The Colony Knights powered to a fifth-straight Northern Lights Conference team championship; however, the Soldotna Stars and Kenai Kardinals may have had the better tournament, as SoHi and Kenai combined for six weight-class champions-three for the Stars and three for the Kards.
Northern Lights Conference: Tournament Results
Colony edged Wasilla for the NLC team title followed by SoHi in fourth and Kenai, sixth.
Soldotna Stars
The Stars were lead by a conference title at 120 pounds for Gideon Hutchison; Hutchison entered the tournament as the state’s #1 seed and will carry that ranking into the state wrestling tournament. SoHi’s Bechler Metcalf won the 152-pound division. SoHi’s Amanda Wylie, in the girls’ competition, recorded a weight-class championship at 145 pounds.
Kenai Kardinals
The Kenai Kardinals recorded three individual champions with Byron Dunham capturing the 195-pound division. Two girls won individual titles representing Kenai with Raven Patrick in the 160-pound weight class and Reya Hale winning at 182 pounds, neither faced an opponent in the finals at the NLC tournament..
State Wrestling Qualifiers
The NLC tournament qualifies wrestlers to the ASAA Division I Wrestling State Championships with the top five weight-class placers advancing to the Division I state tournament; the top three in each weight-class in the girls division also qualify to the ASAA Girls Wrestling State Championships.
State Qualifiers Boys Division I: SoHi
NLC Champions: Gideon Hutchison, 120; Bechler Metcalf, 152
Runner-Up: Aaron Faletoi, 220
3rd Place: Logan Craig, 106; Hudson Metcalf, 170
4th Place: Zach Burns, 138; Eli Floyd, 195
5th Place: Ben Booth, 113; Levi Wahl, 170; Melvin Lloyd, 285
State Qualifiers Boys Division I: Kenai
NLC Champions: Byron Dunham, 195 pounds
4th Place:Jacob Grant, 285
5th Place: John Grossl, 182; Seth Kruse, 220
State Qualifiers Girls Division I: SoHi & Kenai
NLC Champions: SoHi Amanda Wylie, 145; Kenai Raven Patrick, 160; Kenai Reya Hale, 182
Runner-Up: SoHi Lexi Gridley, 120; SoHi Madison Worth, 132
Kachemak Conference: Tournament Results
The Homer Mariners dominated the Kachemak Conference Wrestling Championships, scoring over 300 team points; in-route-to a third, straight conference team championship.
The Mariners wrestled to 10 individual, weight class championships; including seven in the boys division and three in the girls division.
Kachemak Conference Weight-Class Champions: Homer Mariners
Boys Division: Seth Inama at 120 pounds, Wayne Newman at 126 pounds, Luciano Fasulo at 132 pounds, Mose Hayes at 138, Chris Cudaback at 170, Levi King at 195 and Kyle Wells at 220.
Luciano Fasulo was named Kachemak Conference Outstanding Wrestler of the Year, and improved to 43-0 for the 2017 wrestling season.
Girls Division: Alex Moseley at 120 pounds, Halle Lapp at 132 and McKenzie Cook at 145.
Kachemak Conference Weight-Class Champions: Nikiski
Girls Division: Chloe Grogan at 160 pounds; Destiny Martin, 2nd Place at 120 pounds
Nikiski Boys State Qualifiers: Tyler Litke, 3rd at 195; *Koleman McCaughey, 4th at 152; *Ethan Hack, 4th at 285
*The top three individual, weight-class winners will earn automatic berths to the Division II ASAA State Wrestling Championships; as well as, two at-large berths which will be determined following all Division II conference tournaments.
Complete list of Division II state qualifiers will be available Sunday: Click Here for details!
Photo courtesy of KCHS Wrestling facebook page
