Inaugural Thunder Mountain Mayhem Tournament makes most of weather misfortune

The Thunder Mountain Middle School wrestling team turned bad weather misfortune that prevented traveling to Sitka for weekend matches into their own inaugural Thunder Mountain Mayhem TMMS Team Duels Wrestling Tournament on Saturday.

“It was great,” TMMS wrestling coach Ken Brown said. “The kids had fun, nobody got hurt. I saw kids wrestling hard and giving it their all, which is all a coach wants to see.”

With over 50 grapplers in the Falcons program, they were divided into four teams and spent the better part of the day in “old school” duel matches. Individual matches when two teams faced off contributed to the overall team champion points, much like a region or state tournament, except individual weight classes were not given awards but shared in team success.

“Being able to showcase a different wrestling format (duels) allowed wrestlers and fans to experience exactly how wrestling is a team sport, too,” team War Hawks White coach Jason Hass said. Hass was credited for the tournament idea along with high school assistant coach Dan Ondrejka, who served as tournament announcer. “It also teaches the value of a pin. And sometimes losing by decision, instead of getting pinned, is a victory for the team.”

“It takes tremendous grit and heart to fight off your back and not get pinned. Especially when the thought of catching up by points is or feels unreachable. Less disciplined wrestlers will give up, take the fall and allow the opponent to score additional team points. But not the Falcons. I didn’t see one Falcons wrestler give up and voluntarily accept defeat.”

Evident on the day was the enjoyment of the grapplers and none had a bigger smile on and off the mat as eighth grader Carter Day.

“Wrestling is a contact sport and basically it is just a way of life for me,” Day of team Blue Barracuda Bombers said. “It is one of my favorite sports. I’ve been doing it since kindergarten…It means a lot, a lot, yeah.”

Day had one of the tournament’s quality pins over War Hawks White classmate John Croasman in the opening duel of the afternoon at roughly 141 pounds.

“That move is basically my bread and butter,” Day said. “It is my favorite move. It is one I have been doing since my sixth grade year. I have gotten a lot of pins with that move. It’s an Arm Bar.”

The War Hawks White would win that opening team duel and Orange Crush would defeat Black Bear Legion by a single point in the other semifinal. War Hawks White would win the title over Orange Crush, and Black Bear Legion would defeat Blue Barracuda Bombers for third.

“This small intrasquad tournament turned into a full-fledged family affair,” coach Brown said. “Parents ran a bake sale, siblings worked as mat helpers and dads ran the score table. This weekend could not have been possible without these awesome families.”

Evident in all the duels was the expertise and heart of the young grapplers.

Black Bear Legion eighth grader Landon Hill and Orange Crush eighth grader Jack Pegues showcased quality learned from a young age, but could only end with one team getting points.

“Ah, it was a Fireman’s,” Hill said of his takedown move that resulted in his win. “A Fireman’s Carry, yeah. I just wanted to have fun I guess. Wrestling to me means a lifestyle, I guess. It is just every day, all I do.”

Seventh grader Minali Reid of War Hawks White and eighth grader Fiona McFarlin of Blue Barracuda Bombers competed in an exciting girls lightweight match.

“I shot a couple times and then the time just went out,” Reid described of her win. “The last time I got her in a leg-and-arm and then I just, like, stayed on top, but she rolled back and forth and then I got her…Wrestling is a physical sport and like you really have to try your best to succeed.”

Black Bear Legion seventh grader Logan Sivertsen and Orange Crush eighth grader Avery Nichols contributed to the fan excitement as they faced off in an 85- to 92-pound match.

“So I was going for a bar and it wasn’t really working,” Sivertsen said of his win. “So I switched to a half and he got out and I just barred it up again and just secured the pin.”

Sivertsen said, “Wrestling is just fun and intense, it’s like, people your weight and your size and, yeah…fun.”

Wrestlers gave it their all through the day and some reached for more.

Eighth grader Braedon Lee Antrim of team War Hawks White exerted himself to that point, and needed a trash can between rounds to “regroup” and rehydrate, as he won his heavyweight duel against classmate Barron Marexo.

“This match was about our team,” Antrim said. “We sadly didn’t make it to Sitka so we decided to have a duel here. And it means more than just winning. It means a lot about our teamwork and who we are as a team.”

Antrim said wrestling is “a competition but also we’re a family. This team, everybody in it, we’re a family and we work together and that is what makes wrestling I think.”

Anxious wrestlers warmed up behind their teams as matches unfolded and the nerves went away when it was their turn on the mat.

“It was a cross-face cradle,” Orange Crush eighth grader Luke Darbonne said of his win over Black Bear Legion’s Aero Ekerson. “You take them down and you, like, put your arm across their face, grab his arm, plant your hand behind his knee and pull it together.”

Darbonne said wrestling is fun. “Sometimes it gets a little nervous, though. But once you get over that the match is a relief…my goal is to win and have fun,” he said.

The War Hawks White would earn the team championship.

Their roster included Reid, Antrim, Croasman, Beckham Selvig, Gavin Tobacco, Maddox Scott, Hania Richey, Caleb Demmert, Thomas Ryder McMilan, Camden Huff, Colton Vick, Adriana Blanton, Ciara Dutton, Aurora Lee and Phoebe Martin. Coaches were Jason “Tic Tac” Hass and Darren “Treetop” Foster.

The Blue Barracuda Bombers included Day, Marexo, McFarlin, Murphy Sheehan, Jayden Frickey, Liam Hulson, Andrew Erickson, Nathan Olsen, Matvii Kozodoii, Henry Thatcher, James River, Tyson Foster, Ngai Kivalu, Haylee Ondrejka, and coaches Ken “Mad Dog” Brown and “Bad” Bradey Frickey.

The Orange Crush included Nichols, Pegues, Darbonne, Momar Diouf, Brooks Pinney, Sean Smack, Byron Jack, Hendrick Van Kirk, Hunter Woods, Vance Tupou, Tayten Whitely, Leighton Hall, Ngai Kivalu, Roxy Vetrano, Kendal Mulkey, and coaches Jordan “The Silent Assassin” Savland and Tom “Doc” Pegues.

The Black Bear Legion included Sivertsen, Hill, Ekerson, Rawley Cox, Lennox Conrad, Boe Regard, Camden Huff, Cole Whiting, Koji Rank, Liam Lansing, Maddie Dale, Amelia Rider, William Lansing, and coaches Gideon “The Gidmachine” Monette and Alex “Apex” Marx-Beierly.

“Props to coach Monette,” coach Hass said. “All the wrestlers are running Gideon’s crossfire series as their go-to series…I have never seen a team all so consistently running a series that has been taught and stressed in practice…This will pay dividends in high school.”

TMMS will host their first Southeast Middle School Regional Wrestling Tournament on Feb. 14-15 with teams across the panhandle attending.

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.