Wrestlers top other 2A teams in Lander

Greybull-Riverside’s varsity boys got off to a sizzling start at the Lander Invitational, losing just a single match in the opening round.

“Call us butter and put us on a roll, we were getting it done,” quipped Coach Mark Sanford. “But then we ran into round two ... things changed pretty abruptly.”

G-R ended up sending only one wrestler, 157-pounder Loomis Alexander, to the finals, but still fared very well as a team, finishing ninth and ahead of every other 2A squad in the 20-team field.

The tourney attracted mostly 3A and 4A teams, with Cody, Green River and Kelly Walsh occupying the top three spots in the final standings.

Alexander paced the G-R effort, reeling off four straight wins over 3A and 4A opponents before losing to William Alt of Kelly Walsh in the final.  Alt entered at 29-2, Alexander at 25-1. They were scoreless after one.  Alt chose down, got an escape followed by a reversal to move in front.  Alexander never recovered, getting pinned at the 5:09 mark.

“(Alt) has only lost to two guys all year — a kid from South Dakota and a kid from Colorado,” Sanford said. “We didn’t wrestle a bad match at all.

“Hopefully we get another shot at him this weekend (at the Ron Thon).” 

Resilient would be a good way to describe the rest of the varsity’s effort, as the G-R matmen didn’t let early setbacks define their weekends.

Caiden Sorenson, at 165, lost his quarterfinal match to a wrestler from Evanston, but won his next four, including an important pin of Logan Julander of Kemmerer (a potential regional foe) in the third-place match. With that, he finished 5-1 on the weekend, improving to 24-6.

Bennett Sanford, at 138, followed a similar course, but finished fourth. He lost to Cody’s Jonah Schultz, the eventual champion, in the quarters, but then won three straight to reach the third-place match, which he lost to Landon Rhune of Pinedale. 

Along the way, Sanford avenged an earlier loss to Mason Christenson of Lovell, winning 10-8. Each of them has now won once. How they fare moving forward will influence regional seedings.

“That was a big win for us,” Coach Sanford said. 

While they were the only placers, G-R’s other varsity wrestlers each took something positive.  Garrett Wiggins, at 150, scored points for the team, going 1-2. 

Ben Mendenhall, at 157, went 0-2, but was winning one of his matches by six points before getting pinned.

Zack Kuntz, at 190, went 1-2.  He lost in the quarters to a wrestler from Evanston, getting pinned as time expired in the third, then lost by major decision to a wrestler from Torrington.  Sanford said it was good Kuntz was pushed to the limit, as his matches typically end in a pin. Most often, it’s been with Kuntz’s hand being raised.

Camden Schriner, at 215, drew raves from the coach, along with Wiggins, for the way he battled.  He finished the weekend with one win and two losses.

On the JV side, Nikoah Sorensen went 3-1 and placed third at 175 while Levi Cochrane went 4-2 and took fourth at 144. 

Other entries for G-R included 106-pounder Braxton Link (0-2), 120-pounder Carlin Mulley (0-2), 144-pounder Hayden Jensen (3-2), 190-pounder Corbyn Godfrey (3-2) and 285-pounder Phillip Thomas (0-2).

“We saw some good things from all of them,” Sanford said, noting that Cochrane and Jensen wrestled at the same weight and lost to the same two wrestlers, Link and Mulley held leads, Godfrey gained valuable mat time and Thomas wrestled a full three periods.

There were fewer highlights on the girls’ side because there were fewer girls.  Just five made the trip and two of them, 115-pounder Ashlyn Chacon and 120-pounder Melanie Perez-Cabrera, didn’t win a math, going 0-2.

Rhianna Gaytan and Elizabeth Holloway each placed fourth, powering the team to a 17th-place finish with 42 points.

Gaytan, at 130, went 2-2, beating wrestlers from Cody and Wind River but losing to wrestlers from Green River and Riverton.

Holloway, at 155, won three of her five matches, losing only in the semis (to a wrestler from Thunder Ridge, Idaho) and in the third-place match (to a wrestler from Pinedale).

Sanford said both G-R standouts were disappointed in their outings, but could see the opponents who tripped them up again this weekend at the Ron Thon.

Kadence Powell provided a highlight for G-R, making the placing round and finishing sixth at 140.  She wrestled six times, winning three.

“For a first-year wrestler, in a tournament of that size and at that level of competition, that’s a good performance,” Sanford said. “She’s gaining, working hard in practice, trying to learn. On the bus ride home, she was sitting with Coach Hetzel, watching video of her matches to see how she could improve. Very impressed with that mentality.”

G-R will make its third straight weekend trip to Fremont County. Aside from state, the Ron Thon is the state’s most prestigious event. The best wrestlers from all three classifications attend. To the winners in each class go bragging rights as the state’s best at each weight.