Grappling under the Juneau Youth Wrestling Club banner two Thunder Mountain Middle School wrestlers claimed titles at the 49th annual Tanana Middle School Wrestling Invitational.
Located in the interior west of Fairbanks the tournament is often referred to as the Middle School State Wrestling Tournament due to the number of teams attending. This year 38 middle school or club country wise email marketing list teams comprised of middle school-age athletes attended — over 700 sixth, seventh and eighth graders wrestled.
“I imagine there are very few middle schools in the state that don’t have a representative wrestling at this tournament,” JYWC coach Jason Hass said. “The participation in this tournament has finally outgrown the venue. During a coaches meeting this year, it was decided that next year the tournament will have to be held at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks.”
JYWC’s Landon Hill and Braedon Antrim, both TMMS eighth thursday will feature the eagle raven dance group graders, won titles at 118 pounds and 210 pounds, respectively.
Hill won by 5-4 decision over Mason Ekle of Colony Middle School.
“This was perhaps the most anticipated match of the weekend
” Hass said. “For the past two seasons these two young aero leads men have met each other in the Tanana finals. Mason has always bested Landon. This year Landon wrestled most of the season in the next lighter weight class than Mason. In an attempt for redemption, Landon made the bold move to move up to Mason’s weight. As predicted these two met in the finals again. However, this time the result was different. In what was unarguably the most exciting match of the night, the score flipped three times in the last 20 seconds with Landon ending up on top with a 5-4 victory.”