By: Shawn O’Brate
SHOSHONI – Now that the holiday break is officially over and the snow has continued to fall it has truly started to feel like it’s wrestling season around Wyoming, and some local Fremont County wrestlers have shown they are ready for the second half on the mat.
This past weekend almost every school and their wrestling teams took to the mat around Fremont County with some meets happening in and around the local schools we all root for.
One of the bigger meets of last weekend was the Zach Parish Memorial Duals that Shoshoni, Wyoming Indian and Wind River participated in. The memorial meet honored Zachary “Zach” Parish, a Shoshoni graduate who sadly passed away in 2005, and featured varsity wrestling teams from Big Piney, Lovell, Greybull, Riverside, Rocky Mountain and Saratoga.
SHOSHONI
First up, Shoshoni’s Wranglers took on Lovell and Big Piney with Branson Thompson (106 pounds) and Ethan Tarango (113 lbs) starting off as victors over Lovell’s Tyler Wilkerson and Big Piney’s Joe Savenski, respectively. They were two of seven Wrangler wrestlers that won their first bouts, helping Shoshoni win in total points 48-36 over the Punchers and Bulldogs’ to start the meet.
Afterwards, Shoshoni would take dual Lovell specifically. The Wranglers’ Tryzmen Green (120 lbs), Wiley Phileo (138 lbs), Jakob Hampton (152 lbs) and Julian Cabello (182 lbs) all had their hands raised over the Bulldogs but it wouldn’t be enough to win the duals, losing as a team 47-36.
Then, in a dual against Saratoga, Thompson (106 lbs), Phileo (138 lbs) and Kellen Linnan (285 lbs) all emerged victorious but Saratoga would end up with the team victory 42-36.
The Wranglers would finally get that second team win against Rocky Mountain after Saratoga, beating them in five of nine matchups with Thompson notching another victory on his belt along with Phileo and Cabello. Wayne Todd (132 lbs) also got a win over Rocky Mountain’s Thomas Winters.
To end the day the Wranglers went up against a joint collaboration of Greybull and Riverside with the final matchup on the mat deciding who would take home the team victory. Thompson (106 lbs) continued his excellent day with a win along with Phileo (138 lbs), Hampton (152 lbs) and Linnan (285 lbs). Sadly, even with another win on the roster by Wyatt Eadus (220 lbs), the Greybull and Riverside teams were just a hair too much for the Wranglers, beating them 37-35.
At the end of the day the home team Wranglers ended with a team record of 2-3, not exactly where they wanted to finish at but head wrestling coach Tony Truempler still had high praises for his team.
“We still have some work to do as a team,” Coach Truempler said, “We are pretty young this year but we still wrestled pretty well. We know now we have a lot of work to do to be ready for Regionals and State.”
WIND RIVER
The first dual for the Cougars went extremely well, beating Saratoga 42-32, with two-time state 2A State Champion Tucker Jensen dominating the 285 pound matchup against Saratoga’s Lane Robinson. Also winning for the Cougars was Landon Rhyne (106 lbs), KC Gibson (138 lbs), Isaac Gardner (170 lbs).
Rhyne (106 lbs), Aiden Ruby (132 lbs), Gibson (138 lbs), Blake Snyder (182 lbs) and Jensen all also won their next matchups in a dual against the Big Piney Punchers. Almost all of the Cougars play multiple sports, or in Ruby’s and Gibson’s case are cowboys that ride bulls and wrestle steers, and it proved important for their strength and conditioning throughout the day. Sadly, Big Piney would beat the Cougars in their dual 44-30.
Wind River would then take on Worland’s JV squad and the experience proved dominating for the Cougars as Rhyne, Cale Pfisterer (113 lbs), AnnaBeth Bornhoft (120 lbs), Ruby (132 lbs), Gibson (138 lbs), Gardner (160 lbs) and Cooper Frederick (152 lbs) all won their bouts. They would overpower the young Worland wrestlers and win 54-30.
After that they would have no issue with the Wyoming Indian wrestling team, winning eight out of the ten bouts and coming out on top by a team score of 63-12.
To end the day the Cougars took on the joint effort of Greybull and Riverside. Rhyne (106 lbs), Gibson (132 lbs), Frederick (152 lbs), Gardner (160 lbs), Jensen (285 lbs), Camron Wisecup (138 lbs), Ryker Roberts (126 lbs) and Kaiden Jones (220 lbs) all won their bouts, beating the two teams in eight of the twelve matchups on the mats. They would end up with another team victory by a score of 54-24.
WYOMING INDIAN
The Chiefs’ wrestling team did not have as good of a day as Shoshoni or Wind River, bringing less wrestlers than both teams and not getting the bodies on the mats as mightily as the Wranglers or Cougars, but that would not stop them from trying and eventually getting a few victories.
They had a tough starting dual against Big Piney where only Aidan Miller (132 lbs) and Ben Niedo (285 lbs) won their bouts, other than that it was all Punchers who would win 72-12. After that the Chiefs went up against Worland’s JV team and got a few more wins on the mat from Miller (132 lbs), Niedo (285 lbs) and Aven Posey (106 lbs) but would ultimately lose by a team score of 54-22.
Finally, in their third dual of the day, the Chiefs got their first team victory by beating Rocky Mountain 42-36 thanks to victories by the same trio of wrestlers.
They were brought back down though in their fourth-and-final dual, this time against Greybull and Riverside’s collaborative effort. Miller (132 lbs) won his fourth bout of the day, by far the most for any Chief on the weekend, while Jaden Blackbird (220 lbs) won his first of the day against Greybull’s Kevin Rosales. The Chiefs would drop their final dual by a score of 54-24.
GIRLS
With the Wyoming High School Activities Association (WHSAA) finally sanctioning the sport of wrestling for the girls’ around the state it was finally time to see a large collection of local high school girls put their skills to the test on the mat against those from around Wyoming.
Six girls from Wind River, four from Shoshoni, and one from Wyoming Indian left it all out on the mats against five girls from Big Piney, four from Lovell and two from Rocky Mountain.
Wind River’s Molly Bornhoft had one of the best days, winning both of her bouts in the 110-pound and 115-pound division against Shoshoni’s Dani Duarte and Big Piney’s Catie Langloios. Bornhoft’s sister, AnnaBeth, also won one bout in the 125 pound division. Their teammate Lily Hill (125 lbs) also won one bout and lost another while Maggie Jensen, another Lady Cougar, also won one and lost one in the 140 pound division.
Shoshoni’s Duarte, after losing once, went on a tear and won three straight bouts in the 110 pound division, including one against Wind River’s Cora Remacle. Duarte’s teammate, Brueklyn Truempler, daughter of the head coach and sister to the Wranglers’ star running back, Pehton, also had a great day.
Truempler won three of her four bouts in the 140 pound division, beating Big Piney’s Brynne Hoffman as well as Wind River’s Jensen and Truempler’s own teammate Lacoda Kiser. Another Kiser for Shoshoni, Abrianna, finished the day with two of three bouts ending with her hand raised over the competition in the 155 pound division.
The only girl for Wyoming Indian, Jordan Black, won one of her bouts in the 125 pound division with the victory coming over Rocky Mountain’s Emmilee Wambeke, splitting one of two between the two of them.
At the end of the day the “winners” of the Zach Parish Memorial Dual was Big Piney’s team, winning all five of their individual duals. Lovell went 4-1 along with Wind River, right behind them was Saratoga and Greybull / Riverside’s joint team at 3-2. Shoshoni, the home team, went 2-3 along with Worland’s JV team. And coming up behind them was Wyoming Indian (1-4), the Big Piney / Lovell joint team (1-4), and Rocky Mountain (0-5).
Congratulations to all those that competed and good luck in the coming meets this week along with the rest of the season!