State Wrestling Tournament: Two champs, fifth-place finish for G-R

Greybull-Riverside captured fifth place in the 2A division, its best finish in nearly a decade, at last weekend’s State 2A Wrestling Championships in Casper.

Along the way, the Hound Dogs saw eight of their wrestlers reach the podium, led by state champions Loomis Alexander, at 144, and Curtis Strohschein, at heavyweight.

Others who walked away with hardware included Reece Whisenant, who was second at 144; Gabby Dowling, fourth at 135 in the girls division; Michael Bassett, fourth at 138; Zack Kuntz, fourth at 190; Bennett Sanford, fifth at 132, and Caiden Sorenson, sixth at 157.

G-R finished 16 points behind fourth-place Cokeville. Spots one through three went to Moorcroft, Kemmerer and Thermopolis, in that order.

“We didn’t win a trophy, but it’s hard to come away from the success we had at state feeling too bummed,” said Coach Rob Nuttall. “From a coach’s perspective, unless you’re on top, you always think you could have done a couple things better.

“But to finish with the number of placers we had, and with the number of matches we won, was great.  A lot of positive things to end the season on.”

Alexander won all four of his matches by pin to finish 38-3.

“He was a hammer all the way through,” said Nuttall. “Loo put in a ton of work in the offseason, going to some intensive camps, best-of-the-best type, and did all the things he needed to do to be successful this season.”

Alexander scored first-period pins over his first two opponents and beat Caden Clifford of Big Piney in the semis to earn a spot in the final, where his opponent was none other than senior teammate Reece Whisenant.

“We knew there was a good chance that’s what the outcome would be,” said Nuttall.

Alexander recorded the pin at 1:12.

“As a coach in that situation, it’s a tough one—and I hope I’m not in one like that again,” Nuttall said. “In the end, you’d be happy for one, bummed for the other. But we told them going in, ‘Nobody is going to be coaching. You guys will decide it. And when it’s over, we’re going to love on both of you and celebrate your success.’”

Whisenant, a senior, finished 33-13. He reached the finals by knocking off the East’s best, Braydnn Terry of Moorcroft.

Strohschein was one of the most dominant wrestlers in Casper, going 3-0, all of them ending in first-period pins. He beat Zef Zuniga of Big Piney in the final; at regionals, the match went the full three periods, with Strohschein winning 4-0.

“Curt came out on a mission and ended on an exclamation point,” said Nuttall. “He’s a four-time state placer who’d been close a couple times. The growth we saw in him from freshman to now was unbelievable.”

Strohschein finished 41-3, closing his career in the same fashion as his brother Ty, who won a state title last year.

Dowling, a senior, went to Casper with the same ambitions but finished fourth. She won three matches but lost in the semis, 9-3, to Abrianna Laird of Rawlins, and again in the third-place match to Brueklyn Truempler of Shoshoni via third-period pin.

Nuttall chalked the semifinal loss up to “a few little things here and there” and said she “had chances but just got a little out of position” in the loss to Treumpler. “At the end of the day, to finish on the podium of an all-class tournament is no small thing. It may not have been the way we hoped it would end, but she did a great job and it was a good finish for a wonderful kid.”

Bassett, a senior, won three of his five matches. He cruised into the semis where he lost to Trey Breen of Tongue River. “We beat that kid earlier in the year, but had a tough time with him,” said Nuttall. Bassett pinned his next opponent, however, to make the third-place match, which he lost to Nate Brown of Big Piney. “It was good to have Mike back,” Nuttall said. “He started with us as a freshman, but ended on the podium.”

Kuntz, a sophomore, continued his late-season surge, going 3-2. He was beaten in the semis by the eventual champion, Owen Barton of Kemmerer, but came back with a quality win over Alec DeMarce of Lingle/Southeast to reach the third-place match. “We wish we’d have had him as a freshman,” said Nuttall. “At regionals and state, he really turned it on at the right time and showed what he’s capable of doing.”

Sanford entered as a No. 4 seed, lost in the quarters to the eventual runner-up Trey Schneider of Upton, but battled his way back, winning three of his last four matches to earn fifth place. “We lost in the blood round last year so to get over the hump was great,” said Nuttall. “At a lot of these weights, the podium is pretty tough to crack.”

Sorenson, the team’s final placer, went 2-3 in a very tough weight class. He won his first two, then lost to Riley Dehaven of Moorcroft in the semis, Reo Edwards of Wright and Clay Teichert of Cokeville. The combined records of those three put him at 93-37.

“Just placing was a good hurdle for him to get over and he’ll benefit from the experience,” said Nuttall. “The future’s bright for him.”

Other G-R wrestlers who competed in Casper but did not place included girls Rihanna Gaytan, who went 2-2 at 125, and Tawny Bertolini, 2-2 at 140, along with boys Braxdon Patterson, 1-2 at 132; Jesse Brown, 1-2 at 138; Garrett Wiggins, 1-2 at 150; Carter Peasley, 0-2 at 150; Ben Mendenhall, 0-2 at 157; Nikoah Sorensen, 1-2 at 165; Corbyn Godfrey, 0-2 at 190, and Camden Schriner, 0-2 at 215.

“Most of them scored points for us,” Nuttall said. “In fact, it’s the most kids (18) we’ve taken to state, and the most kids we’ve placed at state, since I’ve been here. So things are definitely trending in a positive direction.”

Nuttall said the team will miss its seniors—Dowling, Bassett, Whisenant and Strohschein—but should return “a pretty salty bunch” next season.

“At the beginning of the year, I don’t think anyone put us where we ended up finishing—and it was a dang good bunch of kids.”