicts in our room,” coach Messmer said. “Everyone is working towards a common goal of getting a little better each day and making sure their partner is getting better. We have wrestlers that have wrestled since they were four years old and seniors that have never wrestled a live match. Some are working toward aspirations of a state championship, and some are working toward winning their first match. Everyone in the room is very supportive in these individual goals. I remember last year during the region tournament we had a freshmen win his first match against a kid he had lost to all season and from the team’s response you would have thought he just won the Olympics.”

Coach Messmer noted the success for wrestling is not complicated.

“The formula is pretty simple,” he said. “You want to win more matches? Practice harder. That might mean going on a run before school or hitting the weights after practice. I tell the kids this sport will give you back as much as you’re willing to put in.”

While local wrestling success has been documented since the early mining days, Juneau wrestling success at the state level officially dates back to the first state wrestling tournament held at Service High School in 1972. In 1973, JDHS held the state tournament.

Juneau State champions have included: 1972 – KC Wilson (132 lbs), Ed Shaw (145); 1973 – Mark Johnson (112), KC Wilson (138); 1977- Loren Cummins (105); 1981 – Shannon Garety (119); 1982 – Pete Eagle (112); 1986 – Phil Isaak (155); 2000 – Gary Reid (140), Garrett Schoenberger (171); 2001 – Justin Hulegaard (130); 2002 – Anthony Manacio (112), Jerrod Harvey (275); 2004 – Gerry Carrillo (103); 2005 – Sungie Mussara (112); 2008 – Steven Dyer (152); 2017 – Cody Weldon (TMHS 220); 2018 – Carl Tupou (TMHS 220).

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.