Seven Wood River High School wrestlers, six with previous state tournament experience, are headed to the 54th annual Idaho High School Wrestling Championships sponsored by the Idaho High School Activities Association Feb. 24-26 at The Idaho Center.
They are seniors Tyler Bartlett (21-13, 112 pounds), Kasey Barker (27-6, 189), Alex Thomas (8-3, 285); junior Auden Ruhter (18-13, 215); sophomores Jared Anderson (18-19, 119) and Tommy Bailey (29-14, 140); and Wolverine freshman Cooper Bailey (29-7, 112).
Opening round matches begin Thursday at 12 noon on the Nampa mats and continue through 10 p.m.
Friday's action picks up at 9 a.m. for the 5A and 4A wrestlers and finishes with the semi-finals from 7:30-9:30 p.m. Consolation finals begin Saturday at 11:15 a.m. with championship matches about 2:30 p.m.
Barker, sixth in the 189-pound class with three match wins at last year's state meet in Pocatello, is a reigning conference champ along with first-time state entrant Cooper Bailey. Bartlett competed in 2009. Anderson, Tommy Bailey, Thomas and Ruhter all wrestled at last year's state meet.
Columbia High School of Nampa is the two-time defending State 4A champion.
Here are results for Wood River wrestlers from last Wednesday's state-qualifying Great Basin Conference meet in Jerome. The 19 Wolverine entrants posted a combined 27-29 match record and came away with two first places, three seconds and two thirds.
In GBC team standings, Wood River climbed a place from last year to finish third. State qualifiers from each school: Conference champion Minico of Rupert 10, Jerome 9, Wood River 7, Twin Falls 7, Canyon Ridge 6 and Burley 3.
Here are conference tournament results for coach Shawn Huntington's Wolverines and, in the case of state qualifiers, their opening-round state match-ups Thursday:
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103 pounds—Kaleb Guisasola (freshman) 0-2.
112 pounds—Cooper Bailey (freshman) 2-0, first place. Bailey is matched vs. Pocatello junior Taylor Higbee (37-2, 5th place 103 last year).
Tyler Bartlett (senior) 2-1, second place. Bartlett is matched vs. Kuna freshman Tyler Jaramillo (27-9).
119 pounds—Jared Anderson (sophomore) 3-1, third place. Anderson is matched vs. Bonneville junior Taylor Cole (27-10).
Tim Boyle (sophomore) 2-2.
125 pounds—Andrew Beck (junior) 2-2. Quinn Guthrie (freshman) 0-2.
135 pounds—Kyle Clark (freshman) 2-2.
140 pounds—Tommy Bailey (sophomore) 2-1, second place. Bailey is matched vs. last year's State 4A 130-pound champion Jesus Dozal (37-6), a senior from Columbia High.
145 pounds—Zach Brown (junior) 0-2.
152 pounds—Teague Ruhter (junior) 0-2.
160 pounds—Julianna Herrera (senior) 0-2.
171 pounds—JR Hill (junior) 0-2.
189 pounds—Kasey Barker (senior) 4-0, first place. Barker is matched vs. Preston junior Sascha Gradtke (4-15).
Willy Dugger (senior) 2-2, fourth place.
215 pounds—Auden Ruhter (junior) 3-1, third place. Ruhter is matched vs. Madison senior Brock Robison (32-6).
Jeremiah Linderman (junior) 2-2.
285 pounds—Alex Thomas (senior) 1-1, second place. Thomas is matched against Middleton sophomore Jacob Harvey (18-16).
Jimmy Williams (senior) 0-2.
Wood River High School wrestlers looking forward to competing in this weekend’s 54th annual Idaho State Wrestling Championships at Nampa are, from left, Tommy Bailey (140 pounds), Alex Thomas (285), Tyler Bartlett (112), Auden Ruhter (215), Cooper Bailey (112), Jared Anderson (119) and Kasey Barker (189). Courtesy photo
