Calvin Bell competes in the 132-pound division at middle school state championships. Bell finished in seventh place in the tournament, held at Tanana Middle School in Fairbanks. (Photo courtesy of Hannah Mason)

Haines middle school wrestlers returned from a successful showing at the state championships in Fairbanks that tested them in the ring — as well as during their return home.

The return drive included more than 15 hours of road time, plus a last-minute trip on a fishing tender.

In an interview Tuesday, coach Jake Mason said he was “definitely tired.”
“We were pretty wiped out. I took a day off work to collect ourselves and have a day at home,” he said.

Still, he was excited about the wrestlers’ success.

Six of the 11 wrestlers who participated finished in the top eight of their weight classes. The team overall finished 17th out of 39 teams, including large schools from bigger cities in Alaska.

Among the highlights were Finn Crowe taking fifth place in the largest weight class at 91 pounds.

“He wrestled tough, wrestled great. The matches he lost, he lost to really talented large school kids,” said Mason.

Calvin Bell finished seventh in the 132-pound weight class after an overtime loss.

“It was probably one of the best matches I’ve seen him wrestle, even though he lost,” said Mason.

Violet Crowe was third at 72 pounds, Makayla Henry was eighth at 128 pounds, and Brylea Swanner took fourth at 155 pounds.

The middle schoolers’ success came after a historic season for the high schoolers, and several high schoolers volunteered as coaches at home and on the road. Mason said parents also showed up in force to support the Glacier Bears.

“We have incredible parent support that has just stepped up in a huge way this year,” said Mason. “It makes me proud to call Haines home.”

The team has been growing in size as well. When Mason started coaching three years ago, just seven kids participated. This year, there were as many as 24 athletes at practice.
Eleven of them — six boys and five girls — ventured to Tanana Middle School in Fairbanks for the state championship meet.

The two-day, 13-hour drive north went smoothly, but on the drive home, the team ran into trouble when Chilkat Pass was closed.

Celeste Grimes, with her 13-year-old son Orion, said she drove past the road-closed signs in the optimistic hope that there would be a pilot car to drive them through the border. When they approached Three Guardsmen, they realized they would have to turn around.

“I don’t know what we were expecting but around Marinka’s Hill, there was a huge pile of snow in the road, in the middle of that was the plow blade,” she said.

The Grimes spent a night in Haines Junction, and a second night in Whitehorse before a 5 a.m. departure to catch a Tuesday pilot car at 8 a.m. in Haines Junction.

Most of the rest of the team, meanwhile, drove to Skagway, where the Pavlov, a fish packer owned by team dad Brent Crowe, was waiting to ferry the athletes, parents and coaches back to Haines.

“It was really neat to see the community support,” said Hannah Mason, a volunteer coach and team organizer.

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