The South Wolverines advanced 11 wrestlers to the finals of the Cook Inlet Conference championships on Friday, giving them a strong advantage in their quest for an eighth straight conference title.
South leads the team standings with 326 points heading into Saturday’s action at South High.
East is in second place with 191 points and eight wrestlers in the finals, and Service is third with 113 points and four wrestlers in the finals.
West and Chugiak each landed two wrestlers in the finals and Eagle River has one.
The Wolverines are guaranteed to win at least two championship matches, because at 125 pounds and 135 pounds both finalists are from South.
At 103 pounds, both finalists are from East.
In the girls competition, East holds a slim lead over South, 58-53.
Action begins Saturday at 8:30 a.m., with finals set for 2 p.m. The top six boys and top two girls in each weight class will compete at the Class 4A state championships next week at the Alaska Airlines Center.
Girls
Team scores – East 58, South 53, Service 47, Eagle River 40, Bartlett 31, West 29, Chugiak 23, Dimond 3.
Boys
Team scores – South 326, East 191, Service 113, West 98, Chugiak 83.5, Eagle River 64, Dimond 16, Bartlett 15.
Semifinal results
103 pounds
Benjamin Pope (East) p. Ole Watson (Dimond), 6:00.
Ashton Volkman (East) p. Elijiah Patzke (South), 1:36.
112 pounds
Adam Concepcion (South ) d. John Lavarias (West), 4-0.
Caleb O’Hara (East ) 25-7 sv. Dylan Shaw (South), 3-1.
119 pounds
Dimitri Larson (West) d. Blake Foster (South), 6-4).
Aedyn Concepcion (South) t.f. Kameron Potter (Eagle River), 20-3 (4:00).
125 pounds
Simon Keffalos (South) p. Samuel Carpenter (East), 1:18.
Samuel Chaput (South) p. Avery White (Eagle River), 5:13.
130 pounds
Chad Hakala (South) d. Carl Malagodi (West), 13-10.
Octavius McCleskey (East) p. Ryunosuke Tsukada (Service), 3:02.
135 pounds
Niko Mayo (South) p. Thaddeus Williams (West), 1:11.
Ethan Staples (South) p. Gabriel Wisdom (Eagle River), 0:21.
140 pounds
TRISTAN PETRYKIEVICZ (Chugiak) m.d. Beau Daily (South ), 10-0.
Theo Cha (South) p. Jalen Frederick (Eagle River), 4:52.
145 pounds
Riley Harris (South) p. Quincy Heartwell (South), 2:00.
Hayden Whitt (Service) d. CALVIN DAUGHERTY (Chugiak), 11-7.
152 pounds
Haysen Madrid (East) won by forfeit over GRANT JONES (Chugiak).
Andrew Green (Service) p. Jedi Patzke (South), 5:16.
160 pounds
Brandon DeYarmon (South ) p. Julio Paulino (East ), 2:56.
Zachary Priebe (Service) p. James Salter (Eagle River), 5:07.
171 pounds
Joshua Zong (Service) d. Jarod Hakala (South), 10-7.
Andrew Hamilton (Eagle River) d. James Shivers (South), 8-7.
189 pounds
DANIEL NIEBLES (Chugiak) p. Colton Copelin (West), 0:35.
Daniel Mokom (East) d. Kaimen Cutway (Service), 15-8.
215 pounds
Ikaika Vaivai (East ) d. Mason Wurst (South), 1-0.
Kelton Mock (West) p. Robby Green (Service), 1:42.
285 pounds
Jackson Moore (South_ p. Israel Garcia (West), 2:00.
Kymani VaiVai (East) p. Aiden Davis (South), 1:44).