The Juneau Youth Wrestling Club took 61 elementary through high school wrestlers to the Alaska USA Wrestling 2025 Folkstyle, Greco-Roman & Freestyle State Championships on May 1-3 at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla against 37 grappling clubs.
Wrestlers competed in Folkstyle (FK) on the opening day of the tournament, Greco-Roman (GR) on day two and finished with Freestyle (FS).
“Each of our wrestlers has a wrestling style that best suits their own personal tendencies and wrestling techniques, but all three styles build upon each other, and teach our wrestlers how to learn and adapt to all situations,” JYWC president Jason Hass said. “For instance, Alex-Marx Beierly is very upper body dominant and thus excels at greco. Daren Foster has developed a ‘great granby roll escape’ off bottom and this is rewarded in folkstyle. Likewise Liam Hulson has a never-ending gas tank which helps his folkstyle wrestling. Maddox Scott’s gut wrench makes him a beast in freestyle and Hugo Rank has a fantastic snap-down attack that translates perfectly into all three styles…each of the three styles of wrestling help you grow and gain confidence in yourself, and your ability to grow and adapt as a wrestler and a person.”
The Juneau Youth Wrestling Club pose at the Alaska USA Wrestling 2025 Folkstyle, Greco-Roman & Freestyle State Championships on May 1-3 at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla. (Photo courtesy JYWC)
JYWC placed ninth in Folkstyle with 166 team points (1st Interior Grappling Academy 230); fifth in Greco-Roman with 180 team points (first IGA 226); and ninth in Freestyle with 172 points (first Soldotna Whalers Wrestling Club 228).
“There were so many matches and medals this weekend, it would be impossible to summarize them all,” Hass said. “Seventh-grader Ngai Kivalu with a bronze and two gold medals in the 14U girls division after only starting wrestling five months ago. Andrew Erickson who had an amazingly difficult bracket, but walked away with two bronze and a silver. The extra work Jed Davis has been putting in all season was rewarded with two golds and a bronze. And the whole team of 14U and 16U girls that are plowing ahead and beginning to make a name for the Juneau girls wrestling team. And its hard to forget the match Alex Marx-Beierly had beating high school state champ Tristan Mayer and Hendrick Van Kirk, competing at 126 pounds, made the finals all three days.”
There are similarities and differences among the three disciplines.
Folkstyle and freestyle allow leg attacks, but the American folkstyle system rewards control and freestyle rewards execution. Freestyle wrestling is just that: a free style of wrestling. Points come faster and matches often end quicker. Folkstyle won’t have as many throws since referees will stop any potentially dangerous moves. Greco-Roman, as mentioned above, only allows attacks above the waist, which often leads to spectacular throws. This can also lead to low-scoring matches since attacks are limited to half of the body. Scoring, lengths and numbers of periods also differ in the three disciplines at various levels.
“Each wrestling style has its own unique feel, nuances, and difficulties,” Hass said. “Folkstyle is the most common style in America and the style that is practiced in school programs…it is often the most physically demanding as a match can last up to six minutes with no breaks. Greco Roman wrestling is unique in that you cannot attack or use legs to score and it rewards throws of ‘grand amplitude’ (an opponent being lifted completely off the ground, controlled, and thrown in a sweeping curve, landing in a direct and immediate danger position of being pinned). Thus, wrestlers that are more apt at upper body often find success in Greco Roman. Freestyle is the most common international style of wrestling. In the USA most of the high level collegiate wrestlers go onto careers in freestyle wrestling with aspirations of making the world or Olympic stage. Freestyle is fast paced and rewards offensive action. This can be a struggle for a defensive minded wrestler, and with points scoring so quickly a match can be over in the blink of an eye.”
PLACING RESULTS
8 & Under: Evan Daniels (56-59 pounds) – 1st FS; Axel Boline and Noah Pleasants
wrestled here.
10 & U Girls: Lucy Poff (53) – 1st FK, 1st GR, 2nd FS.
10 & U: Garrett Reid (53) – 2nd FK, 4th GR, 3rd FS; Rylan Pegues (56) – 2nd FK, 3rd GR; 3rd FS; Evan Daniels (56-59) – 4th FK, 2nd GR; Denny Lavigne (59) – 6th FK, 6th GR; and Axel Pleasants (67) – 6th GR. Corbin Hall wrestled here.
12 & U: Troy Peters (67-70) – 2nd FK, 5th GR, 2nd FS; Morgan Pegues (86) – 1st GR, 4th FS; Cash Miller (92) – 4th FK, 4th GR; 4th FS; Kael Prince (135) – 5th FK, 3rd GR, 4th FS; and Miles Godkin (135) – 6th FS. Garrett Sturrock wrestled here.
14 & UGirls: Leighton Hall (100) – 3rd FK, 4th GR, 2nd FS; Minali Reid (110) – 4th FK, 3rd GR, 3rd FS; Adriana Blanton (120) – 3rd FK, 4th GR, 5th FS; Margaret Olson (125) – 5th FK, 5th GR, 4th FS; and Feangai Kivalu (130) – 3rd FK, 1st GR, 1st FS.
14 & U: Logan Sivertsen (92) – 5th FS; Matthew Shockley (105) – 3rd FK, 2nd GR, 4th FS; Andrew Erickson (110) – 3rd FK, 2nd GR, 3rd FS; Maddox Scott (110) – 4th FK, 4th GR, 4th FS; William Hulson (110) – 5th GR; Jack Pegues (120) – 4th FK, 4th GR, 5th FS; Hendrick Van Kirk (126) – 2nd FK, 2nd GR, 2nd FR; Beckham Selvig-Baker (126) – 4th FK, 3rd GR, 4th FS; Caleb Demmert (140) – 5th GR; Fernando Garcia (175) – 4th GR; and Barron Mareko (225) – 3rd FK, 3rd GR, 3rd FS. Steven Fairchild, Gary Keller and Jacob Hansen wrestled here.
16 & U Girls: Nixie Schooler (110) – 1st FK, 1st GR, 6th FS; Madelyn Dale (115) – 3rd FK, 2nd GR, 2nd FS; Toriana Johnson (120) – 5th GR; Sunny Dutton (120) – 5th FK, 6th GR, 6th FS; Lacie Whitehead (120 – 6th FK, 5th FS; and Aurora Lee (145) – 4th FK, 4th GR, 4th FS. Ciara Dutton wrestled here.
16 & U: Landon Hill (120) – 3rd FK, 6th GR; Landyn Dunn (138) – 3rd FK; Jed Davis (150) – 1st FK, 1st GR, 3rd FS; Ivan Shockley (157) – 3rd FK, 1st GR; Darren Foster (190) – 3rd FK, 2nd GR, 4th FS; Hugo Rank (190) – 5th GR; Kolton Vick (215) – 6th FK; and Sean Fairchild (285) – 3rd FK, 2nd GR, 3rd FS. Samuel Buttner, Xavier Stixrud and Hania Richey wrestled here.
Junior (16-18) Girls: Nixie Schooler (110) – 2nd Girls FK, 2nd FS.
Junior (16-18): Tristan Rideway (132) – 4th GR; Oliver Abel (138) – 6th FK, 6th GR; Marlin Cox (144) – 4th FK, 6th GR; Alex Marx-Beierly (165) – 3rd FK, 3rd GR, 3rd FS; Wyatt Kenney (175) – 6th FK, 5th GR; and Jaxin Jim (190) – 5th GR, 6th FS. Felix Hesson wrestled here.
Open: Carson Cummins (65kg) – 1st Open Men’s FK.
“All the wrestlers had multiple matches each day,” Coach Hass said. “Many were won and many were lost, but at the end-of-the-day the tally of W’s and L’s don’t make a difference because each match ended with a lesson and a feeling of gratitude. Grateful for being able to compete. Grateful for the lesson learned. Grateful for being surrounded by a loving wrestling community. Grateful to be alive.”
The JYWC will be hosting two clinics this summer at the Juneau Wrestling Center. Current Olympic Gold Medalist Amit Elor will lead a girls only wrestling clinic July 1-2. Former Olympian, NCAA champ, UFC fighter Ben Askren will lead a clinic August 15-17.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.
