VHS WRESTLING TEAM PLACES SECOND AT REGIONALS

VHS Wrestling Team
The Valdez HS wrestling team was at Eielson HS for the 3A Denali region wrestling tournament on Saturday, December 1st.
As a team, Valdez was runner-up to host Eielson Ravens. Eielson accumulated a total of 179 points followed by Valdez with 150. Glenallen, Hutchison, and Galena are also members of the Denali region. Eielson HS Coach Dulany was named the conference Coach of the year.
Junior Austin Rake was named the Outstanding Wrestler for the Denali region. Rake entered the tournament with an impressive record of 35-0. He retained his record of no losses for the 2012 wrestling season. This includes wrestling teams from both 3A and 4A schools. Additionally, seniors Davy Towne and Brandon Hursh closed out their high school wrestling careers by qualifying for the 3A state tournament in Nikiski.
Valdez had five wrestlers secure 1st place finishes. The wrestlers were seniors Davy Towne(120) and Brandon Hursh(160) and juniors Keefe McIntosh(138), Austin Rake(145) and Isaac Deaton(152) .
Freshman Trevor Norris(113), sophomore Colbin Hansen(152) and junior Adam Downing(138) also qualified for the 3A championship tournament in Nikiski.
Cole Phillips(113), Cody Greene(120), Nicolas Devens(132) and Brian Allen(145) placed 3rd.
The Valdez wrestling team members that travelled to Eielson were freshman Calin Buerge, Trevor Norris, Cody Greene, Darren Allen and Tyler Ponghongtingo; sophomores Nicolas Devens, Cole Phillips, and Colbin Hansen; juniors Austin Rake, Adam Downing, Keefe McIntosh, Christian DeLay, Brian Allen and Isaac Deaton; seniors Davy Towne and Brandon Hursh.
Stats Courtesy Val Hiebert