‘It was like East meets West’: Veterans Memorial tourney threw grapplers into the fire

By Candace Begody
Special to the Times

FORT DEFIANCE

In summing up the 6th Annual Veterans Memorial Invitational over the weekend, Page’s head wrestling coach Kyran Keisling said it best: “This tournament gave everyone an idea of how hot the fire really is.”

Page was among the teams present at the wrestling tournament hosted by Window Rock High. The tournament featured 33 boys’ and 30 girls’ wrestling teams – the largest turnout to date. For many teams that competed, the tournament gave them an idea of where they stood against national and state competition as 16 teams traveled from Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado in addition to the Arizona teams.

“This is the toughest tournament we’ve been to all year,” added Keisling, who brought both a boys’ and girls’ team to the tournament. “It gives us a really good look at what we need to do in order to get medals and to compete at state. That’s what we build for – the state competition at the end of the year.”

The person spearheading the tournament was 1989 Window Rock High graduate Marc Hillis, who returned to his alma mater in 2012. In his first year back, he took on the assistant coaching position for the wrestling program. Come 2014, he began organizing the tournament that would become the largest wrestling event Window Rock has seen.

“We had competition across the spectrum from really competitive teams to smaller teams,” Hillis said, adding that the event has drawn All-Americans in the past, including Penn State’s Roman Bravo-Young and Blue Ridge’s three-time state champion Adam Henderson. “All the wrestlers got a lot of mat time – that’s what the coaches wanted. They also got to wrestle teams they wouldn’t normally see. It was like East meets West.”

Last year, 30 teams competed, up from 14 teams during the inaugural event in 2014.

“Whether they win or lose, all the teams walk away with experience,” said Hillis. “Everyone learns from the competition. That’s what I tell my wrestlers, ‘Wherever we go, you don’t lose, you learn.’”

Though the majority of Ganado’s varsity wrestlers were not present, first-year head coach Kevin Hubbard said his junior varsity team got to experience what it takes to compete at the varsity level.

“They are getting a lot of experience,” Hubbard said. “We are seeing a lot of teams that we’ll probably never see again. They take each experience the best they can and try to improve off each experience. Whether they win or lose, each wrestler learns off of each wrestler and each team they compete against.”

The event also offered female wrestlers their own tournament and their own opportunity to shine. This comes after the Arizona Interscholastic Association, the organization governing all high school sports in Arizona, approved girls’ wrestling in 2018. The sport has since seen an increase in the number of female wrestlers.

“Girls’ wrestling wasn’t recognized in Arizona so we didn’t know how it would turn out, but it turned out really good,” Hillis said, adding that of the 30 teams that brought female wrestlers, four brought full female teams. “Even the girls are getting a good level of competition.”

Chinle head coach Nathan Wagner brought both a team of girls and one of boys.

“I love the level of competition here,” he said. “We got to see reservations teams, but also the out-of-state teams. We saw the different types of wrestling and the different styles of coaching. Seeing the different styles of competition was also good for both my girls and guys.”

The tournament also offered small schools like San Carlos High and Many Farms High an opportunity to compete with bigger schools.

“It has been really tough competition here,” said San Carlos’ head coach Benall Benally, who brought two female wrestlers and one male. “We are not used to seeing these schools except for Globe and Miami. These kids are having a hard time keeping up because of the higher elevation, but overall, it is a really good experience for them to compete against these schools.”

For Many Farms’ Eugene Stevens, fourth-year head coach, the tournament allowed his team more practice.

“This is one of the largest tournaments we’ve competed in,” said Stevens, who brought four girls and two boys to the tournament. “We got a lot of mat time and that’s what the coaches and athletes are here for. Many times, you have sit and wait but we were guaranteed five to ten matches.”

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