Saratoga Grapplers Look to Finish Out 2024 with Fierce Competition

Saratoga Middle High School wrestling finished out the 2024 portion of the season by travelling to the Joe Aimone Invitational in Kemmerer. The tournament is a new one for the SMHS grapplers, competing with 13 other teams from Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah.  Many of the teams in attendance were larger 3A schools, so the competition was fierce in every weight class.  The tournament was round-robin style, which affords the athletes many opportunities to get on the mat and gain valuable experience.

Saratoga placed 10^th out of the 14 teams entered in the tournament.  Four wrestlers had podium finishes on the weekend.  Ace Arnold at 113 and Galloway O’Leary (JV 165) won their respective brackets. Carson Everett took 2^nd in the JV 175 bracket, and Hayden Suttee was 3^rd in JV 132.

113 pound sophomore Ace Arnold won his first five matches by fall. His opponents were Trussell (North Summit), Child (Cokeville), Stuart (Rich), and Zadra (Mountain View), Tippets (North Summit). Round six resulted in Arnold winning by medical forfeit over Smith (Bear Lake). In the final match of the day, Ace was pinned by Jimenez from Kemmerer but still took the top podium spot at 113 after going 6 - 1 in the tournament.

Tate Zeller had some serious competition in the 120 pound bracket, and as such he was unable to secure a victory in the tournament. He faced Redden (Mountain View), Hubbard (Kemmerer), Cylvick (North Summit), Ream (Bear Lake), McMullan (Green River), and Maxfield (Lyman). Zeller’s final match of the day had him face Caleb Brown from Big Piney, last year’s 2A 106 pound state champion.

In the 144 pound bracket, Kanean Roberts had ‘one really good match then got sick and wasn’t able to wrestle again,’ according to the coaching staff. Roberts’ sole match was a loss to McMillan (Kemmerer).

At 157 pounds, Skyler Wood ‘wrestled some really good matches and is showing a lot of improvement,’ according to coach Arnold.  Wood pinned Kelly (North Summit) and had two other wins via medical forfeit.  Wood lost to Wells (Bear Lake), Linford (Cokeville), Clifford (Big Piney), Parks (Kemmerer), and Tims (Mountain View).

Atom Lindsey wrestled up to the 285 pound bracket and was winless over the weekend.  Coach Rusty Arnold stated that Atom should be moving down to the 215 pound bracket after Christmas break.  Lindsey lost to Aleman (Lyman), Barton (Kemmerer), Filiatrault (Bear Lake), Musalem (Wind River), Tims (Mountain View), Zuniga (Big Piney), and Niedo (Wyoming Indian).

Coach Rusty said that Hayden Suttee (132 pounds) “went 2 – 2 with some great matches,” and secured 3^rd place in the JV bracket.  Suttee won by fall over Gray (Green River), and Goraczkowski (Green River).  His losses were to Wood (Grace), and Maxfield (Mountain View).

Galloway O’Leary had an exceptional weekend performance, going 5 – 0 and winning the JV bracket at 165 pounds.  O’Leary had falls versus Cyrus (Dubois), Carpenter (Mountain View), Zendejas (Green River), and Pope (Kemmerer). He also had a major decision win over Chandler (Rich) for the first place finish,

Carson Everett had a great outing in the JV 175 pound bracket. He was 7 – 1 on the weekend with a second place finish.  All of his victories were pins, starting with Ferguson (Big Piney).  His other wins were against Snyder (Wind River), Mair (Mountain View), Reese (Bear Lake), Goostrey (Bear Lake), Posey (Wyoming Indian), and Gough (Rich).  His sole loss was against Jorgensen (Grace).

Coach Rusty stated that, “overall (it was) an outstanding weekend of wrestling.  We have to be more disciplined on technique and minimize mistakes to move forward.” The Panther grapplers will have a few days of well-deserved break before getting back into the wrestling room and hitting it hard for the new year.  Their next scheduled competition is January 4^th, when the team travels to Kremmling for the West Grand Invitational.