Ron Thon Prep Begins in Shoshoni

Saratoga’s high school wrestling team competed in Shoshoni’s Clash at the Crossroads last weekend. There were 14 teams participating, and the Panthers overall wrestled ‘pretty well’ according to head coach Rusty Arnold. The Shoshoni tournament is a good warmup as the Panthers head into the meat of their season in the next few weeks.

106-pound champion Ace Arnold started the day by pinning Kelley from Hulett and LaDuke (Wright). Arnold then won his first-place match by tech fall in the second period over 2A’s top ranked wrestler in the state (Cokeville’s Thompson). Arnold’s first place finish adds another trophy to an already impressive season.

Coach Arnold stated that Tate Zeller at 113 pounds is ‘improving every day,’ although he wasn’t able to come away with a win in the tournament. Zeller lost to Dollick (Upton) and Child (Cokeville).

At 132 pounds, Hayden Suttee also ‘wrestled well’ and was 1 and 2 on the weekend. He first pinned Dickey (Thermopolis), but lost to De La Cruz (Lovell) before falling to Lyoning (Rocky Mountain).

SMHS’s 144-pound Kanean Roberts has been battling illness and Coach Arnold said once he is healthy, he will be ‘a force to be reckoned with.’ Roberts eventually lost the 3^rd place match, but had a good showing with a 4^th place medal. Kanean’s first match was a loss to Yarrington (Thermopolis), but he won the next three by fall (Fuhrman and Winfrey (Tongue River); and then Brown (Greybull)). Unruh (Rocky Mountain) pinned Roberts in the consolation finals.

Ben Miller at 144 pounds is ‘showing lots of promise’ and was 1 and 2 for the tournament. He won by fall against Haslem (Rocky Mountain), but lost to Alexander and then Brown, both from Greybull.

165-pound wrestler Galloway O’Leary Beat his first opponent (Cornell – Shoshoni) before falling to Vollmer (Tongue River) and Klaproth (Shoshoni). Coach Arnold stated that O’Leary was also entered into the ‘second chance’ tournament on Saturday and ending up winning three matches for a first-place medal.

Coach Arnold impressed upon his team that they ‘need to peak twice this year.’ The first peak is for the upcoming Ron Thon tournament, and then the second peak is the state tourney. Ron Thon is the second biggest tournament of the year and it is an all-class, as opposed to the state competition where the athletes only compete versus class competitors. Because of this, many people in the wrestling community consider Ron Thon to be the ‘real state championship.’ The team heads to Lander this weekend and the results there will be a good indicator where they all stack up before Ron Thon.