Wrestlers show their strength

Starting a busy week, Thermopolis wrestlers journeyed to Cody on Tuesday for a dual. Though the Broncs started with a lead at 16-9 on a couple of pins and a decision, the dual became much more interesting for the Bobcats when Jon Harvey put a brake on Cody's momentum with a first period pin of his own over the Broncs' Keaton Stone.

Riley Shaffer followed that with an 11-1 first period and an early second period pin of Alex Vogt to give the Bobcats their first lead, but Cody quickly took it back on the strength of a forfeit and a pin for a 28-21 advantage.

That lead evaporated as Logan Cole and Austin Ireland both scored pins for the Bobcats sandwiched around a Cody forfeit to make the final score 39-28 for the Bobcats.

The JVs set the stage for the varsity outcome by winning all five of their matches with four Bobcats - Matt Music, Hunter Mounts, Jon Hagen, and Cole Christianson - scoring pins while Austin Barral scored a comfortable decision.

The Don Runner Invitational has a reputation of being a state 2A tournament, and 17 of the 18 teams there were. Thermopolis, with 195.5 points, scored 30 points more than third place Lovell (164) or fourth place Cokeville (161). In the 11 weight classes having Bobcat wrestlers, one or more Bobcats were in the top six places - Austin Ireland,3rd; Wyatt McDermott, 3rd, Blake Williams, 5th; Jeffery VanAntwerp, 5th; Mounts, 6th; Chandler Maddock, 4th; Jon Harvey, 4th; Riley Shaffer, 3rd; Christianson, 5th; Logan Cole,2nd; and Remington Feree, 5th. Thermopolis wrestlers took to the mat 66 times and brought back 42 wins - including 29 by pin - for a 63.6 winning percentage. In head to head competition with tournament champion Pinedale, the Bobcats came out on top with a 5-4 match record.

The 3A Pinedale team overwhelmed the field and scored more than 250 points.

In somewhat of an understatement, Coach Travis McDermott offered, "We had a good weekend. Blake (Williams) had eight matches in the tournament, and fought hard all the way for his fifth place. McDermott showed that he has made the transition to high school competition, and overcame fatigue to earn his third place. Riley (Shaffer) came back from a loss to the No. 1 rated Brayden Johnson to finish with a strong performance for third. But really, it was a good tournament for us as a team.

"The Lander tournament next weekend will be a real challenge because it's a primarily 3-4A tournament. We have work to do to get ready for that. We have to be in condition to wrestle tough third periods as the season goes on, and we're not there yet."

The emergence of several Bobcats as genuine threats on the mat has been evident in Williams, Osman, McDermott, Feree, Christianson, Mounts, and Hagen. The return to action of Chase White will only be another positive for the Bobcats as they get ready for the up-coming premiere of the invitational tournaments - the Ron Thon in Riverton. The image of small town boys taking on big city bullies may be laid to rest this year with several strong 2A teams competing there.

The last chance for most local residents to see this fine team will be a quadrangle with Worland, Buffalo, and Douglas here on Jan. 24th.