Haines wrestlers traveled to Fairbanks over the weekend for the middle school State Tournament.  The team had three girls and three boys earn state honors in their weight classes. And, heavy snow forced the team to charter a ride from a local tender to make it home.

 

Haines middle school wrestling head coach Jake Mason took eleven wrestlers to the State Tournament over the weekend.  

“I’m just thrilled with how we performed there,” said Mason.

In middle school wrestling,schools don’t compete in separate divisions.  Big schools like Anchorage, and fairly small ones like Haines… they all meet on the same mat.  This year’s state tournament hosted 39 schools and over 600 athletes, all vying to place in the top of their weight class.

Haines had six wrestlers placing in the top eight. 

Seventh grader Luke Bell finished with the best standing.  Wrestling at 70 pounds, he took second place.  Coach Mason said that he did “fantastic.”

“He did have a smaller weight class,” said Mason.  “With the littler kids, there’s typically less wrestlers. So he only had six in his division, his weight class.” 

Wrestling at 75 pounds, sixth grader Violet Crowe lost one match and won another, earning a third place finish.  Crowe  told KHNS that her mom took her to Cold Stone ice cream to celebrate. 

Seventh grader Brylea Swaner, wrestling at 155 pounds, went into the tournament unseeded. Mason said the underdog “battled hard” and just missed a podium finish, placing fourth.

Eighth grader Finn Crowe, wrestling at 91 pounds, ended his middle school career with a string of back-to-back matches.  He wrestled eight total matches over two days, which Mason called “brutal”.

“He had one of the largest weight classes,” said Mason. “There were 46 kids in his weight. And, he placed fifth.  He wrestled hard.  Wrestled great.”

Eighth grader Calvin Bell, wrestling at 133 pounds, had 34 kids in his weight class.  He ended the tournament in seventh.  Bell wrestled to the quarter finals where he eventually lost in overtime in what Mason said was a “super tough match.”

“It was just back and forth, against a really tough kid from Anchorage.  He just wrestled his heart out,” said Mason.

Makayla Henry, wrestling at 128 pounds, also lost overtime in her last match.  She earned an eighth place finish out of sixteen wrestlers in her weight class.. Coach Mason said the tournament was a battle of endurance for the seventh grader.

“She kind of ran into some challenges with just how short her previous matches had been,” Mason said. “She hadn’t been pushed beyond 30 to 45 seconds. She was just pinning everybody here down in Southeast.”

But the team had their sights set on more than just wrestling last weekend.  They had set some lofty winter travel goals.  Mason said the team hoped to drive home from Fairbanks in one day, normally a twelve hour drive.  

They woke up at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, and started driving.  But by the time they had reached Destruction Bay, they had caught wind that the pass home was closed.   While clearing the four feet of snow that had pummeled the pass, a snow plow’s blade had broken off, and it was  left in the middle of the road, blocking traffic.  The team diverted through Whitehorse where the spent the night.  On Monday morning they drove to Skagway, where they bummed a boat ride.

 “So we had to once again take the Pavlov, from Skagway to Haines,” Mason said. “So we got rescued by Brent Crowe, once again.  That’s actually Finn’s dad.  He runs the tender, the Pavlov.  He had it docked in Skagway.  And I was like, “Welp. Let’s jump on the boat and get home.’”

Finally home, team will take a short break from wrestling, before the Haines Wrestling Club starts up next week.  It will run through May. The club is open to athletes who want continue wrestling post-season or for those who want to try styles of wrestling that aren’t practiced in high school.  Mason says that third through fifth graders also welcome to join and learn the sport.