Quintanilla makes history at Ron Thon Memorial Tourney

The Hot Springs County High School Bobcat wrestling teams traveled to Riverton last weekend to compete in the largest high school wrestling tournament of the season. The Ron Thon Tournament takes place over two days, and provides a major opportunity to gear up for state wrestling, coming up at the end of February. More than forty schools were represented in the event.

Lady Cats

The Lady Cats had an exceptional outing in Riverton – coming away with four of their six wrestlers placing, and ending the tournament with an overall 10th place finish, among 39 girls teams competing.

Stand-out freshman Lilly Quintanilla continued her unbeaten season and led the way, making history by bringing home the Lady Cat’s first championship at the Ron Thon Tournament. Quintanilla had pins in all four of her matches and received the distinction of being named the Tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler.

Coach Travis McDermott was suitably impressed, saying, “As a freshman it makes this an even bigger accomplishment. Even the toughest competition from Thunder Basin’s Henry could not keep up with Lilly’s fast paced offense, and dominating riding on top. She pinned in the second period of that semi-final match. In the championship she faced junior Smith of Star Valley. Lilly went right after Smith, but gave up a takedown in a scramble off the whistle. After a restart, she got to her feet, overpowered Smith straight to her back, and got the early fall.”

Senior, Kaitlin Barral, had a very good tournament, finishing second only to Dexter of Pinedale, for the second year in a row. “Kaitlin pinned her first two opponents to make it into the semi-finals. In the semi’s she battled for a last minute takedown, to win the match against Natrona’s Dickinson.”

Alix Sorenson had two falls to reach the semi-finals, losing a very tough match to Houk of Southeast, who was last year’s state champion.

“In Alix’s consolation semis, she went back to work, and got a pin to make it to the 3rd place match. This is also Alix’s second time placing, getting a 6th place last year. Anderson of Sheridan took advantage of a mistake in the second period, to give Alix the 4th place medal,” said coach McDermott.

Kailey Allen wrestled well in the tournament – finishing in 6th place, while Summer Galovich and Ava Dafoe each got two wins, continuing to improve in their technique.

The Lady Cats have senior night on Thursday, Feb. 1 and will travel to Greybull this weekend.

Bobcats

In a tune-up for the Ron Thon, the Bobcats had a dual against Powell last Thursday. Giving up eighteen points off the top due to several open duals, the Cats came out on the short end - losing a scrappy match by a score of 39 to 34. Wins were had by Sam Skelton (157 lbs.); Blevins Little (175 lbs.); Cannon Boren (120 lbs.); Dalton Price (132 lbs.); Colter Price (138 lbs.) and Will Ward (144 lbs.).

Coach McDermott said, “Powell came out aggressive and put us on our heels a bit. We didn’t close out some matches at the end of periods, and that cost us.”

At the Ron Thon, the Bobcats finished 19th in the team standings, with 44 boys teams competing in the event.

“While we only ended up with one placer on the boys side, we had a lot of exciting close matches and the guys never gave up in any of the contests,” said coach McDermott.

He added, “Cannon Boren had another great weekend, bringing home a 3rd place medal. Cannon started with two pins, including one over returning state champion, Jackie Meador of Big Piney. In the quarter finals, Cannon battled Ty Peterson of Cody, in a close 5-3 loss. In the consolations, Cannon pinned Eardley of Kelly Walsh and Dunham of Sheridan, to make it into the consolation semi-finals. Boren controlled his consolation semi match against Tromble of Natrona. His 3rd place match was medically forfeited to him, giving him a 3rd place finish. Cannon keeps getting better and is definitely in the mix for a state championship.”

Ethan Crow and Will Ward made it to the championship quarter-finals – with Crow winning an important match against Miller of Wyoming Indian and ended with a 2 and 2 record. Ward went 3 and 2 on the weekend with some tough matches. Brody Sorensen went 3 and 2 in the tournament and improved in every match. Colter Price and Sam Skelton each went 2 and 2 on the weekend. Daniel Blair, Haeden Blair, Seth Needham and Mason Reese also competed for the Varsity Team.

The JV Team saw four wrestlers competing, with Dyllan Myers going 2 and 2 at 106 lbs. and Lance Axtell going 3 and 2 at 126 lbs. Blevins Little had a win, and Ryan Axtell competed well.

“Everyone is making improvements with every match. They are all hard workers, and will be contributors on the varsity side in the coming month,” said coach McDermott.

He summed up the tournament by saying, “Overall, on the varsity side, we wrestled well, and battled in every match. Technique lost us several matches, so we will be putting a big focus on fixing some deficiencies that became apparent. We will be tuning up over the next couple of weeks, getting ready for regionals and state.”

The Cats have senior night on Thursday, Feb. 1 at home against Worland and then go to Greybull on Saturday for a one day tournament.