Triplett, Garay capture state mat titles at WAWA event

The middle school wrestling season didn’t end at the conference tournament for 11 members of the Greybull-Riverside wrestling team.

Six girls and five boys extended their seasons by a week in order to compete in the Wyoming Amateur Wrestling Association’s state middle school tournament, held Sunday in Douglas.

The girls enjoyed more success than the boys, as Maythe Garay and Tatum Triplett won state championships.  Garay went 3-0, Triplett 2-1.

Delta Craft placed third.

Ryan Whisenant continued her late-season surge, going 2-2 and placing fourth.

Sophia Wilkinson took fifth place, going 1-2.

Harper Juneau was fifth but could just as easily have reached the final; Coach Mark Sanford said she lost a lead late in the semis, didn’t have much time to shake it off and lost her next match before rallying to win her final contest.

Kaysen Nyberg, 1-2, and Colby Thacker, 1-2, were the only boys who won a match in Douglas.  Neither placed, as competition was fierce within their 32-man brackets.

Noah Blakley, Marshall Brown and Braxten Link each went 0-2.

Sanford said he was encouraged by their desire to compete.  In recent years, his “state” team has ranged between three and five wrestlers.

“It’s a great thing that we had more kids wanting to go and compete against the highest level of competition at their age level,” he said.