JDHS takes team title as champion grapplers crowned in Southeast Showdown

Aside from more modern singlets, Saturday night on the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé wrestling mats could have been any of the old school wrestling tournaments that attracted high schools from all around the panhandle.

“It was pretty special,” longtime Juneau wrestling coach and 1977 Crimson Bears state champion Loren Cummins said. He had just watched his son Colton along with his son’s classmates celebrate their Crimson Bears senior night with a team title, multiple individual championships and a load of strong matches. “He has worked hard for this and he has always stayed humble. I’m proud of him. I’m proud of them all. It has been a long time since we have seen this many wrestlers in this gym.”

With champions crowned from an assortment of schools in front of a standing-room-only crowd the electricity flowed across the lightest to the heaviest weight brackets at Juneau’s Southeast Showdown inside the George Houston Gymnasium.

Crimson Bears senior Colton Cummins continued undefeated through the 135-pound bracket over two days and pinned Mt. Edgecumbe junior Elden Andrew in the first period for the crown.

“It was really nice to perform in front of my family one last time, but I was just trying to put on a good show for them,” Cummins said. “I’ve wrestled against the best guys in the country and I know what I’m capable of. I just treat every single match like it’s the same thing, just like it’s a practice match. Just go in there and know that I can win.”

JDHS sophomore Camden Messmer pinned Skagway junior Brenden Moncibaiz in the first round for the 119-pound title.

“I kind of wanted it to be fast-paced,” Messmer said. “So I was just trying to be fast on my feet.”

But there was more to the match than the win.

Messmer said it was more important, “Just seeing the competition again and then like supporting our team sort of because on the trips not all the team goes. This one is like everyone is here. It’s like a big family gathering pretty much.”

Perhaps one of the most respected of the family was JDHS senior Justus Darbonne as he continued his undefeated season by pinning one of Southeast’s most talented wrestlers in Ketchikan senior Hunter Cowan.

Darbonne got the fall with just 15 seconds remaining in the first round.

“I’ve wrestled him before,” Darbonne said. “My mindset was just to stay low, wrestle hard and move fast. To me it is just another match and I just try to stay humble. He is definitely a feared opponent, but I’m glad we had a good match together and told him see you later.”

JDHS senior Hayden Aube decisioned junior teammate Alexzondro Marx-Beierly 8-6 in a crowd-pleasing three rounds at 160 pounds.

“Coming into this match I knew he was going to be a tough guy,” Aube said. “I mean probably the strongest guy I’ve wrestled today. Scary when it comes to his throwing game, I was scared I was going to get tossed, but I like to show the state, and Southeast, that I’m a good wrestler and I like putting on a show for these guys.”

JDHS sophomore Jed Davis said the lessons learned from practicing against senior teammate Sage Shultz helped him improve immensely already in the season and were key in his 9-1 Major Decision championship win over Shultz at 145 pounds.

“My mindset was just to dominate really,” Davis said. “Just to know that I could outpace him, I’m stronger than him. I respect him a ton, but just to know, coming into it, that I could win that match. He’s got the best grip on the team, so his grip strength I have to fight that daily.”

Wrangell sophomore Jackson Carney wowed the crowd with a stunning performance over Ketchikan senior Gage Massin at 140 pounds.

Carney kept his undefeated season alive and delivered Massin his first loss with a pin in the third round.

“Every time I go out to wrestle someone I like to think that no matter what, it is possible to lose,” Carney said. “So you want to go out and wrestle everyone the exact same. So I went out thinking that I would wrestle him the same as everyone else with a good stance, good positions and see what happens.”

What happened was Carney taking a comfortable lead in the fist two rounds and Massin storming back to tie the match late.

“I knew that he would be trying to double-leg me,” Carney said. “So I knew I was going to have to sprawl. I also know that he throws a nasty head and arm, so I didn’t want to get head and armed. And I was just doing what I could to stay on top, keep him from scoring on me as much as possible. With 20 seconds left he got that takedown, he cut me and took me back down and that was a little scary.

Carney was able to reverse.

“So when I was able to get that turn, flip him, I got him in a spot where I was just keeping him there, getting my points,” he said. “And I was just pushing back and when the ref called the pin I was so excited and surprised, it was just great.”

JDHS freshman Nixie Schooler continued her unbeaten season with a first-period pin over Mt. Edgecumbe senior Dorothea Okitkun at 107 pounds in the girls bracket.

“I just didn’t want to get too cocky,” Schooler said. “I just wanted to leg ride, just like when I get on top just throw the boots in. It was nice wrestling in the spotlight, but I’ve been to more exciting, more bigger tournaments, but this is pretty cool because it is my hometown and first high school tournament. I learned to just keep my head up and don’t go overboard with the moves that I want to do.”

Mt. Edgecumbe senior Richard Didrickson remained undefeated and won by 18-3 technical fall over JDHS senior Merrick Hartman in the second period for the 189-pound title. Didrickson was also awarded the Brandon Pilot Outstanding Wrestler plaque for the tournament.

“It was awesome,” Didrickson said. “I’ve put a lot of work in and I love that it is showing, and I was happy that there was some competition here. I was able to work on some stuff against the competition and just grind out some moves, and just work on getting better. I’ve wrestled the guy a couple times before and my mindset was just to stick to my same stuff, don’t try anything crazy, but just work on the moves that I know that work. Just work hard in every position.”

Didrickson said the JDHS venue, “Was awesome. This was a fun tournament last year and it is awesome that it is in a new gym this year. This is the first time they have had the tournament here in like a long time. Awesome atmosphere, they had a nice spotlight and, yeah, it as a really fun tournament.”

Not in the finals, but in one of the tournament’s most exciting matches JDHS sophomore Jaxin Jim went to overtime in the 171-pound semifinals against Petersburg senior Kaden Duke.

“We were both tired,” Jim said. “I could see it. I could feel it. It was definitely a really hard match. I felt it afterwards, I was just straight gassed, it was a really tough match. I’m only a sophomore so I still have a lot to learn but I’m definitely going to bring it to him next tournament.”

Jim credited the Crimson Bears upperclassmen with his improvement.

“I just learned a lot of new things,” he said. “I learned to just set up more of my shot. And, like, Hayden Aube, he’s like a brother to me. He’s always there for me and he’s just always so helpful to me. He is always there to help and so are my other teammates.”

Duke would advance to lose in the finals to MEHS senior Samson Smith by fall.

“It was a pretty good tournament,” JDHS head coach Adam Messmer said. “Everybody wrestled great, boys and girls all the way through. Even our new kids. We had a lot of kids with their first wins, some of them with their first matches. It was great.”

Messmer noted the number of matches were key for improvement moving forward.

“It was a lot of wrestling,” he said. “The type of bracket we did everybody got quite a few matches. It is hard with the small schools, they have some really tough kids, a lot of returning state champions and state placers for the small schools so we have a lot of good competition across Southeast. We’re aiming to beat Ketchikan and go up north and do better up there. We are going to see most of these guys three or four more times before we go up to state, they are just going to keep sharpening us.”

The intensity of the tournament was noted through the coaching staff.

“You could just see the tradition building in Southeast again,” assistant coach Dan Ondrejka said. “Like just the fact that we saw teams we have never seen before here and teams that haven’t been teams in a long time. So to be able to harness that in a ‘new-old’ high school. You think about it, we are bringing back all these old traditions that we have never seen before…it is the beginning of something new, or something old, but…just good intense wrestling tonight. It shows you that Southeast is emerging again.”

One of the last wrestlers to leave the gym, who stayed as young grapplers rolled up mats and cleaned the gym, was one of the Crimson Bears’ first state champions.

“Wow,” Loren Cummins said. “That was pretty fun. Brought back some memories.”

JDHS topped the team scoring with 516 points. MEHS followed with 399, KTN 298, WRG 170.5, Metlakatla 128, Sitka 68.5, Haines 65, Hoonah 63.5, Skagway 47, PSG 44, Kake 32 and Hydaburg 31.

Top Individual Weights

285 – 1. MEHS Jr. Donovan Standifer; 2. Wrg Jr. Cody Barnes; 3. SIT Sr. Dylan Petersen; 4. PSG Fr. Danny Stocks; 5. JDHS Jr. Kyle Carter.

235 Girls – 1. HYD Clara Frank; 2. KAK Fr. Sassy Sharclane-Wooton.

215 – 1. KTN Sr. Paul Thompson; 2. HNS junior James Stickler; 3. KTN Rocco Piazza; 4. MET So. Josiah Bergtold.

189 – 1. MEHS Sr. Richard Didrickson; 2. JDHS So. Darren Foster; 3. MET Sr. Brody Booth; 4. JDHS Sr. Merrick Hartman; 5/6 JDHS Fr. Hugo Rank / SIT Sr. Dane Evans; 7/8 SKG Fr. Masen Mixon / CRG Donald Arntzen.

171 – 1. MEHS Sr. Samson Smith; 2. PSG Sr. Kaden Duke; 3. JDHS So. Jaxin Jim; 4. HNS Sr. Dalton Henry; 5/6 MEHS So. Kaden Herrmann / JDHS Jr. Jaycen White; 7/8 JDHS Sr. Johnathyn Kestel / MET So. Porter Hudson.

171 JV – 1. MEHS Jr. Kolby Clark-Pruitt; 2. WRG Jr. William Massin; 3. CRG Aidan Goheen; 4. MET Jr. Kelly Michielssen; 5/6 PSG Fr. Edgar Olsen / JDHS So. Tyler Oudekerk.

165 G – 1. WRG Sr. Vanessa Johnson; 2. MEHS Sr. Alexia Zacharof; 3. MET Fr. Gracie Booth.

160 – 1. JDHS Sr. Hayden Aube; 2. JDHS Jr. Alexzondro Marx-Beierly; 3. KTN Jr. Cayden Harney; 4. JDHS Fr. Ivan Shockley; 5/6 JDHS Sr. Carvin Hass / MEHS Jr. Carlos Sandoval; 7/8 KTN So. Noah Hilson / WRG So. Everett Meissner.

160 JV – 1. MEHS So. Jorge Sandoval; 2. MET Jr. Sebashtin Martinez; 3. JDHS So. Orrin Noon; 4. SKG Fr. Logan Ward; 5/6 PSG Fr. Jake Newlin / KTN Fr. Finley Bission; 7. JDHS Jr. Samuel Buttner.

152 – 1. JDHS Sr. Justus Darbonne; 2. KTN Sr. Hunter Cowan; 3. JDHS So. Ethan Van Kirk; 4. JDHS So. Jaeger Hubert; 5/6 JDHS Jr. Noah Ault / WRG Jr. Ian Nelson; 7/8 HNS Orion Grimes / JDHS Sr. Javier Jimenez-Gomez; 9/12 SIT So. Cooper Wyman / KTN Fr. Ike Pennino / MEHS Jr. Gerasim Nelson / MET Jr. Micah Broncheau.

145 – 1. JDHS So. Jed Davis; 2. JDHS Sr. Sage Shultz; 3. JDHS Sr. Owen Woodruff; 4. JDHS Sr. Elliot Klinger; 5/6 KTN Dreydin Ohana / MEHS Lennie Brandell; 7/8 HNH So. Lawrence Howland / KTN Sr. Oscar Wutzke; 9/12 SKG So. Kurt Lawson / SIT Fr. Michael Cropley / SIT So. Franklin Jimmy / KAK Fr. Tyler Davis.

145 G – 1. CRG Abigail Patten; 2. HNH Fr. Harlee Brown; 3. MET Fr. Haylen Ladnier; 4. KTN Sr. Sarah Weyhmiller; 5. MEHS Riley Dock.

140 – 1. WRG So. Jackson Carney; 2. KTN Sr. Gage Massin; 3. JDHS Jr. Marlin Cox; 4. KTN So. Blaine Garlick; 5/6 SIT Sr. Mitchell Sachsenmaier / MEHS Sr. Nathaniel Vincler; 7/8 SKG Fr. Atlin Ryan / SIT Jr. Sam Davis; 9/12 JDHS Jr. Elias Lowell / KTN Fr. Owen Begley / WRG Fr. Michael Cook / HNS Jack Smith.

138 G – 1. MET Sr. Lexi Cook; 2. MEHS Sr. Maelyn Westdahl; 3. HYD May Alander; 4. KTN Fr. Chloe Nordland.

135 – 1. JDHS Sr. Colton Cummins; 2. MEHS Jr. Elden Andrew; 3. SIT So. Killan Hammock; 4. HNH Jr. Gerred Garrison; 5/6 CRG Logan Lewis / KAK Talen Davis; 7/8 JDHS So. Felix Hesson / JDHS Jr. Quintin Mccoy; 9/12 SIT So. Bay Twaddle / MET So. Sea Sanford ; WRG Fr. Lucas Stearns / KAK So. Daniel Bean-Willis.

132 G – 1. KTN Jr. Summer Boling; 2. MEHS Jr. Halena Slats; 3. KTN Fr. Ashlynn Mecham; 4. MET So. Mackenzie Williams; 5/6 MET Sr. Shannon Mccarty / PSG Fr. Darby Swainson; 7/8 HYD Frieda Peel / HYD Jasmine Afalou.

130 – 1. KTN Sr.Titan Linne; 2. WRG Jr. Ben Houser; 3. JDHS Jr. Oliver Abel; 4. JDHS Fr. Caleb Aube; 5. MEHS Sr. Ralphie Steeves.

126 G – 1. HNH Sr. Krista Howland; 2. WRG Sr. Della Churchill; 3. KTN Jr. Minh-thu Vo; 4. MEHS Breana Nelson; 5/6 JDHS Fr. Lacie Whitehead / KTN Sr. Abigail Henson; 7. PSG So. Fyscher Humphrey.

125 – 1. MEHS Sr. Evan Andrew; 2. MEHS Fr. Maximos Lonewolf; 3. KTN Fr. Mark Margaja; 4. WRG Sr. Kyan Stead; 5/6 JDHS So. Joseph Webster / MET Fr. Jeshua Mowers; 7/8 SKG Fr. Dane Ames / HNS Sr. Andrew Hanson; 9/11 HNS So. Dalton Monroe / JDHS So. Landyn Dunn / HNS So. Simeon Hanson.

120 G – 1. MEHS Fr. Isabelle Kerr; 2. JDHS Fr. Sunny Dutton; 3. JDHS Fr. Toriana Johnson; 4. MEHS Fr. Sarah Murphy.

119 – 1. JDHS So. Camden Messmer; 2. SKG Jr. Brenden Moncibaiz; 3. JDHS So. Tristen Ridgeway; 4. KTN Jr. RJ Cadiente; 5. KTN So. Mouhamed Diouf.

114 G – 1. MEHS Sr. Nevaeh George; 2. WRG So. Hailey Cook; 3. MEHS Sr. Hayden Naneng; 4. MEHS Fr. Mary Evon; 5/6 HNH So. Jora Savland; MET Fr. Ashlynn Leask; 7. WRG So. Bella Ritchie.

112 – 1. JDHS Fr. Joshua Beedle; 2. SIT Fr. JD Keith; 3. SKG Fr. Zane Coughran; 4. KTn Fr. Captain Jurczak; 5/6 JDHS Fr. Michael Carson / PSG Fr. Stellan Mccollums.

107 G – 1. JDHS Fr. Nixie Schooler; 2. MEHS Sr. Dorothea Okitkun; 3. HNS Sr. Camelia Bell; 4. MEHS Fr. Ursula Mangrobang; 5. KAK So. Eden Hallingstad.

103 – 1. KTN Fr. Maxton Glover; 2. HNS Fr. Finn Crowe; 3. JDHS Fr. Carson Kautz; 4. KTN Fr. Rhys Barry; 5. SIT So. Justin Kitka.

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