POWELL INVITE
Submitted by Bob Winney
The 3A war has started in Wyoming High school wrestling. Five of Wyoming’s 3A schools were competing against one another at the Powell, WY invitational on Friday and Saturday, 3-4 Dec 99. Of the five, 4 of them placed 1 through 4 in the 16 team tournament.
The defending state team champion Douglas Bearcats started the new season with several new and young faces. 103 and 112 pounders for the Bearcats of Douglas are freshmen. Several other varsity wrestlers did not see much (if any) varsity competition last year. Randy McCullough, 135-lbs. sophomore of Douglas, wrestled his first varsity tournament with a very impressive second place finish. McCullough lost in the finals 13-10 behind a perennial power from Powell, Justin Carter.
The host from Powell won the tournament with 194 points while only 7 points separating the first three place teams. Douglas was second with 190 and Worland scraped out 187 points.
Tyson Shatto, Douglas 125 lbs. Junior, was voted the tournaments Outstanding Wrestler. Shatto defeated three-time state champion Kyle Kilgore, from Rawlins, in the finals at 9-4. These two will be fun to watch again this season. They wrestled 6 times last season and each won three matches. Kilgore defeated Shatto in the State Tournament finals by a score of 14-12 ending the season with a big win over his strongest competition. Prior to that match Shatto had won three in a row.
Douglas, Powell, Worland, Buffalo, Newcastle and, of course, Star Valley will all be in the hunt this season. This 3A bunch will be very tough and close all season.
All the 3A teams should meet at the Thermopolis tournament coming up in January. State rankings in 3A should begin to unfold after that meet.
It will be a few weeks before the teams get their wrestlers settled in their weights and hitting on all cylinders. But, they all looked very good on this first competition of the new season.
TEAM SCORES
Powell 194; Douglas 190; Worland 187; Rawlins 152.5; Natrona
119.5; Kelly Walsh 110.5; Colstrip, MT 106.5; Cody 104; Lovell 86
Huntley
Project, MT 85.5; Rocky Mtn. 59; Lander 34; Grebull 28.5; Wind River 26;
Thermopolis 21; Gillette JV 4.
PLACE WINNERS
103 112
119
1. Bryce Leonhardt,
Natrona
1. Kyle Dye, Kelly
Walsh 1.
Eric Beltron, Huntley
2. Ryan Pederson,
Worland
2. Ramon Hernandez,
Worland
2. Eric Bohlander, Douglas
3. Jason Doucette,
Huntley 3.
Seth Larson,
Colstrip
3. Dustin Neal, Rawlins
4. Justin Rodriquez,
Rawlins 4.
Ricky Gilmore, Rocky
Mtn.
4. Cameron Caponi, Wind River
5. Ronnie Gonzales,
Douglas
5. Brady Shatto,
Douglas
5. Josh Garcia, Worland
6. Carl Emmett,
Greybull
6. Rick Baker,
Huntley
6. Dusty Hill, Kelly Walsh
125
130 135
1.
Tyson Shatto,
Douglas
1. Mike Schwab,
Powell 1.
Justin Carter, Powell
2. Kyle Kilgore,
Rawlins 2.
Robert Winterholler,
Lovell 2.
Randy McCullough, Douglas
3. Josh Tolin, Kelly
Walsh
3. Seth Pederson,
Worland
3. Kenny Wilkenson, Natrona
4. John Capra,
Huntley 4.
Skyler Thompson,
Rawlins
4. Nick Ankney, Colstrip
5. Josh Garcia,
Worland
5. Jeremy Brown, Kelly
Walsh
5. Mark Lyon, Rawlins
6. Joey Puettman,
Natrona
6. Skyler Spomer, Rocky
Mtn. 6.
Tyler Emmett, Lovell
140
145
152
1. Shane Zawacki,
Powell
1. Cory Brown,
Rawlins
1. Josh Taylor, Cody
2. Manny Ramirez,
Worland
2. Everet Siebert,
Powell 2.
Nick Fulton, Powell
3. Shane Shatto,
Douglas
3. Shannon Spomer, Rocky
Mtn.
3. Brandon Bustos, Rawlins
4. TC McMartin,
Thermopolis
4. Mick Novotney,
Natrona
4. John Muller, Rocky Mtn.
5. Nathan Dufrey,
Rawlins 5.
RJ Christansen,
Worland 5.
Christian Asay, Lovell
6. Travis Moulton,
Lander 6.
Jessie Gefroh,
Douglas
6. Justin Barent, Worland
160
171
189
1. Zack Zawacki,
Powell
1. Jeremy Pollack,
Cody 1.
Bryan Dye, Kelly Walsh
2. Billy Stutzer,
Grebull
2. Kade Caturia,
Lovell
2. Clint Siemson, Huntley
3. Sean Lehnan,
Douglas
3. Trent Kirchefer,
Douglas
3. Bruce Applegate, Cody
4. Guy Grant,
Lovell
4. Carson Kleinfeldt,
Powell
4. Jade Small, Colstrip
5. Justin Clapp, Wind
River
5. Jake Bartz, Kelly
Walsh 5.
Matt Peterson, Worland
215 275
1. Justin Roady,
Worland
1. John Hass, Natrona
2. Casey Halderman,
Douglas
2. Zach Helgeson, Douglas
3. Trevor Newman,
Colstrip
3. Shane Hensleigh, Colstrip
4. Chris Dunks,
Cody
4. Seth Martinez, Worland
5. Tom Grogan,
Natrona
5. Luis Roman, Rawlins
6. Stephen Schwab,
Powell 6.
Tyler vanHeule, Lander