Skagway and Haines Middle School Wrestling teams dueled in Haines over the weekend.  No official team scores were recorded, as the athletes faced off in front of a boisterous crowd on both Friday and Saturday.

Haines and Skagway middle school wrestling teams competed in Haines over the weekend in a duel meet.   Turnout was good, with many Skagway families in the crowd.  The matches started on Friday afternoon and on Saturday the teams wrestled until two o’clock, when Skagway left to catch the ferry home. 

No team scores were recorded, as the teams used the opportunity to gain experience and maximize mat time. Haines Head Coach Jake Mason told KHNS that the Haines team has been practicing since January first, while the Skagway team had a later start to the season.   Mason said that Haines probably won about 70% of the matches.

It wasn’t just single or double leg takedowns. There were firemen carries, cradles and arm bars, as Mason encouraged his Haines team to try out more advanced moves against their Skagway opponents.  

Haines wrestler Calvin Bell, at 133 lbs, wrestled at a higher weight class to match up against Skagway’s Logan Ward. Their first match went all three rounds, with Bell beating Ward 10-3, and in their second match Bell won with a pin in the second period.

Skagway wrestler Millie Bass  held her own against 128 lb Makayla Henry from Haines.  Bass pushed Miccaela into little known territory: the second period.  Henry is coming off a Juneau tournament where she went 6-0, all by pins.  Her fastest pin was in 18 seconds and the longest was around 45 seconds. It was an exciting match up with Dane Ames from Skagway and Jonah Wray from Haines .  Ames beat Wray on Friday, and Wray ended up on top on Saturday.

Twelve Haines wrestlers leave on Wednesday for the Regional Tournament in Ketchikan.  The team will wrestle Friday and Saturday.  Coach Mason said he’s excited for many matches, especially for Luke Bell, a 70 lb seventh grader who took fifth in the state last year at the same weight.  And 90 lb eighth grader Finn Crowe, who has been training with the high school team and who Mason says “wrestles like a high schooler.”

The state tournament will be in Fairbanks the first weekend in March.