Wrestling fans enjoyed a solid three hours of tough, high school grappling Tuesday night when the improving Wood River High School squad hosted two of Idaho's best small school teams—the Challis Vikings and Oakley/Raft River.
Coach John Piva's Challis team showed why it is the reigning State 2A/1A team champion, in fact, winners of four state wrestling titles in the past seven years, with a 48-30 dual meet victory over Oakley/Raft River followed with a 41-30 victory over Wood River.
In the third and final dual, Oakley/Raft River nipped the Wolverines 46-36.
Highlights for Hailey including a pair of quick pins, in 29 seconds and 1:36, by promising sophomore Tyler Bartlett at 103 pounds; two pins (0:49 and 2:51) by junior Nick Chase at 135 pounds; and two falls by junior Tanner Orchard at 145 pounds.
Freshman Andrew Orr at 160 had the quickest pin, 24 seconds, against Oakley/Raft River. He battled hard in his first match of the season but fell 5-3 to Challis' Skyler Cutler, a fourth-place state wrestler last February. Also, WR freshman Robbie Trautwein waged a good, tough match against Challis' Randy Plummer.
Head coach Tyson Young said, "We had a great start and did pretty well with the number of freshman we have in the lineup. We started off kind of flat but then progressed midway through the Challis dual.
"A few kids stepped up and pulled off wins to help with the momentum we needed—kids like Tyler Bartlett, Tanner Orchard, and Nick Chase.
"We have a lot to work on at this stage, but it is still early and we have a lot of season left. Right now we need to head back in the room and focus on scoring from the bottom position and defending shots and scoring from those situations.
"Overall, I am very pleased in how focused and excited we were to come out and wrestle last night. These are a great bunch of guys who will only get better in time.
Wood River travels to Idaho Falls for a triangular meet with Rigby and Bonneville today, Friday, Dec. 12 at 4 p.m. The Jerome Tigers arrive in Hailey for the first Great Basin Conference meet Wednesday.
In other news, the Idaho State High School Activities Association on Tuesday voted to change the 52nd annual State Wrestling Championships from three days to two. The dates are Friday and Saturday, Feb. 27-28 at Holt Arena in Pocatello.
Meanwhile, the Wood River Middle School wrestling team did very well in the recent meet at Robert Stuart in Twin Falls.
Wood River dominated the three-school evening (Stuart, West Minico and WRMS) with 27 wins and only seven losses.
Statistics are as follows: Cooper Bailey 3-0, Beau Boss 0-1, Rudy Chavez 2-0, Kyle Clark 2-0, Kris Dugger 2-0, Colby Guisasola 0-0, Kaleb Guisasola 2-0, Quinn Guthrie 2-0, Liem Neidrich 1-0, Adrian Medina 0-1, Alfredo Majorado 1-0, Marshall Reyburn 1-0, Cody Richmond 2-0, Alexis Sualez 0-0, Jason Williams 0-2, Jared Anderson 2-0, Storm Anderson 2-0, Tommy Bailey 3-0, Tim Boyle 2-0, Nic Brunker 0-1, Andrew Tranbarger 0-1 and Ben Willaims 0-0.
Results from Tuesday's varsity meet in Hailey:
Challis 41, Wood River 30
103—Tyler Bartlett (WR) won by fall 0:29 over Colin Williams (Challis).
112—Grayden Bloxham (Challis) won by fall 0:56 over Zach Brown (WR).
119—Andrew Beck (WR) won by forfeit.
125—Randy Plummer (Challis) won by dec. over Robbie Trautwein (WR) 5-2.
130—Tate Whitworth (Challis) won by forfeit.
135—Nick Chase (WR) won by fall 0:49 over Joseph Carmack (Challis).
140—Tyler Jaramillo (WR) won by forfeit.
Exhibition at 140—Roy Getty (Challis) won by fall 1:07 over Tyler Jaramillo (WR).
145—Tanner Orchard (WR) won by fall 3:13 over Cory Arneson (Challis).
152—Cavan Gerrish (Challis) won by forfeit).
160—Skyler Cutler (Challis) won by dec. over Andrew Orr (WR) 5-3.
171—Kaleb Latimer (Challis) won by 5-point technical fall over Kasey Barker (WR) 17-1.
189—Nathan Klefman (Challis) won by fall 0:53 over JJ Thomson (WR).
215—Addison Amar (Challis) won by fall 1:12 over Auden Ruhter (WR).
285—Philip Fredrickson (Challis) won by forfeit.
Oakley/Raft River 46, Wood River 36
103—Tyler Bartlett (WR) won by fall 1:36 over Lane Ward (Raft River).
112—Caelen Hernandez (Raft River) won by fall 2:00 over Zach Brown (WR).
119—Bryce Packer (Raft River) won by fall 0:52 over Andrew Beck (WR).
125—Jesus Artega (Oakley) won by fall 1:01 over Robbie Trautwein (WR).
130—Ty Earl (Raft River) won by forfeit.
135—Nick Chase (WR) won by fall 2:51 over Stefan Ortez (Oakley).
140—Cubby Brenwell (Oakley) by 4-point major dec. over Tyler Jaramillo (WR) 11-0.
145—Tanner Orchard (WR) won by fall 5:14 over Ethan Bench (Oakley).
152—Bradly Boden (Raft River) won by forfeit.
160—Andrew Orr (WR) won by fall 0:24 over Devan Hadley (Raft River).
171—Kasey Barker (WR) won by forfeit.
189—JJ Thomson (WR) won by fall 3:53 over Megal Leon (Oakley).
215—Braxton Segars (Oakley) won by fall 1:17 over Auden Ruhter (WR).
285—Tyler Reagon (Oakley) won by forfeit.
Junior varsity matches
135—Jay Earl (Raft River) won by 1st-period fall over Connor Bennett (WR).
135—Skyler Darrah (Challis) won by 1st-period fall over Connor Bennett (WR).
135—Connor Bennett (WR) won by 2nd-period fall over Brian Hutchison (Raft River).
140—Eliazer Tellez (Raft River) won by 1st-period fall over JR Hill (WR).
140—JR Hill (WR) won by 1st-period fall over Skyler Darrah (Challis).
145—Colton Gilbert (Raft River) won by injury default over Teague Ruhter (WR).
145—Brett Rembelski (Challis) won by 1st-period fall over Zach Ezell (WR).
160—Alex Jones (WR) won by major dec. over Lance Lamb (Challis) 14-2.
171—Matt Mantelius (Challis) won by dec. over Juve Ruiz (WR) 7-6.
189—Dane Moon (Challis) won by 1st-period fall over Hayden Aitken (WR).
