by Darren Lieb
Hayden Lieb, Joseph Smith and Landon Smith competed in the 2019 National High School Coaches Association National Wrestling tournament held at the Virginia Beach Convention Center in Virginia Beach, VA this past weekend. There were well over 4,500 wrestlers that came from all over the country and some from Germany as well. Landon had 162 wrestlers in his weight class (Freshman 106 lbs.), Joseph had 103 in his (Freshman 113 lbs.) and Hayden had 127 in his weight class (Junior 160 lbs.). Here are their results:
Freshman 106 lbs.
•Landon Smith AK
Jackson Polo NY Dec. 7-5 OT
•Ty Daugherty OH
Landon Smith AK Dec. 6-1
•Landon Smith AK Fall 3:16
Frankie Rizzo MD
•Landon Smith AK Dec. 8-3
Ryan Napodano NY
•Glenn Price LA
Landon Smith AK Dec. 5-3
•Landon Smith AK
Gavin Caprella OH Dec. 8-1
Freshman 113 lbs.
•Max Yegge SC Dec. 4-2 OT
Joseph Smith AK
•Devin Horton NJ
Joseph Smith AK Dec. 6-4
•Joseph Smith AK
Jose Campos CO Dec. 7-3
Junior 160 lbs.
•Elliott Lee VA
Hayden Lieb AK Fall 0:41
•Hunter Brinkman FL
Hayden Lieb AK Dec. 5-0
•Ryan Stencil NY
Hayden Lieb AK Dec. 2-1
•Aurelius Dunbar PA
Hayden Lieb AK Fall 2:35
•Trevor Dopps KS
Hayden Lieb AK Dec. 4-2
Semi-Finals
•Hayden Lieb AK
Tyler Stoltzfus PA Dec. 10-4
•Kai Bele FL Dec. 10-3
Hayden Lieb AK
5th Place Match
•Hayden Lieb AK
Dillon Sheehy PA Dec. 9-3
While Joseph (1-2 record) and Landon (4-2 record) did not place, they gained a lot of experience wrestling there. Hayden (5-3 record) earned his 4th High School All-American honors by placing 6th. Top 8 finishers earn AA at the NHSCA. Hayden also tied for the most all time All-American honors (3) at this tournament for Alaska wrestlers. The other is Nathan Hoffer from East Anchorage H.S. who was also a 4 time Alaska State Champion and went on to wrestle for the Sun Devils at Arizona State University.
Up next for them will be a couple of Club Wrestling tournaments in the Palmer/Wasilla area and then the U.S. Open in Las Vegas this month where they will compete in Folkstyle, Greco and Freestyle.
-Bethel Wrestling
