Bronco wrestlers finish fourth at District

SPANGLE - The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos wrestling team finished a distant fourth-place in the 1B/2B League-South wrestling tournament Thursday night, Feb. 6, at Liberty High School.

Two gold medalists - Brandon Davis at 106 and Johnny Ryan at 113 - lead the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague team (153 points) that finished behind champion Liberty (Spangle) with 297 team points, runner-up Davenport with 246 and third-place Reardan with 168.

The Broncos finished well ahead of fifth-place Colfax, which had 71 team points.

Northwest Christian (Colbert) was sixth with 55 points, edging Pomeroy with 54. Tekoa-Rosalia was eighth overall with 10.

The Lancers had six individual champions at the tournament in their home gymnasium on senior night. Those champions included Liberty's Owen Prince at 120 pounds, Ashton Strobel at 132, Cole Prince at 160, Jesse Turner at 170, Josiah Cwik at 220 and Charlie Harrington at 285.

Other individual champions included Colfax's Caden Noha at 182; Davenport's Alex Plasencia at 145; and Reardan's Ethan Hull at 126, Dylan Bjornberg at 138, Rylan Anderson at 152 and Kobe Martinez at 195.

Only the Top 4 wrestlers in each weight class advance to compete. A fifth-place finisher is an alternate, should a wrestler not be able to compete due to academic probation, illness or failure to make weight. The Broncos had seven wrestlers advance.

Grappling for the Broncos at 106 pounds, Davis opened by pinning River Crandall of Davenport in the semifinals in 2:42, then pinned Jakob Sisk of Colfax in 2:59 in the finals to take gold.

"We thought Brandon would make the finals," Coach Jason Hilzer said. "But he had already been beaten three times by [Sisk]. But we worked on a few things ... He was down 8-0 in the second round, but he ended up pinning him, which was a nice surprise."

Sisk got to the finals by defeating the Broncos' Wesley Tracy by pin in 1:30.

Tracy dropped to the consolation round, where he lost by pin to River Crandall of Davenport in 44 seconds.

Crandall finished third while Tracy took the fourth and final spot in regionals.

Ryan got to the finals at 113 after receiving byes in early rounds and the semi-finals.

In the title tilt, he pinned Cody Routh of Reardan in 1:13 to take gold.

At 120 pounds, Tyson Ramsey also reached the finals for Lind-Ritzville/Sprague.

He opened by pinning Titus Knudtson of Northwest Christian (Colbert) in 1:11 and then took a 4-3 decision over Caleb Lenocker of Davenport in the semi-finals.

"I told Tyson that that match against [Lenoker] was going to be his big match," Hilzer said. "It was against a kid who he lost to here last week. So we worked on a lot of things just focusing on that one match."

In the finals, Owen Prince of Liberty pinned the Bronco grappler in 58 seconds, giving Ramsey the silver and a spot at regionals.

Samuel Michels finished sixth at 138 pounds for Lind-Ritzville/Sprague after losing his opening match by pin to Matthew Wines of Davenport in 3:30.

In the consolation round, he received a bye before being pinned by Trevor Waterbly of Northwest Christian (Colbert) in 3:49.

In the match for fifth-place, he was pinned by Aaron Roberts of Liberty in 2:14.

"Sam wrestled tough, but just couldn't get over the edge," Hilzer said. I think if he wrestles that match five times, Sam will win four times. But that happened to be the one he lost and it dropped him to sixth."

Spencer Olson finished fifth for the Broncos at 170 pounds after losing by pin to Greyson Merrill of Davenport in 3:50 and then by pin to Trentin Ensley of Colfax in 1:41.

He received a bye to receive fifth-place and the alternate spot at regionals.

His bronco teammate Colby Tracy also finished fifth.

Colby Tracy was pinned by Will Winona of Pomeroy in 3:04 to open the tournament. In the consolation bracket, he was then pinned by Sam Nelson of Liberty in 30 seconds.

He received a bye to get the fifth-place nod as an alternate in the regional tournament next weekend at Reardan.

At 195 pounds, Douglas Morris will be headed to regionals for the Broncos.

He finished third after pinning Reagan Noha of Colfax in 4:47 to open the tournament. But he lost the semifinal bout in a 15-3 major decision to Ben Pritchett of Liberty.

Morris bounced back in the consolation rounds, first by pinning teammate Carson Shaver in 1:49, then by pinning Kellan Watson of Liberty in 4:43.

Shaver finished sixth for the Broncos in the same weight.

He was pinned in the opening round by Watson in 5:23, then received a bye before losing to teammater Morris.

In the match for fifth-place, Noha of Colfax pinned Shaver in 3:13.

The Broncos' Jay Harder looked for a solid finish after opening the tournament with a pin over Colton Weiss of Reardan in 50 seconds at 220 pounds.

But Davenport's Alex Meserve stopped Harder's rise in the semifinals, pinning him in 1:02.

Harder then lost his consolation bout by pin to John Bernardi of Davenport by pin in 2:17.

In the match for fifth-place, Harder faced Weiss again after the Reardan wrestler worked his way through the wrestlebacks for another shot at the Ritzville wrestler.

This time, Harder pinned Weiss even faster, sticking his shoulders in 34 seconds.

The Broncos are advancing two wrestlers to regionals at 285 pounds.

Heavyweights Thomas Rosen took second and Jeffrey Staley fourth.

Staley ran into eventual champion Harrington of Liberty in his opening bout, losing by injury default.

He then received a bye before another injury default loss, this time to Wade Sweetland of Davenport.

"He had done a lot of damage during the week to his knee," Hilzer said. "It was all black and blue. There were only four kids in the bracket so we defaulted him to give him another week and a half to see how his knee can heal up."

Sweetland received the bronze and Staley finished fourth.

Across the bracket, teammate Rosen opened the tournament by pinning Sweetland in 1:48 in the semifinals, sending the Gorilla grappler to the consolation round.

In the finals, Harrington pinned Rosen in 21 seconds.

Harrington received the gold and Rosen the silver.

All and all, Hilzer was pleased at what he saw from his team.

"We took 12 guys there," Hilzer said. "Seven guys made the tournament and three are alternates. I thought we did well. There are some things I thought we could have done better. There's a couple that could have gone either way that we lost. But there were also some in the lower weights that could have gone either way that we won. So we're happy."