Two Bronco wrestlers take home first place finishes in Coulee City

It was, by most measures, a very successful weekend for the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague wrestling squad at the Banks Lake Brawl in Coulee City, with two of the team’s grapplers winning their brackets and three others finishing in the top four.

Juniors Jay Harder and Jeffrey Staley were LRS’ first-place finishers, both winning three consecutive matches to get the job done.

In the 220-pound weight class, Harder cut through his opponents like a warm slab of butter, pinning his first two opponents just 17 seconds into the first period. Harder had to work just a tad extra in the championship match, pinning his Brewster opponent in the first minute of the opening period.

Harder’s now wrestled in just six matches as a high school wrestler. LRS head coach Jason Hilzer says that he’s encouraging Harder to play aggressive, but wants to make sure he’s maintaining control as well.

“We try to tell him to slow down a little bit. We like the aggressiveness on his feet, but when he takes a guy down he’s going 100 miles per hour,” said Hilzer. “We’re trying to get him to slow down once he takes them down … But he’s doing pretty well.”

Staley’s path to first place faced a little more resistance than Harder’s, but not by much. He won all three of his matches in the 285-pound bracket via pin, pinning his first opponent in the first period, his second opponent in the second period, and his third opponent in the third period.

Those were the first three competitive matches that Staley, a newcomer to the team, has played all year. Hilzer says he wasn’t sure what to expect from Staley prior to his first competitive matches, but said he performed “just fine” and that this will hopefully build up his confidence as the season continues.

The Broncos had three other wrestlers finish with top-four performances at the brawl, with freshman Brandon Davis finishing in second place in the 106-pound bracket, junior Sam Michels finished in third place at 138 pounds and Doug Morris finished in third place at 195 pounds.

Next up for LRS is the Bronco Invitational Tournament, one of two events that they are hosting this season. The tournament begins at 9 a.m. at the Gilson Gym.