Wednesday — February 25, 2004

11 Wolverine
wrestlers head to state

Nearly a district title for Hailey

---

What a terrific Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference (SCIC) tournament it was for the Wood River High School wrestling team!

Coach Danny Turner’s Wolverines came within an eyelash of the school’s first-ever SCIC tournament championship last Wednesday in Declo.

Murdock Miller (right), Wood River’s 103-pound district champion, controls Golden Zollinger of Declo. Express photo by David N. Seelig

The Kimberly Bulldogs won their third SCIC team title in four years with a narrow 193.5 to 184 decision over second-place Wood River. A point here and there, and the Wolverines would have upset Kimberly. Gooding was a distant third, 137.5.

Turner said, "I know the kids are disappointed in not winning the title, but I’m very proud of the way they showed up to wrestle. We wrestled about as well as a team could wrestle, without being perfect. In 40 matches we wrestled, we had 28 pins."

Kimberly and Wood River crowned four district champions apiece—the first time since 1997 that Wood River had four district winners. In addition, the Wolverines had two district runner-up wrestlers and five others who placed third.

"The kids in the final rounds wrestled their butts off," said Turner. "We didn’t lose one qualifying match."

The Wolverines ended up qualifying 11 of their 17 district wrestlers for the 47th annual State 3A wrestling tournament Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 26-28 in Pocatello. That compares favorably with four state qualifiers in 2002 and eight state entries for Wood River last February.

No other team in the six-school SCIC meet qualified as many for state. Kimberly qualified 10 wrestlers and Gooding 8 for state. In all, Wood River won 36 of its 55 matches.

Turner said, "I’m sure our five seniors and six underclassmen who qualified for state will be determined to get back on the mat and go to work at the state tournament."

Wood River’s district champions were senior captain Duane Miller (32-5) at 145 pounds, senior Brandon Silvia (27-9) at 160, sophomore Dustin Selner (20-9) in the unlimited class and freshman Murdock Miller (32-4) at 103 pounds. Only Murdock Miller and Selner entered as #1 seeds.

Duane Miller, the #2 seed wrestling in the toughest class including two former district winners, decisioned top-seeded Cody Rogers of Gooding 9-3 in the 145-pound final. Rogers, a junior, won at 125 pounds last year, and third-place Curtis Giles of Kimberly was the 145 king in 2003.

Miller was undefeated in four matches at state, while Wood River’s other district winners went 3-0.

Second-seeded Silvia was a 5-2 winner over Kimberly junior Jeremiah Spencer in the 160-pound final. In the same class, Wood River senior Russell Adams (21-15) won his third-place match against Filer senior Chad Hofland by a 6-0 decision. It will be Silvia’s first state berth, Adams’ second.

In the unlimited class, Selner pinned Filer’s Spencer Hughes at 2:32 for first place. And, at 103 pounds, Murdock Miller battled past Declo’s promising freshman Golden Zollinger 5-2 in the finale. Selner is making his second state trip, Murdock his first.

District runner-up wrestlers for Wood River were junior Greg Lyons (27-10) at 189 pounds and freshman Jordan Vert (17-12) at 119 pounds.

Lyons (3-1 at district) dropped a 5-3 final match decision to Gooding’s C.J. Toone. Vert (2-1) was pinned by Kimberly’s reigning state 112-pound runner-up Sonny Silva, a junior.

Besides Russell Adams, Wood River’s third-place state qualifiers were seniors Robert Wiesen (20-8) and Brad Dussell (14-12), along with sophomores Sid Watson (15-11) and Josh Orchard (21-12).

Wiesen (3-1 district) earned his second state trip by decisioning Brent Higley of Kimberly 12-4 in the third-place match at 152 pounds. Dussell (3-1 district) pinned Kimberly’s Jason Miller at 3:35 for his first state berth, in the 215-pound weight class.

Going to state for a second straight year, Watson (3-1 district) was a 10-4 winner over Buhl’s Adam Bridges in the 112-pound third-place match. And Orchard (4-1 district) was all over Buhl’s Cameron Sabotka 7-0 to nail down his first state tournament trip, in the 130-pound weight class.

Also wrestling for Wood River at district were Dio Okamoto, Steve Fields, Tim Vert, Levi Stinnett, T.J. Squires and Donald Sluder.

There were three repeat SCIC district champions last Wednesday. They were Sonny Silva of Kimberly (119), R.C. Sisson of Buhl (152) and Will Baggs of Buhl (171). Baggs beat last year’s state 171-pound king Joey Silva of Kimberly for the SCIC title.

For a complete wrap-up of the SCIC tournament results, check this week’s Express Web site.

 

---

2004 Fourth District SCIC 3A wrestling tournament

Feb. 18, 2004 at Declo

Final team totals

---

1—Kimberly 193.5 points (4 1sts, 3 2nds, 3 3rds, 7 4ths)
2—Wood River 184 points (4 1sts, 2 2nds, 5 3rds, 0 4ths)
3—Gooding 137.5 points (2 1sts, 4 2nds, 2 3rds, 2 4ths)
4—Buhl 107 points (2 1sts, 1 2nd, 2 3rds, 2 4ths)
5—Declo 100.5 points (2 1sts, 3 2nds, 0 3rds, 1 4th)
6—Filer 64 points (0 1sts, 1 2nd, 2 3rds, 2 4ths)

Previous champs: Kimberly 2003, Declo 2002, Kimberly 2001, Gooding 2000

State qualifiers: Wood River 11, Kimberly 10, Gooding 8, Buhl 5, Declo 5, Filer 3.

Note: The Wolverines (14 wrestlers) had a 19-24 match record.

* repeat district champions

 

103 pounds

---

1—Murdock Miller (WR freshman, #1 seed)
2—Golden Zollinger (Declo freshman)
3—Josh Archer (Kimberly soph)
4—Jake Archer (Kimberly)
update WR—Murdock Miller (21-15) went 3-1, first state berth

 

112 pounds

---

1—Chris Moody (Kimberly)
2—Antonio Lopez (Gooding)
3—Sid Watson (WR sophomore, #2 seed, 3rd district 103 2003)
4—Adam Bridges (Buhl)WR—Sid Watson (4-15) went 0-2, first state berth

 

119 pounds

---

*1—Sonny Silva (Kimberly jr., 1st dist. 112, 2003, 2nd state 2003)
2—Jordan Vert (WR freshman, #2 seed)
3—Jamon Wilcox (Kimberly)
4—Bryce Pothier (Gooding)
WR—Jordan Vert (10-15) went 0-2, first state berth

 

125 pounds

---

1—Nick Mulberry (Kimberly freshman)
2—Rustin Thompson (Buhl)
3—Bernardo Lopez (Gooding)
4—Sheroz Negmatov (Declo)

 

130 pounds

---

1—Trevor Dschaak (Declo junior)
2—Dustin Osterhout (Declo soph)
3—Josh Orchard (WR sophomore, #3 seed)
4—Camron Sobotka (Buhl soph)
WR—Josh Orchard (10-15) went 0-2, first state berth

 

135 pounds

---

1—Trevor Mulberry (Kimberly jr. 2nd dist. 125 2003))
2—Ryan Turnage (Declo jr.)
3—John Alves (Buhl soph)
4—Bryce Richman (Kimberly)
WR—Duane Miller (29-11) went 3-1, Tim Vert (1-5) went 1-2: final 2-7

 

140 pounds

---

1—Lance Gillette (Gooding senior, 2nd dist. 130 2003)
2—Trevor Hollibaugh (Kimberly jr.)
3—Joe Thompson (Buhl senior)
4—Brad Reeder (Filer jr.)
WR—Russell Adams (15-16) went 2-2

 

145 pounds

---

1—Duane Miller (WR senior, #2 seed, 3rd dist. 135 2003)
2—Cody Rogers (Gooding jr., #1 seed, 1st dist. 125 2003)
3—Curtis Giles (Kimberly senior, 1st dist. 145 2003)
4—Cody Poole (Gooding)
WR—Robert Wiesen (31-15) went 2-1

 

152 pounds

---

*1—R.C. Sisson (Buhl senior, 1st dist. 140 2003, 4th state)
2—Helamin Bingham (Gooding jr.)
3—Robert Wiesen (WR senior, #2 seed, 2nd dist. 145 2003)
4—Brent Higley (Kimberly jr.)
WR—Brandon Silvia (24-16) went 2-2

 

160 pounds

---

1—Brandon Silvia (WR senior, #2 seed, 4th dist. 152 2003)
2—Jeremiah Spencer (Kimberly jr.)
3—Russell Adams (WR senior, #3 seed)
4—Chad Hofland (Filer senior)
WR—Greg Lyons (25-15) went 2-2

 

171 pounds

---

*1—Will Baggs (Buhl senior, 1st dist. 152 2003, 2nd state)
2—Joey Silva (Kimberly jr., 1st dist. 171 2003, 1st state
3—Brad Silvester (Filer)
4—Brandon Wilcox (Kimberly)
WR—T.J. Squires (6-17) went 0-2

 

189 pounds

---

1—C.J. Toone (Gooding senior)
2—Greg Lyons (WR junior, #1 seed, 3rd dist. 160 2003)
3—Justin Walker (Filer jr.)
4—Justin Roberts (Kimberly)
WR—Greg Lyons (21-18) went 2-2

 

215 pounds

---

*1—Trinady Osterhout (Declo jr., 1st dist. 215 2003, 6th state)
2—Steven Toone (Gooding)
3—Brad Dussell (WR senior)
4—Jason Miller (Kimberly soph)
WR—Brad Dussell (16-10) went 1-1

 

275 pounds

---

1—Dustin Selner (WR sophomore, #1 seed, 2nd dist. 215 2003)
2—Spencer Hughes (Filer)
3—Cody Meadows (Gooding)
4—Jordan Eyring (Kimberly)
WR—Dustin Selner (16-10) went 1-1

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.