Middle school wrestlers take first at Rocky Mountain

The Thermopolis Middle School wrestlers came home with a win at the Rocky Mountain Invite on Saturday, with a total 81 points. Wyatt McDermott and Logan Cole were the high scorers, with McDermott winning 21 and Cole winning 20.

McDermott's points came in A Division 98, where he took first place. He won by a 3-2 decision over Dylan Emborg of Heights, Mont. in the quarterfinal, a 9-0 majority decision over Karsten Stone of Cody in the semifinal and a fall over Riley Bennett of Powell in 44 seconds in the first place match.

Cole's points were in A Division 220. He won by fall over Isaac Gutierrez - 1:27 in Round 1 - Karson Lamb - 1:44 in Round 2 - and Jason Meschke, 22 seconds in Round 3. All opponents were from Powell.

In A Division 132, Jackson Jensen place second with 14 team points. Jensen won by fall over Austin Dunks and Ethan Asay, both of Cody. His win against Dunks was in 1:24 in Round 1, and his win against Asay was in 59 seconds in Round 2. He lost by technical fall, 15-0, to Caleb Partridge of Heights in Round 3.

In A Division 145, Cole Christiansen placed second and scored 14 team points. Christiansen won by fall over Jonas Mickelson, 1:56 in Round 1, and Shane McKnight of Cody, 3:37 in Round 2. He lost by fall to Zane Horrocks of Rocky Mountain, 3:45 in Round 3.

A Division 175 saw a fourth-place finish from Austin Barral, who scored eight team points. Barral lost to CJ Brown of Powell in the quarterfinal in 56 seconds. He received a bye in Consolation Round 1 and won by forfeit over Allen Jenkins of Powell in the consolation semifinal. He lost to Andy Beavers of Powell in 2:54 in the third place match.

In A Division 98, Roedy Farrell scored four team points. He won by fall over Quintin Bernhardt of Heights in 12 seconds in the quarterfinal, though Riley Bennett won against him by a 9-8 decision in the semifinal and Emma Karhu won against him by fall in 3:50 in the consolation semifinal. Bennett and Karhu are of Powell.

In A Division 77, Sean Johansen placed third after a loss by fall to Tanner Jensen in Round 1 at the one-minute mark, and by fall to Ethan Crawford of Rocky Mountain in Round 3 at 1:30. In the same division, Jensen took second place and four team points; he also lost to Crawford by technical fall, 15-0.

In B Division 126, Jarek Sorenson placed second and won 18 team points. Sorenson won by fall over Jebediah Oilar of Cody, 56 seconds in the quarterfinal, and by fall over Kade Fitzgerald of Cody, 45 seconds in the semifinal. He lost in the first place match to Jace Grant of Cody, by an 8-5 decision.

In B Division 115, Matt Music placed third and won 14 team points. Music won by a 13-5 majority decision over Collin Lindermann in the quarterfinal, but lost by a 11-3 majority decision to Kendrick Beckman of Rocky Mountain in the semifinal. Music went on to win by fall against Nathan Thomas of Cody, 2:23 in the consolation semifinal, and by a 14-2 majority decision against Gavin Langston of Rocky Mountain.

In B Division 91, Landon Sosa placed third and won nine team points. Sosa lost by fall to Lucas Talich of Cody in 1:25 in Round 1, followed up with a win by fall over Trystan Royer of Cody, 39 seconds in Round 2. In the third round, he lost to Trey Thomasson of Cody by disqualification.

In B Division 155, Brendan Thomas placed fourth and won four team points. Thomas lost to Nate Minemyer of Rocky Mountain - 55 seconds in Round 1 - Jonny Williams of Cody - 42 seconds in Round 2 - and Gavin Bleak of Powell - 1:28 in Round 3.

Coach Toby Emery stated, "I was very pleased with our boys' first performance this year. The boys saw some new competition and got some experience on the mat. We were able to see how the boys matched up and were able to see what worked and what we need to continue working on. It's a learning process and our goal is to continue getting better each week in order to peak for conference. We have a fairly young team, but they're coachable and have a strong desire to learn and compete. I look forward to our next tournament in Lovell."

The Lovell invite is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 14.