Wrestling Hits the Mat in Lusk

At a pre-season wrestling meeting with athletes and parents, second year head coach Rusty Arnold stressed that the coaches and team would be “getting back to basics.” He reiterated several times that the boys needed to show up “ready to work hard.”  It appears that the team is taking the task to heart as the SMHS wrestling team traveled to Lusk last Friday for their first competition of the season.

Six of the team’s 12 wrestlers made the trip, and Saratoga had a good showing, placing 6th out of 16 teams.  One wrestler took top honors, while two others had strong 3rd place finishes, and coach Arnold stressed that the boys “wrestled well for the first tournament.”  Arnold also mentioned that the team is without “a couple of our top guys, Allyster Ingraham and Anthony Campbell.”  Unfortunately for Saratoga, both boys had season-ending injuries before the team even began practicing.  The coach expressed his sadness that ‘these two boys will not be able to compete and help push the other boys.”

The Tiger Invitational was a one-day tournament held in Lusk with both round-robin and traditional bracket competitions, depending on the number of wrestlers in each division.

At 113 pounds, sophomore Ace Arnold placed first, pinning both Dollick (Upton) in the first round and Vrana (Upton) in the second round. Arnold secured his top-of-the-podium finish with a tech fall against Hill (LFL/SE).

120 pounder Tate Zellar had one match and beat Rian Selby (Glenrock) by fall.

In the 144 bracket, Kanean Roberts placed 3rd. After receiving a first-round bye, Roberts was pinned by Martin (Glenrock) in the semis, but redeemed the loss by pinning Thomson (Wright) for the 3rd place finish.

Sophomore Ben Miller went 1 and 2 on the day, losing his first match by fall to Isenberger (Wright). His second match was against Upton’s Bowen, who prevailed against Miller in a major decision. Ben pinned Riley from Hulett in his final match for a seventh place finish.

Skyler Wood, a seasoned SMHS senior, was 1 and 1 for the day and earned a 3rd place finish for the Panthers. Wood had a bye in the first match, then lost in the semis by fall to Davis (Upton). Skyler ended the day with a tech fall over Ortega-Hand (Thunder Basin) for 3rd place.

Carson Everett was 1 and 1 at the tournament with a 5th place medal.  He first lost to Thomson (Wright) by fall, but won his second match by pinning Williams-Gardner (Newcastle).

After the tournament, Coach Arnold stated, “we have a lot of room for improvement but the team is very inexperienced except for Arnold and Wood. I look to make each kid better than they were the day before and as long as that happens I will call it a success.”

Arnold will have 10 wrestlers on the mat for next week’s competitions. Thursday is a quad match in Hanna, then the team travels to Kemmerer on Friday and Saturday. Arnold is excited for the year and plans on “keep working hard on conditioning and getting in the right wrestling mindset” With the first competition under their belt and an aggressive training plan for the season, Saratoga wrestling looks to be on track to improve on last year’s results.