Coming off a busy weekend, the Wood River High School wrestling team is looking ahead to its "Senior Night" meet against Gooding Thursday, Feb. 12 starting at 5:45 p.m. Honored will be seniors Alex Jones and JJ Thomson.
It's the final Wolverine action prior to the Great Basin Conference meet Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 11 a.m. at Preston. At the seven-school conference meet, the top five wrestlers from each of the 14 weight classes earn berths in the State 4A meet Feb. 26 in Pocatello.
Wood River wrestlers spent last Friday and Saturday in Challis for the Mario D'Orazio Invitational tourney. Winning the 10-school meet was Challis (226 points) over Nyssa of Oregon (204.5), with Minico of Rupert third (140.5) and Wood River a solid fourth (129.5).
Jones, a strong 160-pound senior, was Hailey's only individual winner at Challis with three match wins. Junior Tanner Orchard (2-1) captured second place at 145 pounds.
Taking third places were junior Nick Chase (3-1) at 130, sophomore Andrew Orr (4-1) at 152 and freshman Auden Ruhter (2-1) at 215.
In fifth place was freshman Teague Ruhter (2-2) at 145. Sixths went to Tyler Bartlett (1-3) at 103, Andrew Beck (1-3) at 119, JR Hill (1-3) at 135 and Kasey Barker (3-3) at 171. All are freshmen or sophomores. Also competing at Challis were Tyler Jaramillo (2-2) at 140, Zach Brown (1-2) at 112 and Juve Ruiz (1-2) at 171.
<
Wolverine coach Tyson Young said, "This weekend the guys really battled hard and finally broke out of their shells. There was a lot of tough wrestling both days and a lot of placers. This is great momentum builder heading into Gooding on Thursday and districts next week. Hopefully we are peaking at the right moment."
Still savoring its 45-39 home win over conference foe Burley Jan. 23, the Wolverines came up with another home dual meet win Thursday 43-39 over Buhl. Helping Hailey were four forfeits plus a pin by Orchard at 145 and decisions by Orr and Barker, at 152 and 171 pounds.
The crucial match for Wood River was Orr's 7-3 triumph over Buhl senior and 2008 State 3A sixth-place 152-pounder Chance Share. Orr posted a first-period takedown and kept Share under control thereafter.
Earlier Thursday, the strong Minico Spartans—two-time defending Great Basin Conference champions and 2006 State 4A team winners—took Wood River to school 60-10. Minico piled up six pins, three decisions and two forfeits.
But Wood River had a few special moments against Minico, the first at 160 pounds when Jones got a couple of escapes and a takedown in the third period to nip Minico's Colby May 10-8 in a closely-fought match.
At 103, Bartlett out-pointed Seth Clapier 10-1 for a four-point decision. Then, in an amazing finish at 152, Orr rallied from a 7-0 deficit to Minico's Landon Barnes and won a thrilling victory 12-10 with a two-point near fall at the buzzer.
Wood River 43, Buhl 39
103—Ethan Compton (B) won by fall 0:55 over Tyler Bartlett (WR soph).
112—Zach Brown (WR freshman) won by forfeit.
119—Andrew Beck (WR freshman) won by forfeit.
125—Gradon Gutierrez (B) won by forfeit.
130—Michael McDonald (B) won 5-1 over Nick Chase (WR junior).
135—Cade Baugh (B) won by fall 1:08 over JR Hill (WR freshman).
140—Tyler Jaramillo (WR junior) won by forfeit.
145—Tanner Orchard (WR junior) won by fall 1:41 over Tucker Beglan (B).
152—Andrew Orr (WR soph) won 7-3 over Chance Share (B).
160—Blake Finney (B) won by fall 1:12 over Alex Jones (WR senior).
171—Kasey Barker (WR soph) won 10-2 over Devin Lemley (B).
189—Juve Ruiz (WR junior) won by forfeit.
215—Oren Carlton (B) won by fall 4:23 over Auden Ruhter (WR freshman).
285—Double forfeit.
Junior varsity matches
145—Teague Ruhter (WR freshman) won two matches.
Wood River High School junior 145-pounder Tanner Orchard (left) wrestles in a home match earlier this season. Photo by David N. Seelig
