As the state runner-up at 195 pounds, Juneau wrestler Cody Weldon is new to the 220-pound weight class. That hasn’t stopped him from pinning every man in sight.
Weldon took his fourth tournament of the year — and Alaska’s biggest — at the Lancer Smith Memorial Tournament last weekend in Wasilla. The Juneau-Douglas High School senior extended his winning streak by pinning Palmer’s Austin Farris in 2 minutes, 56 seconds in the final match.
Farris caught Weldon off guard in the early stages of the finals.
“It went a little bit different than I expected. He put me to my back for a second but I was out of that fairly quickly,” Weldon said. “I don’t know whether it was a chin whip or he just hooked my arm. I hit the mat and I hate being on my back, so I bridged harder than I ever think I have before and rolled out of it. … It’s always humbling to go to your back.”
Coach Ken Brown, filling in at the Lancer Smith for head wrestling coach Jason Boyer, said Farris’ takedown lit a fire in Weldon’s belly, something opponents would do well to avoid.
“He (Weldon) didn’t even give the kid back points, just flipped him off,” said Brown, who’s helped coach Weldon since his middle school days. “(Farris) is a lot like Cody, very strong, barrel-chested kid who’s strong on his feet and throwing. He took Cody down twice. After that it was lights out.”
The nominal TMHS team (Juneau’s two high school wrestling teams combined this year) finished 15th in team standings at the Lancer Smith, with senior Louie Rubenstein’s sixth-place finish at 182 being their next-highest result. Colony High School, the state runners-up from 2015, took the team title with 275 points.
Weldon has pinned his way to each of his titles this year, taking one minute to pin Metlakatla’s Gabe Nathan at the Petersburg Invitational and 2:39 to pin teammate Carl Tupou at the Brandon Pilot Invitational, both in October. He then challenged Colony’s Isaiah Christy, last year’s fourth-place finisher at the state championship, pinning him in 4:44 at the Colony Invitational in November.
Weldon said he’s definitely comfortable at his new weight class.
Instead of trying to cut weight back down to 195, the junior national champion in Judo has focused this year on moving to higher-percentage single- and double-leg wrestling shots. Judo throws can be risky in wrestling; If an opponent slips one, he’s likely to end up on top with a chance to pin.
“I have been working on being more aggressive, and the shots are just more of an aggressive move than a throw is,” Weldon said. “If a throw is there, I don’t leave it. Single, high crotch, doubles are all more present than a throw is, so it comes with the territory.”
Weldon sat out the only other tournament his team competed in, the Bill Weiss tournament at Ketchikan High School, to compete in the swim/dive regional championship meet that same weekend.
For part of the season, he would attend swimming practice before school and hit the mats after school. Every one of Weldon’s coaches has noted his work ethic, but Weldon personally doesn’t make a big deal about it.
“I just make due,” he said of the grueling schedule.
With his focus now solely on grappling, he has his sights set on the state tournament Dec. 16-17. After last year’s tough loss in the 195 finals to Ketchikan’s now-graduated Nate Fousel, Weldon badly wants a wrestling title to round out his high school career.
He expects to see Farris again in the finals, though he’s not taking anything for granted in the run up.
“Everyone is going to come hungry and I am going to have to fend off the wolves if I want to win,” Weldon said.
Before state, Weldon and the TMHS team have two tournaments: a Dec. 2-3 meet in Wrangell and the Region V tournament Dec. 9-10 in Sitka. He will have to win or place second at Regions to earn a berth to state.
• Contact Sports and Outdoors reporter Kevin Gullufsen at 523-2228 or kevin.gullufsen@juneauempire.com.
