South High wrestling aims to uphold high standard with a host of hungry contenders

The South Anchorage High School wrestling program has been dominant in Alaska for well over a decade and is accustomed to producing lopsided results and contending for team and individual titles.

This season, the Wolverines aim to continue that streak with an approach that is confident and assertive.

“Every time we take the mat, the same thing we preach is go out there and score points and don’t be afraid to make mistakes and wrestle hard,” head coach Randy Hanson said. “That’s important in dual meets and in tournaments when you’re trying to win team titles.”

On the boys side, the Wolverines are the reigning state team champions at the Division I level, and while they graduated all three of their individual title winners, South still has several runner-ups and high placers who are “super hungry” and determined to reach the top of the podium this year.

“It’s been since probably the end of (last) December since some of these kids have been training nonstop with at most a week or two off,” he said. “They’re just chomping at the bit.”

Many of them compete in offseason club teams, and from the freestyle season in the spring to national competitions in the summer, they’ve been grinding and getting better.

“The high school season is not really the end of the road for a lot of these kids,” Hanson said. “It’s kind of just a check-in for them because they’re looking at bigger things. They want to be All-Americans and national champions.”

Chief among the top returning contenders is sophomore Jacob Morris, who came came up short of winning a state title at the 125-pound weight division as a freshman last year.

“He’s a kid who has always been a solid wrestler, and the last couple of years, he has really put the work behind it,” Hanson said. “He has taken it more seriously and is pushing his teammates and practice partners every day.”

In the third round of Cook Inlet Conference duals last week, South hosted Chugiak on senior night and dominated from start to finish on the boys side, including recording 11 straight pins at one point from the 119- to 215-weight class.

The Wolverines shut out the Mustangs 93-0 with the boys and girls, and no match better exemplified the team’s overall dominance on the night more than Morris’ match at the 145-pound weight division that ended in a pin in the second period.

“It’s pretty cool and nice to wrestle under a spotlight and have supporters show up and watch you,” Morris said. “We work hard in the room every day to be able to dominate like this.”

He heads into each match with the mindset of “win or loss, I’m here to get better,” and that’s what he did against Chugiak. Morris let his opponent up several times without any resistance, yielding the one escape point so that he could work on his takedowns and rack up near-fall points.

By the time he finally decided to go for the pin in his match last Wednesday night, he was already up 21-5 on the scoreboard.

“I’m trying to get better before state comes around,” he said.

When he’s not wrestling for South during the high school season, Morris wrestles year-round for the Avalanche. After coming up short of his goal as a freshman, he doesn’t plan to let that happen this time around.

“I’m really hungry, I want to win, I work hard every day to get the opportunity again and I try to dominate and get better,” Morris said. “I came up short last year. This year I’m ready to win it and hunger for it.”

He was defeated in last year’s state finals by Jacob Strausbaugh of Soldotna. The two had several tough matches against throughout the season, according to Hanson.

“We talked all through last year about how Strausbaugh is a great opponent for somebody like Jacob who wants to compete at the national level,” Hanson said. “To continue to get better, you need opponents like that.”

While both wrestlers are returning this year, they each bulked up, but with Strausbaugh competing at the 140-pound weight division, Morris has to find another elite opponent to test himself against at tournaments and, hopefully, at state.

“This year, we’re trying to find that competition to make us better,” Hanson said.

Morris says it is “super cool” to be coached by Hanson because he not only molds his wrestlers into champions, but also helps them grow into well-rounded young adults who have the utmost respect for friend and foe.

“I think Randy is the best coach in the state,” Morris said. “He helps us and not only tries to get us better at wrestling but better as people too.”