Dyllan Borer
Staff Writer

Kayhi will travel to Anchorage this weekend to compete in the Lancer Smith Memorial Tournament, one of the biggest high school wrestling tournaments in Alaska.

“This tournament has got all the top large schools [and] small school wrestlers in the state,” said Coach Rick Collins

Kayhi has never had anyone win this tournament. Coach Collins believes sophomore Hayley Gilson (15-2) has a shot at winning a bracket and becoming Kayhi’s first Lance Smith tournament winner. 

“If I was going to pick anyone that had the best chance to final it would be Hayley,” said Collins. 

This tournament is very important for seeding at state, the wrestlers will be wrestling against people that they will see at state. Collins said getting a win against their opponents will help the wrestlers when they get to state.  

“It’s good for seeding in that you’ll see other top wrestlers, and so wins against common opponents or head to head victories will help you when you get to the state tournament,” said Collins.

Lancer Smith has two brackets for the boys, a varsity one and a JV one. On the girls side they only have one bracket, just varsity. Collins is taking 24 wrestlers to Wasilla, nine in the varsity bracket, nine in the JV, and six for the girls bracket. 

On Thursday Kayhi will dual with Wasilla, then start the 2-day tournament Friday.