Submitted photo – Fortuna’s Tristan Jones and Del Norte’s Channey Schadd in action at Saturday’s meet.

A short but much-appreciated H-DNL wrestling season wrapped up at McKinleyville High on Saturday with an outdoor league championships.

The league had originally intended on holding just the semifinals in boys and girls competition over the weekend, with the finals scheduled for this coming weekend.

But a switch was made at the last minute to hold semifinals and finals together on the same day.

“It was a great day. Everybody had a good time, wrestlers, parents,” McKinleyville head coach Virgil Moorehead said. “I’d like to give a shoutout to the administration and the ADs for making sure we got five weeks of wrestling this year.”

The Del Norte Warriors enjoyed the most success, taking six of the 14 individual boys titles and four in the girls competition.

Eric Stanbury took top spot at 113 pounds for the perennial powerhouse program, while teammate Eddie Hartwick won at 138 and Chaz Harrison at 160.

Also winning for Del Norte were Walker Gensaw at 170, Brandon Jones at 195 and Jase Mintonye at 220.
The Fortuna Huskies, meanwhile, took home four individual boys titles.

Mason Evanow won at 106, Asa McKenzie at 145, Brandon August at 152 and Micaiah Montalbin at 182.

Montalbin, who has received a scholarship to wrestle at Southern Oregon Community College next year, went undefeated this season and pinned all his opponents.

“It was a beautiful day to have wrestling outside,” Fortuna head coach Steven Stockdale said. “It took a lot of work, but it was worth it for the kids.”

Submitted photo – Fortuna’s Micaiah Montalbin and Hoopa’s Jason Marshall in action on Saturday.

The Huskies were missing several of their top wrestlers for personal reasons and through injury and Stockdale believes they would have taken more individual titles had they all been available.

He also believes that both Del Norte and Fortuna could have made a serious run in the postseason tournaments had there been any this year.

“It was a good day, but it was bittersweet,” he said. “Being able to compete in league was a great opportunity for the kids, but I think in a typical season the H-DN could have made a lot of noise at the section tournament.”

Arcata, meanwhile, had two individual league champions, with Marley Harris taking top spot at 120 and Josh Hannan at 126.

McKinleyville’s William Baumgarten also won at 132 and Eureka’s Shyloh Nicholson took top place at 285.

Six of the seven schools fielding teams this year won girls titles, including four each for Eureka and Del Norte.

Submitted photo – McKinleyville’s Jace Thompson and Fortuna’s Brandon August.

For the Loggers, Slate Delsman took top spot at 131 and Kelli Johnston won at 170.

Both Eureka seniors will continue their wrestling careers at Division-II Colorado Mesa University next year.

Camille Shavers (137) and Ava Begovich (150) each also won titles for Eureka.

For Del Norte, Jenny Schaad won at 111, Savannah Williams won at 126, Adenne Schaad won at 143 and Alianna Sciple won at 189.

The Huskies had three individual champions, including freshman Chloe Cox, who was undefeated this season at 106, pinning all of her opponents.

Fortuna’s Tristan Jones also took top spot at 116, while teammate Nanice Ford won at 121.

Rounding out the list of individual champions were Hoopa’s Vanessa King at 101, Arcata’s Brook Nix at 160 and McKinleyville’s Christiana Ellebrecht at 235.

Among the second place finishers, Fortuna’s Logan Krause is a three-time league finalist.

Submitted photo

Runners-up

Boys

113 — Isaac weaver

120 —Bobby Aflague, Del Norte

132 — Anthony Giavani, Eureka 

136 — Logan Krause, Fortuna

145 — Jack Kramer, St. Bernards

152 — Jace Thompson, McKinleyville

160 — Connor Berg, Mckinleyville

170 — Levi Nyberg, Fortuna

184 — Jason Marshall, Hoopa

195 — Jackson Kent, Arcata

220 — John Mochael, Randall 

285 — Gerard Marshall, Hoopa

Girls

106 — Leah Park, Del Norte

116 — Channey Schaad, Del Norte

121 — Aver Wiley, Del Norte

131 — Savanah Williams, Del Norte

137 — Marie Fugate, Eureka

160 — Kaley Huffman, Eureka