Wrestlers show courage at state

Once a year, the best 16 qualifiers in each weight and class meet in Casper to determine the best program and high school wrestlers in each category. This year, 12 Thermopolis Bobcats made the trip to compete in the WHSAA State Championship Wrestling Tournament Friday and Saturday. Eight Cats scored points for a 71 total in 2A earning them 11th place in the 21 team competition, narrowly missing their top ten goal.

As expected, Moorcroft repeated their championship (221.5) over challengers Rocky Mountain (159.5) and Cokeville (153). Four of the top 5 teams were from the West Region.

No Bobcat wrestled harder than sophomore Koy Myers. Reversing his first opponent, #4 seed Riley Ross of Lusk, from his own back he secured a pin in 2:54. He duplicated the time and result in his second match against Colton Vangeison of Lyman, and faced #1 seed and eventual champion Kemmerer's Taylor Chapin who justified his seed with a 14-0 victory over the tough Bobcat. In his first consolation bracket match, Myers entered the last minute of the match behind Shoshoni's Tyler Boysen, 1-0 when the width of a toe inside the circle determined a takedown for the Bobcat and a 2-1 victory. Though Myers' last match looks lopsided at 15-8, the score was 8-10 midway through the third period when a counter by his opponent led to a 5 point move and Koy settled for the fourth place medal.

Another cliff hanger went against Bobcat Cullen Becher. After two third period pins, #1 seed Becher met #4 seed Trenton Smith of Wright. Smith countered a leg attack by the Bobcat for a takedown in the first period and Becher escaped immediately, so the match went into the third period 2-1 against the Bobcat as he desperately tried to turn Smith for back points and victory. With 14 seconds remaining in the match, the decision was made to release the Wright wrestler and go for a takedown and a tie to get to overtime. Becher set up a head and arm as time ran out, but he was unable to secure the hold and gave up an escape and takedown in the 5-1 loss. Becher had strong victories in securing 5-1 and 7-1 victories on his way to the third place medal.

After two convincing victories, senior Luciano Castle met up with #1 seed Danny Profit of Kemmerer. A slow start seemed to encourage extra effort from the Kemmerer wrestler as he coasted to a 9-2 victory and dropped Castle into the consolation bracket where he posted an easy 7-0 outcome over Greybull/Riverside's Marshall Gibbs. As fate would have it, the consolation finals matched him up with Moorcroft's #2 seed, Trey Fishbach, 2015's 113 lb state champ. After leading into the third period, the Bobcat gave up 5 points in a 5-2 loss for fourth place.

Perhaps the most pleasant surprise for the Bobcats was freshman Jonathan Hagen as he raised his efforts to a fifth place medal by winning 3 of 5 matches culminating in a 2:55 pin of Big Piney's Adrian Jos Sambrano in the 106 lb. class. Hagen flew beneath the radar for most of the season earning team points without much notice except for the respect of his teammates.

Other Bobcats earning victories and points were Chase White, Jeffery VanAntwerp, Ethan Becher and Colter Hansen. Also competing at state for the Bobcats were Austin Ireland, Thomas Severns, Tanner Boss and Tyson Tobar.

While somewhat disappointed by the outcomes of several very close decisions, coach C.J. Scholl was encouraged by the effort of his team. "We wrestled with enthusiasm and energy. I'm proud of the efforts of the freshmen in supporting each other and their sportsmanship. They represented their team and community well. I'm particularly proud of the courage of our kids like Austin [Ireland] who spotted his opponents more than 15 pounds and still attacked with gusto; and, Koy [Myers] who not only became a better wrestler, but also developed better control of himself in tough situations.

"We'll look forward to the challenge of competing at the 3A level next year. Several promising freshmen will join the wrestling program as we continue to build for the future. Hopefully as we build numbers, we'll also build our schedule so that Bobcat fans will have a better opportunity to see their wrestlers locally," Scholl added.