Petersburg High School’s wrestling team finished eighth among the 15 squads at the Bill Weiss Invitational wrestling tournament in Ketchikan last weekend.
The host Kayhi Kings won the tournament, edging out the Bethel Warriors by just half a point. 2A schools Glenallen, Wrangell and Craig took third fourth and fifth.
Eleven Petersburg wrestlers competed in Ketchikan. Coach Dan van Swearingen said it was tough competition. “We had a couple teams from up north come down which was great for the kids to wrestle different kids than just the kids they see every week in the region,” van Swearingen said. “Bethel came down and they’re a powerhouse and Glenallen came down and they have a really good team too. And Ketchikan is looking tough. So it was a really super-tough tournament.”
Van Swearingen highlighted the top performances for the Vikings. Among those was a second place finish by Buddy Stelmach at 126 pounds.
“Buddy Stelmach he made it to the finals, he had a tough match against a Ketchikan kid. He ended up losing by two, it was really close,” the coach said. “But we had Brandon Ware took fourth, Nathaniel Lenhard took fourth, we had a couple guys take fifth and sixth. And so, overall it was pretty good for our 11 guys that went.”
Lenhard had four wins and two losses at 152 pounds and Ware went 2-2 on the tournament in the 182-pound weight class.
Petersburg did not travel with a full team due to conflicts with other activities.
The Anchorage Christian School tournament is this weekend, featuring the top wrestlers from around the state and serving as a good preview for the state championships in December. Seven Vikings will be making the trip to Anchorage this week.
