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January 29, 2009 I The Lovell Chronicle I 9
Grizzly wrestlers strong at Bobcat I,nvite
BY CHARLiE MONK
After a strong tourna-
ment in Pavillion the Griz-
zly wrestlers traveled to
Thermopolis for the Bobcat
Invitational Friday and Sat-
urday,
"We took sixth out of 18;
it was a good tournament,"
said coach Josh Collins.
The Grizzlies had two
champions in Thermop. JR
Vezain, wrestling at 135
pounds, beat Brett Lynch
of Shoshoni, Jesse Olsen of
Rivert0n and Sheldon Buck-
ingham of Colstrip, all by
pins. In the championship
match he fought Derek Zei-
gler of Colstrip and came
out on top 8-1 to place first.
The other champion for
Rocky Mountain was the
heavyweight, Sean Thomp-
son. He pinned Pat Rouane
of Colstrip and Kaleb How-
ard of Riverton. In the third
and final match with Derek
Miller of Riverton, Thomp-
son wrestled into the third
period, which was the lon-
gest match of the year for
him.
"JR and Scan had a
wonderful tournament,"
Collins said. "Before pin-
ning his kid, Scan had his
longest match this year. It's
a big tournament and it's
nice to see the two captains
doing good."
Ben Cook competed
at 119 pounds and placed
sixth. "He went 2-3, but he
was stuck with the number
one kid right off the bat,"
Collins said. "He's wrestling
better and I have a lot of
high expectations for him."
Max Vichi from Big Pin-
ey, the number one seed,
pinned Cook in the first pe-
riod. Cook then won his next
two matches, first beating
Colter Watsabaugh of Jack-
son by a second-period pin,
then defeating Sterling Jor-
ganson of the Star Valley
JVs by a score of 15-2. Cook
then lost to Dylan Ostdiek of
Jackson on a second-period
pin and lost his last match
to place sixth.
Ty Wambeke wrestled
at 135. He lost to Trevor Al-
len from Riverton and Mat-
thew Endecott of Kemmer-
er, both by pins. The next
match, against Matt John-
son of Riverton, ended with
Wambeke getting a pin half-
way through the third peri-
od.
"The team and I were
very happy to see how excit-
ed he (Wambeke) was and
we were, too, at that hard-
fought win," Collins said.
Wambeke then wrestled
Trevor Ryan and Matthew
Endecott again, dropping
both matches by a pin.
Placing sixth at 160
pounds was Josh Pingleton.
"This was the first time he
has placed at the Thermop-
olis tournament," Collins
said. Pingleton won his first
match by pinning Shay Hor-
ton of Wind River, then was
pinned by Derek Griffin of
Riverton. Pingleton got an-
other pin against teammate
Derek Dunlap, beat Jus-
tin Artey from Lander 1-0
then defeated Kyle Larson
of Thermopolis 10-3. In the
last match he wrestled Hor-
ton in a tough loss, 9-3.
Dunlap also wrestled at
160 pounds for the Grizz. He
was first pinned by Michael
Runner of Wind River, then
lost to teammate Pingleton
followed by Runner again.
However, Dunlap did beat
Kyle Osborne of Lander 6-0
before losing to Karl Pag-
nant of Rawlins by a pin.
Kaleb Hoyt placed third
at the 160-pound spot. He
beat Kole Wines of Star Val-
ley JV 6-0, then pinned Nate
DeBruycker of Colestrip. In
a hard fought match against
Chayce Goton of Greybull he
fell on a pin. He then beat
Dylan Masturd of Kemmer-
er 18-4 then DeBruycker
again, this time beating him
6-0.
At 189 pounds, wres-
tling for the first time this
year, Casey Pickett took
first in his bracket. He lost
his first two matches to Cory
Sybrant of Colstrip by a pin,
then a close 2-1 decision to
Coleman Stanger of Wind
River. He then went on a
roll and beat Mitchell Allred
of Star Valley JV 14-6 then
pinned Gabriel Villegas of
Greybull and Cam Tarnes of
Wind River to place first.
JR Vezain works on a Greybull opponent at the quadrangular meet Jan. 9 in
Greybull.
"It was his •first tourna-
ment of the year," said Col-
lins, "I expect a lot of him
in the future. He has a lot
of potential and I'm excited
to see how he does in the fu-
ture."
Second place at 171
pounds went to Kacee
Thompson.
"He went in seeded
number three and came out
number two," Collins said.
"He lost to a kid from Riv-
erton who was a good kid.
There are little things we
have to work on in the room,
but he has a lot of potential
for great things."
Kacee started the tour-
nament by pinning Matt
Hitt from Riverton, then
beat Colten Marrow of Land-
er 7-5. In the championship
round he lost to Derek Mill-
er of Riverton by a pin.
This Saturday the Griz-
zly grapplers travel to the
Greybull Invite. Wrestling
starts at 10 a.m.
Four Bulldogs place at Thermop tourney
BY BRAD
DEVEREAUX
The Lovell Bulldogs
made a change of plans
and instead of compet-
ing in the Buffalo Du-
als, they headed down
to Thermopolis for the
Bobcat Invitational this
weekend, which fea-
tured tough 2A and 3A
competition from teams
all over the state.
Lovell finished 13th
out of 16 teams with 41
team points. The Bull-
dogs placed two var-
sity wrestlers and two
in the impromptu JV
bracket.
Senior Rory Smith
(130) went 3-2 in the
tournament, beating
Austin Nicholson of
Rawlins 6-5, Brandon
Aullman of Star Valley
8-7 and Nate Hetzel of
Greybull for fifth place.
Ben Cuch (145)
went 1-3, losing twice
before beating Jordan
Thor of Jackson in the
third round. He lost
12-8 to Chris Ryan of
Thermop in the final
round, placing sixth.
Wrestlers who lost
two varsity matches
Friday were placed in
a JV bracket. Jesse
Bassett and Brigham
Hopkin entered the JV
bracket Saturday and
both went undefeated,
winning their respec-
tive weight classes.
Bassett pinned Jori
Mourer in 53 seconds,
Jarrett David of River-
ton in 24 seconds and
Derek DeBolt of Land-
er in the second period
to win first place.
Hopkin quickly
pinned a Lander op-
ponent and pinned Ty-
ler Ritchie in the sec-
ond period, taking first
place.
Assistant coach
Isaac Mayes said the
team "stepped it up" and
wrestled well, avoid-
ing getting pinned and
losing a lot of matches
by just a few points. He
mentioned strong per-
formances from Jared
Asay (2-2 at 189), Mark
Grant (3-2 at 171) and
many of the freshman
wrestlers, who got a
lot of time on the mat.
Coach Dane Mickel-
son said the Bulldogs
have been more aggres-
sive while shooting for
a takedown right after
the whistle.
Junior Chris Wedde
(125) won his first
match of the season,
Mayes said, pinning
Kaylie Smith of Rawl-
ins 2:53 into the match.
Jackson Bassett
and Darren Ballard
were sick and did not
wrestle at Thermop.
Friday, the Bull-
dogs will travel to
dual against Worland.
Mayes said Worland is
a top 3A team and the
contest should give the
Bulldogs a challenge.
Varsity wrestling be-
gins at 7 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 31,
Lovell will compete in
the Greybull Tourna-
ment. Mayes said the
many local 2A and 3A
teams will be at Grey-
bull and he is confident
that some Lovell wres-
tlers will place. Action
begins at 10 a.m.
BR~ De~ux
Rory Smith (left) looks over his shoulder while
throwing an opponent at the Poweil Invitational
Dee. 5-6.
Lady Grizz jump into conference play
BY BRAD
DEVEREAUX
The Rocky Mountain
Lady Grizzlies fought
for a spot among two 2A
Northwest conference
teams this weekend and
came out in the middle
with one win and one
loss, bringing them to a
2-1 conference record.
The Lady Grizz host-
ed the Greybull Lady
Buffs Friday in Byron.
The Grizz started and
finished strong, but had
two shaky middle quar-
ters. After being cursed
with terrible free throw
shooting in the first
three quarters, the Lady
Grizz focused in the final
quarter to improve their
shooting from the line,
helping them to a 45-43
win over Greybull.
"We were hoping it
wasn't going to be as close
as it was," coach Ryan
Boettcher said. '~We got
the win, which was the
most important thing.
The players gained some
confidence, knowing we
could win even when we
were in foul trouble."
Boettcher said
the team started off
strong, but they forgot
about what got them the
lead in the second quar-
ter, giving up rebounds
and being out-hustled
BRAn DEWP~AUX
Melissa Barnes throws a pass wile running
down the court with Greybull defender Betsy
Nuttall.
by the Lady Buffs. Both
teams got into foul trou-
ble Friday, with nine
Greybull fouls and sev-
en Grizz fouls in the first
half and more than 10
for each team in the sec-
ond.
The Lady Grizz shot
10-32 from the line. They
had a tough time ear-
ly on, making only two
out of 15 attempts in the
first three quarters, but
improved in the fourth
quarter, hitting eight out
of 17.
"We still need to im-
prove, but we made them
when we needed to,"
Boettcher said.
The game was close
and with many fouls and
time-outs, the final quar-
ter stretched on. Kelsey
Van Lake hit a three-
pointer to put the Grizz
up 44-38, but the Buffs
answered back with two
more points and a trey
by Taylor Brown, put-
ting the Buffs within
striking distance at 45-
43. Tough Grizz defense
and foul shots from Me-
lissa Barnes, Cassie Bro-
st and Calli Ward sealed
the deal for the Lady
Grizz at the buzzer.
Blackburn sank five
baskets for 10 points,
Barnes and Higgins had
8 points, Brost 6, Ward
and Olson 5 each and
Van Lake 3. Brost, O1-
son and Van Lake each
scored one trey.
Saturday, the Lady
Grizzlies traveled south
to Basin to face the con-
ference leading Riverside
Lady Rebels. The Rebels
played like Boettcher ex-
pected them to as one
of the top teams in the
state, he said, making a
lot of shots and not many
mistakes to defeat the
Grizz 50-33.
Riverside put pres-
sure on the Grizz
throughout the game
and Rocky Mountain
players handled it well,
the coach said, only giv-
ing up a few turnovers to
the pressure.
The Rebels would
not conform to the Grizz
defense, though, and
edged them a few points
in each quarter, 17-9,
6-5, 16-11 and 11-7. The
Grizz tipped the scales
toward Riverside with
10 or more team fouls in
both halves of the game.
Riverside had nine team
fouls in the first and 10
in the second half.
Barnes, Blackburn
and Higgins led the team
with 9 points each, Olson
and Allred 2 each and
Van Lake and Ward 1
each. The Grizz shot just
under 50 percent from
the foul line, sinking 7 of
15 attempts.
CHALLENGING
WEEKEND
Entering their eighth
week of play, Rocky
Mountain will meet
Thermop for the first
time this season Friday,
Jan. 30, at 5:30 p.m. in
Byron. JV action begins
at 4 p.m.
Thermopolis has
been established as one
of the stronger teams in
the 2A Northwest confer-
ence. The Lady Bobcats
are coming off a split last
week - losing 43-31 to
Riverside and winning
43-39 to the 3A Worland
Lady Warriors.
On Saturday,
the Lady Grizzlies will
travel for a game in Pow-
ell against the 3A West
Lady Panthers with
games at 4 p.m. (JV) and
5:45 (varsity).
Lindsay and
Anderson
place at BHSU
college meet
BY SIERRA PHELPS
The Lovell indoor track team
traveled to Spearfish, S.D., to
compete in the Black Hills State
Stadium Sports Grill Invitational
Saturday.
Assistant Coach Chad Lindsay
and junior Tyler Anderson com-
peted the day before in the college
meet, which is open to anyone of
any age. Both competed in the
shot put. The college shot put is
16 pounds, compared to the high
school shot, which is 12 pounds.
Lindsay placed second overall,
throwing 55 feet, and Anderson
placecLninth, throwing 42-2.
In the high school meet Tyler
Anderson threw 48 feet, placing
third, Michael Montanez placed
10th with a throw of 41-7. Scott
Everheart improved this week,
throwing 37-5.
"We are working hard," Lind-
say said. "Our goal is to peak
around State, not before."
In long jump Ben Long placed
12th with a jump of 18-6 and in
the triple jump he placed sixth
with a jump of 38-4.
Jonas Kuehl ran the 1600 me-
ters for the first time this week
with a time of 6:07.96. Kuehl also
ran the 800 meters, improving by
almost 10 seconds from last week
with a time of 2:36.90.
Kaleb Leithhead competed
in the 400m dash and recorded
a time of 59.16. Leithhead also
ran the 200m dash with a time of
27.21.
"This week's meet was not as
good as the opening meet but still
productive toward our future goal,
State, which is the beginning of
March," coach Josh Sanders said.
The three senior girls, Brandy
Bullinger, MaKenzie Beck and Si-
erra Phelps, all competed in the
800-meter run. Bullinger placed
sixth, running 2:40.28; Phelps
placed ninth, running 2:52.46,
and Beck placed 14th at 3:15.45.
"Sierra not only took first
in her heat, she also shaved off
around 12 seconds," Sanders said.
Bullinger competed in the 3200m
run, placing l lth with a time of
13:20.62. Phelps competed in the
55m hurdles, running 10.97. Beck
competed in the 400m dash, run-
ning 1:16.84.
"Overall, the team didn't do as
well as last week, but we are im-
proving in specific areas," Sand-
ers noted.
The Bulldogs will leave on Fri-
day to compete in the CSC Win-
ter Classic in Chadron, Neb. The
meet starts at 4 p.m. on Friday
and continues on Saturday.
