Four individual weight-class champions and four runner-up finisher, along with a total of 19 automatic Division I state qualifiers, and the Soldotna Stars pushed the Colony Knights in a two-team battle for the Northern Lights Conference Wrestling Championship held in Kodiak.
The Colony Knights earned the NLC team championship with 351.5 points through two-days of competition. Soldotna High finished only .5 behind the Knights with 350 team points. Colony entered the NLC conference championships as the favorite and as a favorite to win the upcoming ASAA Division I State Wrestling Championships.
Northern Lights Conference Championships (SoHi, Colony Palmer, Wasilla and Kodiak)
The Soldotna Stars 19 automatic state qualifiers included individual champions Ezekiel Miller at 125, Wayne Mellon at 171, Hunter Richardson at 189 and Liam Babitt at 215.
Top Five Weight-Class Finishers: Non-Champions (automatic Division I state qualifiers)
Runner-Up: Trevor Michael, second at 135; Saiyan Baker, second at 140; Isaac Chavarria, second at 145; Scott Michael, second at 152
Third Place: Jacob Strausbaugh, third at 103; Hunter Bras, third at 135; Logan Duyck, third at 145; Edgar Land in third at 152
Fourth & Fifth Place: Ryan Buchanan, fourth at 112; Blaze Michael, fourth at 119; Nicholas Rackley, fifth at 130; Cassius Miller, fourth at 140; Collin Peck, fourth at 160; Joe Whittom, fourth at 189 and Kenai Lepule, fourth at 285
Sixth Place (possible at-large): Tustin Keller at 103, Jaykob Kemp at 160 and Kevin Steger at 215
Northern Lights Conference Girls Championships
The Soldotna girls finished third in the girls team scoring for the Northern Lights Conference Girls Championships behind champion Colony.
Top Three Weight-Class Finishers: (automatic Division I state qualifiers)
Individual weight-class champion for SoHi included Daisy Hannevold at 135 and Trinity Donovan at 145, both winning championship bouts with final’s pins. Jessica Leclair placed second at 103, Angelina Chavarria placed third at 112 and Erin Bell finished third at 145.
The top two girls in each weight class advance to the ASAA Girls State Wrestling Championships, with at-large berths available based on ASAA guidelines.
The ASAA Division I State Wrestling Championships are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, December 17 and 18 at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.
