Isabel Lieb of the Bethel Lady Warriors wrestling team won the gold medal in the ladies 132 lbs. weight division at the Mountain City Wrestling Invite in Anchorage this past weekend. She fought through a tough bracket to win first place.
In the first round she defeated Hailey Loose of Hutchinson (Fairbanks). In the quarterfinals she sent Alina Lind of the West Valley Wolfpack to the other side of the bracket. Semifinals was with Nome’s Lacey Sherman – the two had battled before on the mat during Bethel’s Scramble in October, Sherman lost again in this match. In the championship round Lieb defeated second seed Kaytlin McAnelly of Soldotna in sudden victory 4-2 for the top spot.
Lady Warrior Riley Boney took home the silver medal in the 138 lbs. bracket. She battled her way through the ranks beating Amelia Burket of West Valley, Maelyn Westdahl of Mt. Edgecumbe, Reghan Harris of Service High, and top seed Lillie Vansiegman of Palmer in the semifinals. Her final match was with second seed Daisy Hannevold of Soldotna, Hannevold won.
Bethel’s Kayleigh Bell won third place in the 100 lbs. weight class. In the first round she lost to Sarah Nanouk-Jones of Mt. Edgecumbe. Bell then won her next five matches beating Shyanne Hihnecer of North Pole, Ke’ala Lawrence also of North Pole, Ashlynn Akers of Redington HS, Kaelynn Seidl of Wasilla, and she defeated Nanouk-Jones whom she lost to in the first round.
Her teammate Jordan Klejka made it all the way to the semifinals in the 120 lbs. division. She won her first three matches defeating Minh-thu Vo of Ketchikan, Evelyn Bernick of Student Wrestling Development Program, and Kaylee Serradell-Smith of East Anchorage. She fell to Krista Howland of Hoonah, for fourth place.
Also wrestling for the Bethel Lady Warriors was Ashlynn Lonewolf, Alexia Kaganak, and Iceis Harpak.
Up next for the Warriors is the Bethel Invitational this coming Friday and Saturday. Teams from around the YK Delta, Student Wrestling Development Program (Fairbanks), South Anchorage HS and Nikiski HS will be competing. Wrestling starts at 9 am both days, said Bethel Wrestling head coach Darren Lieb.
