Bobcats host dual then travel to Ron Thon

Bobcat wrestling was busy last week with a dual at home on Thursday and then a trip to Riverton on Friday and Saturday for the annual Ron Thon Memorial Tournament.

Last Thursday night the team hosted the first of their two home duals of the season, matching up with the Panthers of Powell. The Cats are thin in numbers this year and consequently they give up a lot of open weights in a dual. Against Powell, those open weights amounted to nine matches, which led to 54 team points for Powell - enough to win the dual.

The Cats, however, won all five of their varsity matches. Dyllan Myers, Tanner Delay, Cannon Boren, and Ryan Axtell all gained wins by pin, while Tannen Birdsley won his match by a margin of 17-4 in points.

In Riverton, the Cats finished 19th out of 40 teams, with four wrestlers on the varsity side, two of whom placed in the tournament. Two other grapplers placed on the JV side, including a JV Champion. With a good deal of pride in his team, Coach Travis McDermott said, “This tournament is such a mental battle to make it through to placing. I think we saw some of our best matches of the season and some of the best matches wrestled at the tournament.”

Junior Cannon Boren dominated on Friday and made it into Saturday’s semi-finals where he drew Wood of Cody. Wood had beaten Boren in the dual with Cody, which had taken place a few weeks ago. “This was probably the best strategic match of Cannon’s career, coming up with a 1-0 win. Cannon stayed in a good position most of the match with lots of scrambling.”

With that close win, Boren next took on three time state champion Parry from Star Valley in the championship round where Boren was ahead in points going into the third period. “Cannon was better on his feet than Parry and was in deep on a single, but the Star Valley wrestler came out on top of the flurry, and Cannon wasn’t able to get out, losing 4-3. “I know that Cannon was disappointed, but those two Saturday matches solidified him as one of the best in the state and sets him up to dominate the rest of the season.”

Junior Dyllan Myers battled his way to the semi’s on Saturday where he met up with Baker of Rawlins who had Myers’ number, sending Dyllan to the consolation rounds. Battling hard to get into the 3rd place match, Myers lost a tough one to Thunder Basin’s Stirling.

Senior Haeden Blair and junior Ryan Axtell each went 1-2 in the tournament.

For the JV team, freshman Tanner Delay dominated his 138 lb. field - winning the championship. “Tanner did flip a switch and he looked very good on his feet to win the title.” Junior Tannen Birdsley also made it into the championship match. “Tannen had a bloody battle that lasted over 10 minutes, due to his opponent having bloody nose issues. It was an exciting match with lots of back and forth, but ultimately Tannen lost and received the silver.

Also for the JV, sophomore Rylan Stauffer went 1-2, and sophomore Silas Dickey went 0-2 on the day.

With the February 20 regionals fast approaching, the Bobcats will compete in the Greybull Invite on Saturday, and will then host Worland for a dual on February 12 for senior night.