Middle school wrestlers debut at tournament in Lovell

The middle school wrestling season began at a tournament in Lovell on Saturday and continues this week with a home dual against Powell today (Thursday, Nov. 2) and a tournament in Riverton in Riverton on Saturday.
Greybull-Riverside’s roster stands at 19, according to head coach Mark Sanford.
The boys squad includes Braxten Link, Riley Wiggins, Levi Cochrane, Liam Wisehart, Tell Edeler, Marshall Brown, Ben Jacobs, Noah Blakely, Eric VanHeule, Thomas Saunders, Kenneth McClure, Jaxon Womack, Denton Nyberg, Hunter Craft and Isaiah Palato.
Kaluha Woolsey, Autumn Lewis, Maythe Garay and Sophia Wilkinson form the girls team.
Several G-R grapplers missed the first tournament, either because they were sick that day or had been at some point, missed practice time and thus weren’t eligible for the first competition.
“It looked like we were at our first meet of the year,” said Sanford.  “We definitely have some things to work on.  As a team, we need to do a better job with our penetration and finishing our takedowns.  Same with moving off the bottom -- we were a little better on top.
“We also need to learn to sink our pinning holds.  Several times we had opportunities to pin a guy and didn’t.  In a couple matches, it came back to haunt us.”
Riley Wiggins turned in the team’s top finish, placing second in the 105-pound division.  He went 2-1 -- and in the one he lost, he was within 2 when the match ended in a pin.
McClure took third at 98 pounds, finishing 3-1 with three pins.  And like Wiggins, he was competitive in the match he lost.  “It was tied when he got in a bad position and got put on his back,” said Sanford. “He probably should have been in finals.”
Other wrestlers who won at least one match in Lovell included Kaluha Woolsey, in the 122- to 132-pound girls division; Braxten Link, 70 to 77 pound division; Ben Jacobs, 98 pounds; Levi Cochrane, 126 pounds, and Hunter Craft, 126 pounds.
“I appreciated the efforts put in by everyone,” said Sanford. “Nobody gave up.  Everyone kept battling.”
G-R hosts a dual with Powell tonight at the GMS Gym. Start time is 5 p.m.
On Saturday the team competes at the Riverton Invitational.