FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson) 

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Daily Sitka Sentinel

MEHS Senior, Captain Wild About Wrestling

By BRIELLE SCHAEFFER

Sentinel Sports Editor

Mt. Edgecumbe High School senior Shawn Williams is from Quinhagak, a town about 70 miles south of Bethel.

What many people don’t know about this 700-person village on the Bering Sea is that it’s crazy about wrestling.

Shawn Williams

“It’s really a small wrestling community,” Williams. The sport “brings people together” and is a cause of so much joy for parents and kids alike, he said. 

Williams first got on a mat competitively when he was in fourth grade. He was hooked immediately. 

“I tried wrestling and I ended up liking it,” the 18-year-old said. “I started putting more effort into it.”

And now he just wants to “wrestle, wrestle, wrestle,” he said.

The only hitch in that plan is Williams suffered a knee injury at the beginning of the season that has kept him out of the ring. 

He still attends every wrestling practice, though.

“I’ve got to support my team,” he said.

But it’s painful for him to have to sit out.

“The things I love doing I don’t like watching,” he said. 

The doctors are still unsure what’s wrong with his knee, but he’s holding out hope he’ll get to wrestle in the last few weeks of the season.

“I really hope to be able to wrestle, win regions and make it to state,” Williams said. 

Last year, his wrestling season was cut short by another injury. He broke his foot while running cross country and didn’t get cleared until the last two weeks of the schedule, Braves Coach Mike Kimber said. 

“We are trying to get him healthy and back on the mat,” he said. 

Williams is the second captain in recent years from Quinhagak. 

In 2012, Braves wrestling team captain Michael Matthew took first in the state for his weight class at 182 pounds. 

“They have a lot of wrestling there,” Kimber said about the village. “They still have some really good wrestlers.”

Even Williams’ kid sister wrestles back in Quinhagak, Williams said. 

Williams likes the sport because it teaches discipline and strategy. On the mat he’s learned perseverance, he said. 

“If it doesn’t work out in the first place, try even harder,” Williams said. 

In that vein, Williams is a good student. Kimber said he never has to worry about academic eligibility with this wrestler, who maintains a GPA above 3.0. 

“We made Shawn a captain because Shawn led with his action,” Kimber said. “Shawn, when he got here, he was very quiet and non-verbal. As a captain he’s learned to be more vocal as he’s matured. He’s hardworking. He’s a guy who doesn’t get depressed. He’s a very resilient man.”

Williams plans to go to college next year. He’s looking at Oregon State University or Central Washington University, two schools where he can both wrestle competitively and study aviation. He hopes to become a commercial airline pilot, he said. 

“I got big dreams,” Williams said. “I got to chase those dreams.”

 

But before then, if he’s healthy, he’ll strive for a state wrestling berth at the Alaska championships in Anchorage Dec. 16.

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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.


50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....

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