Three ASAA state wrestling competitions crowned team and individual champions to close-out the high school wrestling season, with the Division I championships at Bartlett High School, Division II championships at Chugiak High School and the Girls Division also contested at Chugiak High.
ASAA Division I State Wrestling Championships
SoHi brothers Sean and Liam Babitt wrestled to Division I state championships and helped the Soldotna wrestling team to a fourth-place finish in the large school division of high school wrestling.
Senior Sean Babitt claimed the 189-pound weight class with a championship match pin over Wasilla’s Colton Lindquist.
Liam Babitt defeated Lathrop’s Sean Michel in a 4-2 decision for the 215-pund state title.
SoHi’s top five finishers included: Isaac Chavarria was third at 140, Wayne Mellon was third at 160, Hunter Richardson was third at 171, Hunter Secor was fifth at 119 and Dennis Taylor was fifth at 160.
SoHi finished fourth in the team scoring; the Colony Knights, champions of the Northern Lights Conference, won the ASAA Division I state championship outscoring Lathrop.
ASAA Girls Division State Wrestling Championships
SoHi sophomore Trinity Donovan wrestled to her second state championship recording a last-second pin in the 145-pound championship match.
Homer’s Sadie Blake, 103 lbs., and Homer ‘s Aileen Lester, 130 lbs., topped their weight classes for state Girls Division championships.
ASAA Division II State Wrestling Championships
Homer High School’s Josh Bradshaw earned the Kenai Peninsula’s only Division II individual championship at 171 pounds with a pin in the second period .
Kenai’s Tucker Vann recorded a runner-up at 189 pounds, dropping the championship match.
Top five finishers for Kenai Central included: Owen Hart, 5th at 112 lbs.; Talon Whicker, 3rd at 125 lbs.; Owen Whicker, 4th at 130 lbs.; Andrew Gaethle, 5th at 145 lbs.
Top five finishers for Nikiski included: Jaryn Zoda, 3rd at 140 lbs.; Caileb Payne, 3rd at 189 lbs.; Koleman McCaughey, 4th at 171 lbs.; Simon Grenier, 5th at 171 lbs.
The Glennallen Panthers won the Division II title at Chugiak High. Homer finished sixth in the team scoring, followed by Nikiski, 7th and Kenai, 8th.
