Greybull wrestlers compete at national tournament

Two members of the Greybull-Riverside wrestling team competed with Team Wyoming at last weekend’s U.S. Marine Corps Junior & 16U National Tournament in Fargo, N.D.  The tournament is billed as the largest in the world, with more than 7,000 competing.
Gabby Dowling and Tawny Bertolini will be a senior and sophomore, respectively, this fall at Greybull High School.  They spent much of their spring and summer honing their skills, hoping to make a good impression and capture the attention of college coaches at the national tournament.
Dowling, competing in the junior division, won one and lost two at 140 pounds.  She had a breakout season as a junior, capping her campaign at 135 pounds with four wins in five tries and a third-place finish at the state tournament in February.
Bertolini, meanwhile, went 0-2 in her weight class in the 16-and-under division.  She lost to a senior from Illinois and a freshman from Alabama.
“They worked their butts off getting ready for this tournament,” said Nikki Bertolini, Tawny’s mother. “Both wrestled hard and represented our community well.  
“There just isn’t a lot of freestyle wresting for their age group around our part of Wyoming.”
Nikki said both girls wanted to learn it to expand their opportunities to eventually wrestling in college. At the high school level, they wrestle folkstyle.  But at the college level, the only option for girls is freestyle.
A wrestler from Thermopolis, Lily Quintanilla, notched Team Wyoming’s top finish at the tournament, going 6-2 and placing fourth in her weight class.  She is the defending Wyoming State Champion at 115 pounds and wrestled at 112 pounds in Fargo.