Cory Goicoechea is state wrestling champion

Goicoechea, son of 14th-year Wolverine wrestling coach Tom Goicoechea, pinned Priest River senior Lucas Blaine in 1:43 of Saturday’s championship match in the State A-2 152-pound division.

"It was a great thrill," said coach Goicoechea with pride.

Cory completed a 36-5 campaign by winning his final 23 matches including four triumphs during the 42nd Idaho State Wrestling Championships Thursday through Saturday at Idaho State University.

Not only did Cory rack up 25 pins, the most of any wrestler in a single season in his father’s coaching tenure, the young man from south of Bellevue wasn’t scored upon in 19 straight wins entering state. And he only allowed 3 points in four matches at Holt Arena.

Goicoechea became Wood River’s first state wrestling king since John Pascoe in 1990—and only the seventh state winner in school history. He defeated four seniors in Pocatello to win the state title.

"It’s tough winning as a sophomore, especially at 152 pounds," the coach said.

Goicoechea can set his sights on becoming the first Fourth District wrestler, ever, to win three State A-2 titles. Only one Magic Valley wrestler, Gooding’s Brett Bingham (1987-89) in A-3, is a three-time state champion.

Five other Wolverines competed at state.

Wood River senior Teddy Larsen (36-2, 131-25 career) wrapped up an outstanding four-year high school career with a 131-25 record by finishing third at 160 pounds.

Larsen went 4-1 at state, including a 5-2 decision over Fruitland senior Tim Farrow in the third-place finale. Farrow was last year’s State A-3 160-pound champ.

Snake River of Moreland won its fifth state team championship this decade, and 11th overall, with a 120-100.5 triumph over Weiser in the A-2 class. Blackfoot captured its first-ever State A-1 team title, and North Fremont won its fifth State A-3 team championship in seven years.

"My hat is off to North Fremont. They had five state champs out of their 15 wrestlers, and 14 of them won their first matches. They set a new meet record for points," said coach Goicoechea.

Teamwise, Wood River (45.5 points) tied Lakeland for 15th place of 30 teams. Defending A-2 king Buhl placed fourth with 91 points.

Besides Goicoechea, Fourth District state champs were Buhl senior Tyke Sonner 189 pounds and Kimberly junior Casey Gambrel 135.

Snake River junior Clint Wolfley won his third straight state title, this one at 119 pounds. Repeating as state champs were senior Travis Liermann of Bonners Ferry at 160 pounds and senior Jon Padgett of Fruitland at 103 pounds.

Here are the results for the Wolverine wrestlers:

152 pounds—Goicoechea opened with a 13-1 major decision over Bear Lake senior Jayson Ward. He then had his toughest match, a 4-2 win over Bishop Kelly’s eventual third-place Jon Aramburu.

Coach Goicoechea said, "The Aramburu kid is a tough, strong senior. Some thought he might win state. They went back-and-forth the first round, roughing each other up. Finally Cory got a takedown at the end of the round. Within seconds Aramburu got a point for an escape."

Goicoechea picked up the eventual winning point when Aramburu was penalized in the second round, then Cory added one more escape point.

Next, Goicoechea breezed 10-0 over St. Maries senior Joe Nelson in the semi-finals.

He made short work of top-seeded Lucas Blaine, last year’s state 140-pound runner-up, in the title match.

"It was going to be a brawl," the coach said. "Cory denied a couple of shots, then the Priest River kid got a single leg and went up for a standing cradle. Cory knew what was happening and countered it with his own standing cradle, and pinned him right there."

Last year Goicoechea placed sixth at 145 with a 3-3 record.

160 pounds—Larsen, the silver medalist at 140 and 152 pounds the last two years at state, pinned Orofino senior Kevin Norris at 2:40 and decisioned Payette freshman Cody McMillan 9-0 in his first two matches at 1999 state.

Larsen then lost 5-2 to Soda Springs senior Cody Walters. Walters was the only wrestler to beat Teddy, at Middleton in early February. "It just wasn’t Ted’s match. He didn’t open up," coach Goicoechea said.

Walters, last year’s 160-pound fifth-place wrestler, captured second this year. In the consolation bracket, Larsen bounced back with a 19-2 technical fall over Kuna junior Justin Butler.

"Teddy came back and had a great two matches and got third. And that’s hard to do after a frustrating loss," said coach Goicoechea.

103 pounds—Wolverine freshman Tyler Jones (17-9) won one match in Pocatello, decisioning Kuna freshman Neil Durrant 6-0 in the consolation round. Jones lost by fall to Kellogg freshman Damon Rowe in the championship round, then was eliminated 11-3 by St. Maries freshman Jake Lockard.

Senior Jason Wright (10-13, 34-38 career) was pinned in both his matches. He fell to Fruitland sophomore Travis McCurdy and Bonners Ferry freshman Mike Gross.

125 pounds—Wood River sophomore Zac Broadie (11-13) wrapped up his 1999 campaign with a pair of setbacks at Holt Arena.

Broadie had a very tough opening match and was pinned at 1:26 by top-seeded eventual champion Tarl Vickers, a Weiser junior. Marsh Valley junior Dustin Stewart pinned Broadie in the consolation bracket.

Unlimited—Junior Cliff Logsdon (14-8, 28-15 career) lost twice, to Weiser’s Jake Brantley with a 5:11 fall in the opening match, and to St. Maries junior Ryan Linn 8-5 in consolation action.