WASILLA -- Abe Fox walked slowly to the center of the mat Friday night at Wasilla High School, a rolled-up towel in his hand. As a volunteer at the Northern Lights Conference wrestling tournament, Fox's job was to alert the referee when the period was over by tapping him gently with the towel.

This was not how Fox planned on spending his evening.

Fox, a sophomore who is ranked No. 1 in the state at 103 pounds by Akmat.org, was one of two top-ranked Wasilla Warriors to miss weight Friday afternoon, eliminating them from both conference and state competition.

Fox missed weight by 1.7 pounds, while 152-pound teammate Caleb Pempek came in .4 over. Wrestlers are allowed to weigh two pounds more than their weight class, meaning Fox weighed in at 106.7 and Pempek weighed in at 154.4.

"It's pretty disappointing," Fox said. "I thought my weight was a little bit less."

Fox is the defending conference champion at 103, while Pempek -- also a sophomore -- placed second at 145 last season.

Most wrestlers fight a constant battle to remain at the proper weight, and Fox said he arrived at the high school Friday morning knowing he needed to quickly lose weight.

"I was here at five in the morning running for two hours," he said.

But by the time weigh-ins came around at 8 a.m., Fox was still over the limit.

"It just kinda happened," he said.

Wasilla coach Shawn Hayes said it's the responsibility of the individual wrestler to make sure he or she is at the proper weight when it's time to step on the scales.

"Two kids just made a mistake," he said.

Hayes said the loss of two of the state's premier wrestlers was a big blow to his squad. "It's a pretty major disappointment for the kids on our team," he said.

The good news for Fox and Pempek is they've still got two years of high school wrestling ahead of them, and Fox said he hopes to use Friday's setback to become a better wrestler.

"It's a learning experience," he said. "I'll definitely work harder next season."

With Fox and Pempek out of the running, several other wrestlers should benefit at the state meet, like Kenai freshman Hope Steffensen, who is currently ranked No. 3 at 103 pounds and will be looking to join Skyview's Michaela Hutchinson as the second female state champion in Alaska history.

It could also benefit someone like South's Luke Shelley, who chose to wrestle in the Cook Inlet Conference tournament at 152 pounds instead of 145, where he was ranked No. 2 behind Chugiak's Grant Sullivan.

It wasn't all bad news Friday.

Monica Hutchinson, Skyview's 112-pound senior, was all smiles after winning a major decision over Kodiak's Shane Trout in a loser-out, winner-goes-to-state consolation match.

While the top wrestlers in each weight class worry more about trying to pin down a conference title, those battling through the "back side," or consolation bracket, face a much more stressful route to state. One loss before the consolation semifinals, and any dream of a state berth dies.

"It's a lot of pressure," said Hutchinson, who qualified for her third trip to state. "I was very nervous before that match."

The top six finishers from the Northern Lights tournament advance to next week's Class 4A state championships at Chugiak. They'll be joined by the top six finishers from the Cook Inlet Conference tournament at Chugiak, as well as the top three from the Mid Alaska Conference (Houston, Lathrop, West Valley, North Pole) and the champions from the Southeast Conference (Juneau, Ketchikan, Thunder Mountain).

Colony takes 4th title

The Colony Knights advanced nine wrestlers into the NLC finals and picked up eight individual titles to easily clinch their fourth consecutive conference title.

Skyview's Auston Tennis was voted Most Outstanding Wrestler and his coach, Neldon Gardner, picked up the Coach of the Year award for the third-place Panthers.

Because several wrestlers reached their match limit of five in one day, five placing matches will be wrestled today at Wasilla. The matches won't affect which wrestlers reach state, nor will they have any impact on Colony's victory.

Northern Lights tournament

Wasilla High School

Team scores

1) Colony, 424.5; 2) Wasilla, 245.0; 3) Skyview, 227.0; 4) Kodiak, 221.0; 5) Soldotna, 97.5; 6) Homer, 93.5; 7) Kenai, 91.0; 8) Palmer.

Placewinners

103 -- 1) Eddy Burris, Kodiak; 2) Hope Steffensen, Kenai; 3) Elisha Fields, Kodiak; 4) Noah Roetman, Colony; 5) Eli Garvey, Homer; 6) Flint Warner.

112 -- 1) Isaac Wilson, Colony; 2) Cole Miller, Wasilla; 3) Chloe Ivanoff, Kodiak; 4) Warren Meilke, Colony; 5) Francis Llorente, Kodiak; 6) Sam Janorschke, Skyview.

119 -- 1) Charles Coisman, Colony; 2) Tyler Adams, Wasilla; 3) Bryce Wilson, Skyview; 4) Monica Hutchinson, Skyview; 5/6) (to be determined) DJ Marsengill, Homer and Luke Heun, Palmer.

125 -- 1) Gabe Loggins, Colony; 2) Alexander Lounsbury, Kodiak; 3) Christian Lowe, Wasilla; 4) TJ Checketts, Skyview; 5) Jenae Shannon, Colony; 6) Chris Campbell, Wasilla.

130 -- 1) Sam Loggins, Colony; 2) Josh Brown, Wasilla; 3) Luke Faulkner, Colony; 4) Jentry Dederich, Wasilla; 5) Branden Canete, Kodiak; 6) Jered Kemp, Palmer.

135 -- 1) Chad Lowery, Colony; 2) Cody Carroll, Soldotna; 3) Isaac Fields, Kodiak; 4) Adam Agosti, Kenai; 5/6) (to be determined) Oscar Nergusson, Colony and LJ Leppanen, Palmer.

140 -- 1) Auston Tennis, Skyview; 2) Chase Montgomoery, Colony; 3) Pearson Brodie, Kodiak; 4) Derek Johnson, Wasilla; 5) Kyle Day, Skyview; 6) Kevin Lepola, Kodiak.

145 -- 1) Kyle Boss, Colony; 2) David Casonguay, Kodiak; 3) Nate Wolfe, Colony; 4) Derrick Burlison, Soldotna; 5) Shlomo Gherman, Homer; 6) Michael Gilbert, Kodiak.

152 -- 1) Mitch Wyatt, Homer; 2) Jared Thomas, Skyview; 3) Joe Fujimoto, Colony; 4) Reuben Ivanoff, Kodiak; 5/6) (to be determined) Daniel Rozak, Skyview and Nick Bassett, Colony.

160 -- 1) Fred Pollard, Skyview; 2) Jacob Marshall, Wasilla; 3) Ryan Knutson, Colony; 4) Alex Fuller, Wasilla; 5) Colton Foster, Colony; 6) Connor Murphy, Kodiak.

172 -- 1) Kenny Boykin, Colony; 2) Steve Lawson, Skyview; 3) Logan Elliott, Colony; 4) Tanner Link, Soldotna; 5) Yuriy Miktrin, Wasilla; 6) Thomas Long, Kodiak.

189 -- 1) Jeremy White, Wasilla; 2) Nick Vanbruggen, Skyview; 3/4) (to be determined) Evan Parsons, Palmer and Aaron Gettenby, Kenai; 5) Larry Croft, Homer; 6) Tommy Class, Colony.

215 -- 1) Eric Fan, Colony; 2) Donny Dormady, Kenai; 3) Jacob Johnson, Wasilla; 4) Drew Yeager, Wasilla; 5/6) (to be determined) Josh Brandt, Homer and Mike Eyre, Skyview.

285 -- 1) Nathan Strieby, Soldotna; 2) Anthony Atonio, Kodiak; 3) Renn Wright, Colony; 4) David Green III, Wasilla; 5) Ryan Pomrenke, Wasilla; 6) Ben Harville, Homer.

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