PHOENIX — Several Chandler Unified School District wrestlers made statements about the strength of their programs in the Feb. 15-17 state championships at Veterans Coliseum.
In girls Division I, Basha tied with Marana for fourth place at 75 points, just behind Marana Mountain View’s 77. Liberty edged Sunnyside for first place.
Perry placed ninth with 45 points. Hamilton was 26th with 21. Chandler High scored three points.
In Division II, Arizona College Prep placed 10th with 43 points. Round Valley won the title with 77.
At 100 pounds, two sophomores represented Chandler schools well. Basha’s Athea Valenzuela was the runner-up and Addison Palmer placed third.
Valenzuela pinned three opponents, including Palmer, before losing in the final, ending the year with a 35-7 mark. Palmer’s loss to Valenzuela was her only defeat in the tourney, as the sophomore won a close elimination match against a Desert Ridge opponent and then rallied from behind and pinned a Tolleson opponent in an exciting third-place match.
At 120 pounds, Basha senior Andee Anderson pinned her way through three matches en route to the final. She then lost by major decision to place second.
At 126 pounds, Casteel sophomore Izzy LeVine won two major decisions, pinned one opponent and ended up placing fourth.
At 138 pounds, Casteel’s Kaiya Johnston lost in the semifinals, but still racked up four pins and placed third. The freshman finished the year with a 47-6 record.
Casteel sophomore Mia Johnson won two close elimination matches to make the podium at 152 pounds. She placed fourth.
Basha sophomore Kaylani Lyons bounced back from getting pinned in the first round at 185 pounds. She then won four straight matches before losing the third-place match in overtime.
Hamilton freshman Angela Valdez also got pinned in the first round. She then won three straight 185-pound elimination matches and later pinned an opponent to place fifth.
Sienna Whitington accounted for many of Arizona College Prep’s girls Division II team points. The junior pinned all four of her 145-pound opponents, including 33-1 Sonora Harper of Round Valley in the final, to take the title.
ACP senior Willow Arnold won two matches at 152 pounds.
On the boys side, Sunnyside ran away with first place. Casteel placed seventh in Division I with 85 points, followed by Chandler High at 81.
Perry was 14th with 42 team points. Basha tied for 25th with 11 points while Hamilton had eight points to place 30th.
Casteel sophomore Jaxon Hamilton won his last four matches at 175 pounds to place third. His teammate, Jackson Moore, reached the 190 semifinals and eventually placed fourth.
Chandler High sophomore Preston Shorter pinned his first two 285-pound opponents and placed fourth.
Perry’s Jayden Kimling won three straight matches and placed fourth at 157 pounds.
Casteel senior Chase Carter reached the semifinals of the 132-pound bracket and ended up placing fifth.
Casteel freshman Dionicio DePaolo placed fifth at 106 pounds.
Hamilton junior Brandon Kolsrud won two matches at 113 pounds. Perry senior Bo Hall won two matches at 215 pounds.
Arizona College Prep competed as a Division III team in boys wrestling this year. The Knights placed ninth with 80 points behind eighth-place Mohave; Sahuarita won the D-III title.
ACP’s big points came from the heaviest weight classes.
The Knights got a hard-earned state title from 285-pounder Nick Hutchins. The senior pinned two opponents and got past a Walnut Grove opponent by a 3-2 score in the semfinals.
In the 285 final, facing fellow senior Santiago Reyes of Deer Valley, Hutchins scored his only points of the match about halfway through. He allowed Reyes to escape with about 30 seconds left to make it 2-1, then avoided a takedown to run out the clock and win the title.
Cayden Gibson eeked out a 7-5 win in the 215 semfinals but lost in the final. ACP sophomore Sean Luedy, at 190 pounds, easily dispatched three opponents en route to the final and led against Mesquite’s Eric Rodriguez late, but Rodriguez tied the final late in regulation and beat Luedy in overtime.
Knight sophomore Gavin Sisamout placed sixth at 157 pounds.
We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this topic. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Jason W. Brooks can be reached at jbrooks@iniusa.org.
Jason W. Brooks
Associate Editor
Jason W. Brooks is a News editor for the Daily Independent and the Chandler Independent.
He covers the Chandler area for both yourvalley.net and the monthly print edition while writing for and assisting in the production of the Daily Independent.
Brooks is a well-traveled journalist who has documented life in small American communities in nearly all U.S. time zones.
Born in Washington, D.C. and raised there and in suburban Los Angeles, he has covered community news in California, New Mexico, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska and northern Arizona.
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