Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
CONTROLLING. Keanu Niezwaag dominates Almira-Coulee/Hartline’s Tyler Weimerskirch during last Thursday’s home wrestling match. Niezwaag won the match with a pin. The Broncos return to the home mat tonight, Thursday, Jan. 17, for their final home match of the season and senior night. The match begins at 6 p.m. -Journal photo by Stephen McFadden
The LRS wrestling team traveled to Springdale for a tournament on Saturday, Jan. 12. Six Broncos squared off in the tournament against opponents from East Valley, Cheney, Newport, Northwest Christian, Selkirk, Kettle Falls, ACH and Springdale.
While the team started the season with 22 wrestlers, the numbers have fallen off, and the ranks of the team have been hindered by injuries. Three of the six traveling to the tournament competed in the heavyweight class. Lane Hawks, Matt Vercoe and Audrey Smallwood. This was Smallwood’s first outing and she had to wrestle Hawks.
“Lane ended up winning by pin, but I was impressed at how physical Audrey is,” head coach Jason Hilzer said.
Hawks had two more matches against opponents from Newport and Cheney and lost by pin in both.
Vercoe also had two matches and they were against Kettle Falls and Newport. He lost both by pin.
Ethan Melville wrestled at 160 pounds against RC Carstensen of ACH and lost by pin. Melville tweaked his back and was withdrawn from the tournament.
Karl Hawks, 160, went against wrestlers from Newport and Springdale, losing both by pin.
Keanu Niezwaag, 145, wrestled a Cheney wrestler, winning by pin. He then wrestled a Kettle Falls wrestler and also won by pin.
Niezwaag then advanced to the finals against Walter Harris of NWC, who is ranked No. 1 in the state at 145 pounds.
“This was a close match when Keanu got a takedown with three seconds left for a 4-3 victory and first place,” Hilzer said.
Last Thursday, the Broncos hosted their first match of the season with ACH, Tri-Cities Prep and the Warden junior varsity.
Niezwaag led the team with a win by pin over Tyler Weimerskirch of ACH. Layne Hawks defeated his teammate, Vercoe, with a pin. Pedro Huitron won his match over Cam Fox of Tri-Cities Prep with a pin.
Melville lost his match with Carstensen of ACH by pin. Nick Kuest fell to Trevor McCleary of ACH. Zeth Swanger was pinned by Tyler Zakdowski of ACH. Kuest also was pinned by Carstensen. Later in the match, Karl Hawks was defeated by McCleary by a pin in the first period. Vercoe also lost a match by pin to Zakdowski. Andrew Witt was defeated by Weimerskirch of ACH.
The Broncos host their final home match of the season tonight, Thursday, Jan. 17, at 6 p.m.
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