Three reach finals in debut

Holloway, Sorenson and Gaytan all finish second

With four varsity placers, the Greybull-Riverside boys finished third among all Wyoming teams at their season-opening tournament in Powell.

Cody captured the team title with 174.5 points, followed by four teams from Montana — Hardin, with 167.5, Huntley Project, with 149.5, Lockwood, with 93, and Laurel with 89.5 — and Riverton in sixth with 75 before G-R checked in seventh with 54 points.

Loomis Alexander was the top placer, taking second at 150 pounds.

Joining him in the placing round were Caiden Sorenson, who claimed second at 165; Zack Kuntz, fifth at 190, and Garrett Wiggins, sixth at 157.

Alexander went 5-1 over the two days, losing only to Cade Nedens of Hardin in the final.  He’d entered at 150 in the hopes to facing Neders, who tech-falled him last year.  This time, it was 9-1.

“He beat us again, but we closed the gap,” Coach Mark Sanford said. “It says two things to me. One, we have improved. And two, we have the right mentality as far as not wanting to run from the good guys, but trying to find the good guys.”

Sorenson “also had a good weekend,” Sanford said. The GHS senior went 5-2, losing to Hunter Boss of Jackson in Friday’s pools, then again in the final at 165.  

Kuntz compiled a 4-3 record, going 2-2 in the pools, 2-1 in the bracketed tournament.  An 8-5 loss to Wesley Walks of Harding, Mont., was the only blemish on his tournament record.

Wiggins went 1-2 in the pools, 1-2 in the tournament, placing sixth.

G-R’s other varsity wrestlers did not place.  

Bennett Sanford went 2-2 in a highly competitive weight class and did not qualify for the tournament.  Neither did Ben Mendenhall or Phillip Thomas.

Camden Schriner did qualify for the tournament, going 1-3 in the pools, but lost twice and did not place.

On the JV side, Hayden Jensen captured the team’s only individual title, going 3-1 at 150 pounds  

Second-place finishers included Riley Wiggins, who went 3-1 at 138; Levi Cochrane, 3-1 at 144; and Nikoah Sorensen, 3-1 at 175.

Corbyn Godfrey finished fourth at 190, Kobe Fox took fourth at 157 and Carlin Mulley was sixth at 120.

“For the most part, I liked our aggressiveness,” Sanford said of the boys’ effort. “I liked that we kept competing in matches, even if we were getting beat.  Most of them improved as matches went on Friday afternoon into Saturday.

“We saw some good things, but we need to finish our takedowns; too many times, we’re getting caught on the legs and not finishing” 

Girls

Meanwhile at the girls tournament in Cody, Greybull-Riverside scored 59 points, good for 11th place.  Thunder Basin won it with 208, followed by Laurel, Mont., with 110.5 and Rock Springs with 104.

Ellie Holloway and Rhianna Gaytan led the charge, finishing second at 130 and 155, respectively.

Holloway provided one of the highlights of the weekend, knocking off a reigning state champion, Alix Sorensen of Thermopolis, 6-4, in the semis.  Sanford called it “a huge win” for Holloway, who went 6-1 over the two days.

Gaytan finished with the same 6-1 record, losing only to Paige Tongate of Rock Springs by a 2-1 score.

Kaluha Woolsey won the 115-pound title in the B division, going 4-3 over the two days.

Tawny Bertolini went 4-0 in the pools, but two-and-out in the bracketed tournament.

And while they didn’t place, 115-pounder Adeline Kunkel, 120-pounder Ashlyn Chacon and 145-pounder Kadence Powell all won at least one match in their wrestling debuts.

“It goes for all of them, the girls have to learn to be more aggressive in their attacks,” Sanford said. “We have to be able to take people down when we have to generate points.”

G-R will dual Thermopolis today (Thursday, Dec. 18) in Powell, with start time being 5 p.m.

This weekend the team will be in Worland, competing in the annual Battle of the Big Horns dual tourney.