Nome hosts second annual Dudley Homelvig Scramble
Fifteen wrestling teams descended on the Nome-Beltz High School gymnasium last week for the second annual Dudley Homelvig Scramble competing in a three-day tournament that stretched from Thursday to Saturday afternoon.
Despite the late evening on Friday, there was a sense of excitement in the air. Student spectators lined the mats, hitting the ground and cheering when a bout got particularly intense. Spectators in the bleachers would stand up and cheer as t-shirts were tossed into the crowd. Parents filmed their kids matches with iPhones as wrestlers grappled in the championship bouts.
The meet started Thursday evening, as wrestlers from Aniak, Buckland, Elim, Galena, Gambell, Kiana, Noatak, Nome, Savoonga, Selawik, Shaktoolik, Shishmaref, Teller, Unalakleet and White Mountain duked it out on the mats.
On Friday, wrestlers competed in a traditional bracket style tournament, that concluded with championship bouts Friday evening for each weight class. On Saturday, wrestlers competed in a round-robin style tournament.
Senior night
Before the championship matches took place on Friday evening, Nome-Beltz recognized the senior athletes on the team. Young Erikson, Benjamin Milton, Kendall Ulroan, Cody Strachan and Kive Shannon lined up to be celebrated by their coaches, family members and peers.
Before the seniors left the floor, they were presented with leis and water bottles.
Championship bouts
Ezra Jack of Unalakleet and Ralph Stalker of Selawik battled it out on the mats for the 119-pound weight title on Friday in a match that seemed to last for ages. There was an intense back and forth before Jack took down Stalker.
When Young Erikson, the Nome-Beltz Nanook team captain, took to the mat for the 135-pound weight division championship match, the whole Nome wrestling team and many students swarmed the edges of the mat, cheering from seated positions. Erikson won the match against Ralph Steeve of Aniak to loud cheers from his teammates.
Rayden Cross of Nome-Beltz and Kevin Ongtowasruk, also of Nome-Beltz took seemed evenly matched as they wrestled for the 189-pound title. They both flipped each other several times before Cross took the win.
After the bouts on Friday evening concluded and the regular first, second, and third place awards were handed out, several wrestlers also received “Outstanding Wrestler” awards: Rylie Boyscout of Galena and Renee Brown of Nome took home the girls’ awards and Kaden Eningowuk of Shishmaref and Young Erikson of Nome each took home the boys award.
Nome-Beltz Athletics Director Pat Callahan explained that the set-up of the tournament was designed in part to make sure that athletes got the opportunity to wrestle as much as possible. He said that Dudley Homelvig, who the meet is named for, always emphasized the important of the students from surrounding communities getting the opportunity to wrestle as many matches as possible whenever they got the chance to travel. On Friday, this translated to wrestlers competing all day for spots in the championship rounds in the evening.
Dudley Homelvig’s legacy
Dudley Homelvig was a legendary wrestling coach who led generations of Nome-Beltz wrestlers to victory. Homelvig was inducted into the Alaska Wrestling Hall of Fame and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He passed away June 22, 2024.
Nome-Beltz Assistant Coach Jared Miller said that Homelvig is a “Nome legend.” Homelvig made sure that there were solid wrestling programs from elementary school all the way up to high school.
“He loved the sport so much that he just invested basically all his time into it and made sure that every single program along the line had a had a good, solid foundation,” said Miller.
Miller said that Homelvig also made an impact beyond just wrestling. Former wrestling protegees of Homelvig still come back to help coach and volunteer. “From the wrestlers that Dudley coached, there’s still a good handful of wrestlers that will come back and help out every single time,” he said.
“I feel like he influenced a lot of his wrestlers to continue, not only wrestling after High School, but just being better human beings,” Miller said.
Miller said that the Nome-Beltz team has a good shot to end the season with some big scores for their wrestlers.
“We’re looking forward to the rest of the season, and really got a good chance at taking regions and sending quite a few kids to state,” he said.
A full list of results from the weekend can be found at
USABracketing.com
The Nome-Beltz team next competes at the Lancer Smith Memorial meet November 14 and 15 in Palmer.
The Outstanding Wrestler awards went to the following champions in their respective weight classes
Boys Outstanding wrestler 103-140: Nome Wrestler 135lb Young Erikson
Boys Outstanding wrestler 145-285: Shishmaref Wrestler 152lb Kayden Eningowuk
Girls Outstanding Wrestler 100-132: Nome Wrestler 100lb Renee Brown
Girls Outstanding Wrestler 138-235: Galena Wrestler 165lb Rylie Boyscout
Coach's Comments:
“This past weekend we had our 2nd annual Dudley Homelvig wrestling tournament at our very own Nome-Beltz High School gym. Our only event of the year went very well and was a great success. This year we held three separate wrestling events. The first starting on Thursday night with all our Nome High School wrestlers matching up against various surrounding community wrestlers. As far as I know this was a one-of-a-kind event and the crowd was able to watch Nome wrestlers battle one match at a time. We really appreciate our surrounding community wrestlers and coaches for making this special event possible.
Friday was another day of wrestling and was mainly a round robin event that ended the evening with finals matches in every weigh class. This night ended with first to third place medals and another long overdue Outstanding Wrestler Award for both boys and girls division.
Saturday, our final day of wrestling, was comprised of another round robin event that focused on grouping wrestlers in their respective weight classes and abilities.
Our next event is the Lancer Smith Memorial and always keeping our eyes on the regional tournament which is Barrow this year.
Thanks to everyone for your support of the Nome Wrestlers.”
Coach Erikson
Ariana Crockett O'Harra
I am from Anchorage, Alaska, where I grew up cross country skiing, kayaking, and spending time outdoors. In 2024, I graduated from Montana State University with double majors in photography and english with a minor in psychology. I enjoy running, film photography, and cooking.
I'm a new reporter at The Nome Nugget, but I spent most of my teen and college years preparing for a career in journalism. In high school, I worked with Alaska Teen Media Institute, where I learned the ins and outs of print, radio and visual journalism. In college, I worked for my school paper, The MSU Exponent, where I covered everything from drag shows to rodeos to presidential rallies.
Although I was employed as a photographer and director of photography at prior jobs, I still wrote, and much of my work is driven by the urge to create cohesive, comprehensive coverage of a situation, both visually and in writing. I moved to Nome in part because I love the north, I love the ocean, and I love the tundra, but I also moved here because I believe that local journalism is a lifeline for communities – local journalists are the ones reporting on your school board meetings, the state of the roads, and whatever else comes across our desks. We're also the ones who are in some of the best positions to report on national issues that affect our communities. I am most interested to use my skills to inform our readers in a truthful and unbiased way.