Two titans of Alaska wrestling on Thursday squared off in Kansas City, where 197-pounders Evan Bockman of Anchorage and Levi Hopkins of Palmer put on a show and made state history. In the first head-to-head meeting between Alaskans at the NCAA Championships, Bockman...
Shungnak wrestler Spencer Woods didn’t earn a trip to the Summer Olympics with his two Greco-Roman victories last week in Acapulco, Mexico. But he made sure the United States gets to compete in the 87-kg weight class in Paris. And next month at the U.S. Olympic...
The Interior Grappling Academy of Fairbanks is a wrestling club that thinks big. It caters to all ages — little kids in Ninja and Gladiator age-group classes, adults in MMA and boxing classes and teenagers who comprise one of the most competitive high school teams in...
If it seems like Caleb Hopkins has been around forever, it’s because he has. This is his sixth season at Campbell University in a career extended by a redshirt season and COVID. Longevity doesn’t guarantee success, but he has found both in Buies Creek, North Carolina....
Shungnak wrestler Spencer Woods is jumping up a weight class in order to pursue a spot in the 2024 Summer Olympics, but he hasn’t lost his edge while gaining weight. Woods claimed the 87-kilogram Greco-Roman title last weekend at the U.S. Senior Nationals in Fort...
Wrestlers Aaron Concepcion and Kenton Cooke were selected as co-winners of our Alaska Athlete of the Week honors after capping identical 29-0 seasons by winning state championships. South High’s Concepcion won his championship match with a first-round pin. East High’s...
It had to be the hair. Sporting freshly dyed bleach blond hair, the boys of the South High wrestling team stood out in more ways than one at the ASAA Division I state wrestling tournament. They could be nicknamed The Bleach Boys, but they prefer you call them state...
The lightweights did most of the heavy lifting for the Soldotna girls wrestling team, lifting the stars to a comfortable victory at the state tournament at the Alaska Airlines Center. Soldotna champions included Jessica LeClair at 100, Valarie McAnelly at 107, Rowan...
Tommy Jarnig, Ridge Conant and Hunter Forshee-Kurtz picked up titles while Aidan Schilling finished second to lead the Seward Seahawks to a victorious showing at the ASAA Division 2 state wrestling tournament. Seward had eight podium finishers in all as the Seahawks...
Two wrestlers from East High and two from South High maintained their undefeated status over the weekend by winning Cook Inlet Conference championships. South’s Aaron Concepcion (160 pounds) and Jessailah Thammavongsa (165, girls division) both ran their records to...
The South Wolverines claimed a dramatic victory late in the championship round to pull away from Soldotna and capture the tea title at the Grace Grizzly Shakedown, their third big tournament win of the season. South won two of the final four matches, including a...