Haines High School wrestling coach Ben Bard said although his team didn’t place in the state competition, the athletes represented Haines well.
Junior Kamakana Kanahele, sophomore Ulric Lehman and freshman Wesley Verhamme competed in the state wrestling championships on Dec. 15 and 16 at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.
Verhamme and Lehman were the only two underclassmen in their weight class at 220 pounds, and both made their first appearance at state.
“I did fairly well even though I lost both of my matches,” Lehman said. The competition was double elimination.
Bard said in his first year in the sport, Lehman “got the short end of the stick” by having to compete with the second and sixth seeded athletes, juniors Benjamin Heather from Barrow and Elijah Lindley from Bethel. “But to wrestle the way he did in his first year is pretty cool,” Bard said.
Verhamme, who had some wrestling experience from middle school, lost his first and third matches.
Bard said he was impressed that Verhamme tossed and pinned Dylan Larsen from King Cove High School in his second match.
“My toughest match was my last match. I knew I could have won, I didn’t put two plus two together with my moves,” Verhamme said. “But I fought as hard as I could.”
Kanahele was in his second stint at state and had the same record as Verhamme in the 195-pound weight class.
“The first match he had was an opponent from Sitka he’d beaten all year,” Bard said. “He was expecting an easy win and the kid ended up surprising him.”
Kanahele said he was disappointed in himself and knew he tired himself out before the match.
“I could tell I was sloppy with some of my shots,” Kanahele said. “I lost to him because I made some bad choices. For the second match, I ate less and thought about what I was going to do differently.”
Kanahele said he was very proud of the whole team for making it to state.
Bard said the team can build on confidence from the state competition and use it as a motivational tool next year. He said he is encouraging the team to keep their technique and overall health up during the off-season by eating right and working out.
“State is a whole different ball game and you have to bring up a different level of intensity than you’re used to,” Bard said.
Bard said he enjoyed his first year of coaching and is excited going forward to build the program. He said next year he’s going to focus on recruiting and retaining members, but the three team members he had this year “did a great job representing their community.”
“They’re really upstanding guys and I think that’s a lot more important than the wins and the losses,” Bard said.