Miner grapplers hit the road

“They changed the Don Runner Invite from a bracketed tournament to a dual tournament and, only having four or five kids, an invite like that doesn’t benefit us very much,” Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) wrestling coach Robert Riddle said. “So we were able to switch to the Thomas-Jackman Tournament in Green River which was a round robin bracketed tournament which lets the kids have more matches.”

Before going to Green River on January 15 and 16, the team also went to the North Park Triad in Walden on January 14.

Riddle was able to field four wrestlers as Howard Bame was out sick and Joseph Borah is out to knee injury.

“We started out at North Park on Thursday and Tom (Wagner), wrestling at 145, went 2-0”, Riddle said. “McKaylee (Widdison) wrestled tough at 106 and Anthony Solaas, also at 106, wrestled tough and Jared (Nelsen) wrestled three matches at 132, was tough in two and won the last one.”

Then the team was off Green River.

“We were on the JV side of that tournament which was a round robin style,” Riddle said. “On Friday, Thomas went 2-1, McKaylee went 2-0 wrestling the same girl from Laramie, Anthony went 2-0 and Jared was 1-2.”

Nelsen is wrestling at 132 but Riddle said the Miner grappler is hitting a growth spurt is making it difficult for him to stay at 132.

“We may have to let him wrestle at 138 even though in that weight class most are juniors and seniors and have more experience,” Riddle said. “We would of course like him to stay at 132 and get some experience before going to 138 because it is such a difficult class, but we will do our best.”

The next day, Solaas went 2-0, Widdison went 2-0 but, because they rearranged how wrestlers would meet and winners 2-1 would mix weight classes, Wagner ended up wrestling in tough matches where his opponents were coming in at 152. The seven pounds is a huge difference, especially in these weight classes Riddle said.

“That is just how some of these round robins go,” Riddle said. “They bump kids around and so Thomas was bumped into the next class against opponents that were 3-0. He looked good and wrestled tough, but he didn’t come out on top.”

Riddle said Wagner learned a lot from the matches, even if he lost.

Nelson also struggled at Green River Riddle observed because of trying to get his weight down to 132.

“He was a bit fried and tuckered out trying to get him down to 132,” Riddle said. “As a freshman it is hard for them to cut down the weight.”

Riddle was pleased with how the weekend went, far as how the wrestlers looked and the experience they got.

Riddle believes the coming week, he will have a good indication on how his wrestlers will fare in the season. The Miners have the HEM Quad at HEM on January 18 and the Dogger Invite in Lingle.