Male wrestlers from Bethel Regional High School competed in Anchorage over the weekend and returned in second place behind the defending state champion Homer Mariners.
BRHS came in second at the Anchorage Christian School Wrestling Invitational over the weekend. That's second out of 45 teams from around the state that entered the tournament. The Homer Mariners came in first with 252.5 team points, the Bethel Warriors came in close behind with 241 total points, and the Barrow Whalers came in third with 147.5 points. Darren Lieb is the Bethel Warriors wrestling coach.
“All in all, the tournament went well. It was basically a two-way with us and Homer. Homer was the last year’s defending state champion, and they didn’t graduate anybody, so it was kind of nice to be on their heels again this year," said Lieb.
Two Warriors came in first in their weight classes. Thomas Dyment came in first in the 106 pound weight class with 30 points, defeating Homer wrestler Wayne Newman. Lieb said that the Warriors freshmen also did well and that one was undefeated.
“Diesel Geerdts, he was undefeated in the 98 pound weight class and so that was really exciting for him and all of us," said Lieb.
Geerdts took first place with 28 points, defeating Jacob Andrew of New Stuyahok.
Lieb says that the tournament showed him some of what they needed to work on as they look forward to their next match.
“You know we’d like to work on, and I’m sure Homer feels the same, but I felt real good about the whole weekend," said Lieb.
Wrestlers from all over the delta and beyond will be coming to Bethel Regional High School for the Bethel Wrestling Invitational. Bethel and Chugiak will open the games up with a duel on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. The tournament continues Friday and Saturday with matches starting at 9:00 a.m. on both days. In total, 16 teams will compete in the Bethel Wrestling Invitational.
For the schedule click here.