LRS wrestlers hit their stride at tournaments

The Broncos mat squad hit the road this week, traveling to Pasco twice to take on opponents from as far away as Idaho.

On Tuesday, Dec. 16 five members of the team made the trip to the league, mix and match hosted at Tri-Cities Prep.

Caeli Ulrich wrestled against two opponents from White Swan at the evening tournament and pinned both of them in the first round.

Micheal Wheeler also wrestled twice in the tournament. His first opponent was from Colfax who had a lot more experience in wrestling. He managed to compete with his opponent until he was pinned in the third round.

In his second match Wheeler won by injury default. Wheeler was beating opponent when he suffered an injury.

Karl Hawks wrestled one time at the Tuesday night match. He pinned his opponent in about 30 seconds said head coach Jason Hilzer.

Matt Vercoe moved up to the heavyweight division for the Tuesday match and took on an athlete from Waitsburg-Prescott. Hawks would get pinned in his first match and then would be pinned by his second opponent.

Grayson Whitaker wrestled twice as well. In his first match against a state participant from Waitsburg-Prescott Whitaker got pinned in the first round. He then faced a Colfax wrestler in his second match where he won by pin in the second round.

“Overall I thought they wrestled well that night,” Hilzer said.

He explained the Bronco wrestlers beat the opponents they should have and the losses went to athletes who were more experienced in the sport.

Vercoe’s first opponent outweighed him by around 40 pounds but Hilzer thought he could have beaten his opponent if he didn’t get caught underneath.

“If you’re giving up 40 pounds it’s hard to get out,” Hilzer said.

The wrestling team traveled to Pasco again on Saturday, Dec. 20 for the Tri-Cities Prep Tournament.

Hilzer said the team wrestled poorly in their first rounds, like they weren’t ready to compete yet.

“Everybody lost their first round match,” He explained.

After that Hilzer said he sat down with the team and talked to them. After the talk the team started to wrestle better.

Josh Yow saw his first action at the tournament against an athlete from Capitol, Idaho. At the end of the first round he was tied with his opponent but would get pinned in the second round. In his second match, Yow faced a Northwest Christian wrestler and pinned them in the first round.

Aaron Ritz also made his first appearance of the season on that day. Ritz was pinned by all three of his opponents at the tournament.

Vercoe was winning his first match of the day 7-3 at the end of the second round but would get pinned in the third round.

He then faced a Springdale athlete who he pinned in the first round. In his final match Vercoe was again beating his opponent at the end of the second round. However, at the end of the third round Vercoe allowed his opponent to tie the points, which led to overtime. He lost 9-7 after attempting a takedown and getting reversed by his adversary.

Hilzer said Vercoe needed some more conditioning in order to make it through extended matches.

In Hawks’ first match at the Saturday tournament Hilzer said he should have dominated his opponent but instead he put himself in a bad position and was pinned.

Hawks would then bump up to the heavyweight division for one match where he pinned an opponent who weighed significantly more than him. He also pinned his opponent in his final match.

Whitaker started the day with a difficult opponent and was pinned in the first round. In his second match Grayson lost 7-5 before pinning his third opponent of the tournament.

The Broncos mat squad will focus on conditioning the for their next tournament on Dec. 29 in Pomeroy.