{"id":113537,"date":"2024-11-10T21:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/jdhs-grapplers-work-the-mats-at-ketchikan\/"},"modified":"2024-11-11T21:33:11","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T06:33:11","slug":"jdhs-grapplers-work-the-mats-at-ketchikan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/jdhs-grapplers-work-the-mats-at-ketchikan\/","title":{"rendered":"JDHS grapplers work the mats at Ketchikan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears are used to facing high-caliber competition on the Southeast mats and last weekend was no exception at Ketchikan’s Bill Weiss Invitational, except for a new addition — Palmer’s Colony High School Knights.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“Colony came down from up north,” JDHS coach Adam Messmer said. “Which has been a long time since a team of their caliber has come to Southeast…They brought some great competition on both the boys’ and girls’ sides.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Although the scores of both genders were combined and put Colony as the tourney champion, if separated the JDHS boys would have claimed their tournament and the girls would have been in the thick of the standings with Mt. Edgecumbe.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“I’ve asked around to my knowledgable wrestler community and nobody can really remember when the last time Juneau — or if ever — has beaten Colony,” Messmer said. “The team continues to get a little better each week with the goal of peaking at the right time. It is an exciting team to be a part of because we have so many kids that are so close to breaking through to a higher level.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Juneau Douglas’s Jed Davis (bottom) holds on to the leg of Ketchikan’s Hunter Cowan as they compete in the Men’s 145 finals during the Bill Weiss Wrestling Tournament at the Clarke Cochrane Gymnasium at Ketchikan High School on Saturday. Davis won the match 16-4. (Christopher Mullen \/ Ketchikan Daily News)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
JDHS got weight class titles from senior Colton Cummins at 135 pounds, sophomore Jed Davis at 145 pounds, sophomore Camden Messmer at 119 pounds and freshman Nixie Schooler on the girls side at 107 pounds.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Cummins continues to be a highlight across Southeast as his impressive season continued with a pin over Mt. Edgecumbe junior Elden Andrew in the second period of their 135-pound championship match.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“He is just hitting all the right spots right now,” Messmer said. “He is making it look effortless out there. He is not a one-dimensional wrestler by any means. He sees what is thrown at him and goes to work with it. It is nice to see him leveling up like this his senior year and pretty much dominating everybody he goes up against. And he has gone against some pretty tough wrestlers.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Camden Messmer had a tough grapple, but prevailed over Mt. Edgecumbe senior Evan Andrew by pin in the second period of their 119-pound championship match.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“We hadn’t seen that kid before,” coach Messmer said. “I think he dropped down a weight. He had been hanging out at the weight most of his wrestling career. We knew he was a tough wrestler and Camden was excited to have a little bit stiffer competition. The kid took him down after Camden tried an arm spin and it turned into a scramble and I think that was Camden’s first takedown he has given up this season. It was definitely good for him to face stiffer competition before we go up north.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Juneau Douglas’s Nixie Schooler works on pinning Wrangell’s Hailey Cook to win the Women’s 107 during the Bill Weiss Wrestling Tournament at the Clarke Cochrane Gymnasium at Ketchikan High School on Saturday. (Christopher Mullen \/ Ketchikan Daily News)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Davis unleashed what his practice partners have been dealing with all season and toppled decorated Ketchikan senior Hunter Cowan twice during the tournament including their 145-pound championship final by a 16-4 major decision.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“This was huge,” Messmer said. “Jed has been wrestling forever and you can see how he has been getting better every year. Me and my other coaches have been watching Hunter the last four years as well and he is one of the most technical wrestlers in Southeast, and he is just fun to watch because he is so technical. Jed faced him twice. The first time Jed was losing by quite a bit and caught him towards the end and pinned him. But during that finals match, Jed definitely leveled up and just completely out-wrestled him, stopped everything that Hunter threw at him. That was probably my favorite match of the tournament.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Schooler pinned Wrangell sophomore Hailey Cook in the second period of their 107-pound match, getting revenge over her finals loss in Hoonah to Cook. More recently, at Juneau’s Southeast Showdown, Cook wrestled up a weight class and placed second to Mt. Edgecumbe senior Nevaeh George while Schooler took that 107-pound championship over MEHS senior Dorothea Okitkun.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“Nixie is used to being kind of the dominant wrestler,” Messmer said. “The Wrangell girl put her in a couple tight spots when she was on bottom and she wrestled through it, and I think that is the biggest thing Nixie has overcome is wrestling off bottom, wrestling off her back when she gets put in a compromising position and she did that perfectly in the finals match and came out on top.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
In one of the tournament’s, or any tournament’s, most exciting matches, JDHS 160-pound senior Hayden Aube put Colony senior Tegan Olson to the test well past their three-period grapple with a triple overtime outing before succumbing by the ultimate tie-breaker score of 4-3.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“He is right there with the top competition in the state,” Messmer said. “I think Tegan came off and told Hayden he had never wrestled a triple-overtime match before and it was pretty dang close. All Hayden had to do was hold on to him for another six seconds and he would have won. It was a technical match. Hayden wrestled him earlier and lost to him, and took what he learned from that match and applied it to the finals match and it worked. When guys are that even, it is going to come down to something really small for the win.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t