Miners get aggressive

The Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Miner Grapplers went to Wind River on Friday to face teams from Saratoga, Wind River and Dubois.

Robert Riddle, HEM head coach, was pleased with what he saw from his wrestlers.

“At 106 Anthony Solaas won two matches and he looked very good in both,” Riddle said.

Solaas wasn’t the only one to win and make his coach happy.

“Our 113 pounder, Makaylee Widdison won her first match and she had good looks,” Riddle said. “She is our newest female wrestler.”

HEM has two. Riddle said Charlee Solaas, his other girl grappler and leader for the team, may not have won but he was glad with her matches.

“Charlee went pretty deep in her match, only losing by two points,” Riddle said. “She did well and Charlee was in the very competitive 138 weight class.”

Two more wrestlers delighted Riddle with how they came out and wrestled.

“Howard (Bame) looked good in his matches,” Riddle said. “Tom Wagner came out very aggressive and great in his weight class which is 145 which is tough competition.”

Riddle said Joseph Borah, who has a knee injury, still cannot wrestle.

“The doctors haven’t released him to wrestle yet, so he is on our injured reserve list and we are working on conditioning him for when he will be ready to go,” Riddle said. “We are working on building muscle and skill exercises that he can do.”

Another wrestler Riddle is hopeful of coming back is Adrian King.

“We hope to have him back by January,” Riddle said.

Riddle thinks the team had a good showing for their first meet.

“For the beginning of the season, the kids looked really good, real aggressive and I feel we have a really excellent place to start,” Riddle said. “We aren’t having to start from scratch and build up. We will work hard and look down the road to regionals.”

The next scheduled meet will be in Saratoga on December 17 where, besides meeting the Panthers, Laramie will also be there. Then, on December 18, the team will go to Dubois.