by nathan oster
Greybull-Riverside made a strong statement on its home mats last weekend, easily defeating Wright and Moorcroft in dual action and then winning its own 11-team memorial invitational with 175.5 points.
Dedicated to the memories of Mike Seckman, Shane Rea and Lee Fawcett, the tournament ended with a strong G-R flavor, as nine Buffs made finals Saturday afternoon.
Four of them, Luke Zeller, Clay Cundall, Bob Anderson and Wes Ridgway, went on to win those matches to claim weight titles.
The Buffs opened with a 49-6 defeat of Moorcroft.
Coach Mark Sanford said several key wins propelled his team.
Luke Zeller picked up one of them, defeating Cody Ray, a ranked opponent, 14-2 at 135 pound.
Ben Anson, at 145, also wrestled a good match, albeit in a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Garret Traylor. Earlier in the season, Trayor had tech-falled Anson, “so it was a much better match for Ben this time,” said Sanford.
Jesse Chestnut also earned praise from the coach for his 11-4 victory over Ian Humes at 152.
The Wright dual also went G-R’s way, this time by a 49-15 count.
Nate Gossens, at 125, picked up a big 10-4 win over Roy Winder, who entered ranked fourth.
The “bit matchup” was at 130, where Nate Hetzel faced J.R. Collins.  Hetzel entered as the No. 1 wrestler, Collins No. 3.  Hetzel came out on top 15-7.
Payton Vigil also scored a win over a ranked opponent, outpointing Jose Hernandez 15-7 in their 140-pound clash.
Clay Cundall also scored a  nice win in his coach’s estimation, defeating Holden Fauber 9-2.
The Buffs began the day shorthanded, missing both of their 119-pounders in Blaine Gossens and Stephen Kerr as well as Levi Kelly, who normally goes at 103.
Frank Getzfreid filled in for Kelly, and nearly picked up his first win in the consolation semis before losing 8-6.  He finished the day at 0-2.
Matt Grovenstein, the team’s 112-pounder, finished with that same mark.  Unseeded going into the tourney, he drew the No. 1 seed, Garrett Bietz of Moorcroft, whom he had also lost to the previous night in dual action, and lost that match. He then fell to Robert Friday of Powell by major decision, 14-6.
Nate Gossens sailed into the finals at 125, where he faced Eddie Collins of Dubois. Collins was “wrestling up a weight from where he has been,” but prevailed in the matchup with Gossens by a tight 5-3 decision.  Collins was later named the meet’s outstanding wrestler.
At 130 pounds, Nate Hetzel easily advanced to the finals and a matchup with J.R. Collins of Wright. It was a tight match until midway through the third, when Collins put Hetzel on his back and recorded the pin.
Zeller’s path to the 135-pound title was the same one he took Friday night, first beating Jared Gantenbein of Wright by pin, then registering a 9-5 decision of Moorcroft’s Ray to give the freshman the title.
Payton Vigil finished off “a great weekend” with a second place finish at 140.  The No. 4 seed going in, he won his first two matches, both at the expense of Moorcroft opponents, to earn a date with Jacob Beck of Lovell in the final.  Beck prevailed 8-5, but Vigil wrestled him tough and could have won had he done a couple things differently, according to Sanford.
Matt Hetzel, who also went at 140, went 0-2.
The 145-pound class was loaded, as it featured both Juan Rodriguez of Wright and Garrett Traylor of Moorcroft.  Anson faced Rodriguez in the semis, losing by fall in 4:53, but he battled his way back, defeating Moorcroft’s Humes 6-4 to finish third.
Rob Nuttall, who also went at 145, drew Rodriguez first, losing 19-7, but the Greybull freshman rebounded nicely with a pinfall win over Dimas Patina of Lovell before ultimately bowing out with an 8-1 loss to Humes.
Jesse Chestnut lost both of his matches at 152.  It was  a tough weight class, as three of the top six wrestlers in the division were in Greybull on Saturday. Chestnut hit one of them, Cassidy French of Wright, early. Later, he fell to Ryan Croft of Lovell. “We need to get Jesse back moving in the right direction again,” said Sanford.
The 160-pound division ended with the matchup everyone expected to see, as G-R’s Chayce Goton did battle with Rocky Mountain’s Kaleb Hoyt in the final.  Hoyt scored an early takedown and led 3-1 after two periods. In the third, Goton picked up a point on an escape, and another on a stalling call against Hoyt, to force overtime. “In the third period, we kept shooting, but we weren’t getting through,” said Sanford. “In the overtime, we shot two times, and on the second one, he defended and scored on us,” making it 5-3.
G-R dominated the upper weights, as Cundall took top honors at 171, Anderson at 189 and Ridgway at 215.
Cundall had three matches, winning his first two by fall. In the final, he faced teammate Randall Johns and prevailed 4-1.  “They know what each other does so well,” said Sanford. Johns finished the day with a 2-1 record.
Anderson helped himself in the seeding process for regionals, defeating Coleman Stanger of Wind River by major decision in the final. Earlier, he topped Casey Pickett of Rocky Mountain by tech fall.
It was a similar story for Ridgway at 215. The Greybull junior won all three of his matches, beating Jarad Asay of Lovell 13-5 in the final.
“Overall, I think we wrestled better Friday night than we did on Saturday,” Sanford said. “We didn’t have a bad round until the finals. I don’t know why —  we had beaten a couple of those kids in the past.
“It was good to put to nine guys in the finals, although I think we should have had a couple more wins there.”
The wrestlers head to Riverton for “the big show” this weekend. “It’s the toughest tournament in the state,” Sanford said, noting that it draws all of the 4A teams, most of the top 3A teams including the top four, and several 2A powers as well.
Last year G-R had just one placer.
“What I hope for from our team, first of all, is that none of them get injured,” said Sanford, recalling two years ago when two Buffs ended up requiring hospitalization.  “The whole thing is, especially for our kids who are doing well, is that they need to hit some competition that will do some different things.  Kids that are physical and will wrestle you for the full six minutes.
“There aren’t many weak sisters down there. We’ll be hitting some quality kids, and there will be no round you can slack off in. The competition is that good.”