Wrestlers bring home third from large Don Runner tourney

Bobcat wrestlers traveled to Pavillion over the weekend to compete at the Don Runner Memorial tournament, with the boys brining home a third place plaque as a team. "That is an impressive feat as we don't have wrestlers in 6 of the 14 weights and only one wrestler scores per weight," said coach Travis McDermott. The team had two champions, two runner-ups, two placed third and two placed fourth.

 Roedy Farrell had a great weekend, not only winning the tournament, but also by hitting a major career milestone getting his 100th career victory. He was recognized Saturday morning when he won his quarterfinal match. Farrell pinned his way through the tournament including a late pin in the finals against Big Piney's Brandon Jones.

 Jessen Basse was the Bobcat's other champion at 138 lbs. As a junior, this was his first championship in a high school tournament. Basse had a great weekend going 5-0 in the largest bracket in the tournament with 26 competitors. He won his championship match in a sudden death overtime victory over Shoshoni's Philleo. "This was definitely the best that Jessen has ever wrestled and he kept his composure in a nerve racking championship match doing what he had to do to get the win," said coach McDermott.

 At 132 lbs., Ethan Crow made it to the championship and gave a previous state champion from Wind River a strong run. Coming up a bit short, Crow finished in second place. "Ethan had a good weekend in a large bracket," said coach McDermott.

Mason Reese, at the 182 lb. weight, also wrestled his way to second place. "Mason did some good wrestling throughout the tournament. Both he and Ethan made it to their first tournament championships and had great weekends," said coach McDermott.

 Will Ward, at 126 lbs., had another great weekend missing the championship by one point in his semifinals. He came back and pinned everyone to finish with a third place.

Seth Needham made his return to the mat after being held out because of health issues. While he was frustrated with his conditioning he still managed to get a third place in a tough 145 lb. weight.

"Both Seth and Will are the hardest workers on the team and their wrestling is only going to improve over the next month," said coach McDermott.

 Brothers Dalton and Colter Price both wrestled in the 138 lb. weight class and ended up having to wrestle each other for third place. Colter had lost to his other team-mate Jessen Basse who beat him to make the championship. Dalton lost a heartbreaker in the semifinals by one point. "The brothers made the third place match quite a battle going into sudden death overtime. Dalton ended up with the takedown in OT to get the victory," said coach McDermott.

Sam Skelton wrestled his way to a fourth place finish at 160 lbs.

 "Overall, the cats went 58-19 on the weekend, with an impressive 49 pins and the reason we were able to secure that third place finish," added coach McDermott.

The cats are in Lander this weekend for another large tournament, the Lander Valley Invite.

 Coach McDermott commented on the girls wrestling team saying, "The Lady Cats didn't get much in as we are limited on tournament counts during  the season and we decided that we are going to attend a Lyman tournament during the week that the boys will be at regionals. With that in mind, Alix Sorensen and Tera Krashaar held out in participating at the Don Runner. Kailey Allen only got one match on Friday which she won by pin. Then Saturday in the first match she got twisted up and hurt her knee so she didn't wrestle the rest of the tournament. Kaitlin Barral didn't have anyone to wrestle as Glenrock could not make it due to road closures." The Lady cats will be in action in Lander this weekend as well.