Ryker Mele pins down his opponent at the Tournament of Champions in Vernal, Utah. He is a varsity wrestler in the 132 weight class and finished the tournament with three wins and two losses.
Meet Green River Wolves Lady Wrestlers: Kylie Miller, Lily Harris, Mikayla Green, Brianna Uhrig and Jayleigh Wright. Not pictured: Zella Maez.
This past Friday and Saturday the Green River High School Wrestling teams split up, with six wrestlers traveling to Fresno, California to compete in the Doc Buchanan Invitational Wrestling Tournament, which is recognized as the toughest high school tournament on the West Coast. According to Head Wrestling Coach Josh Wisniewski, "Boy did it live up to that."
The coach noted that they were able to witness some of the best wrestlers in the country go toe-to-toe, and "our wrestlers were in the mix." The first round of the tournament, according to the coach, was tough for the team as a whole. However, the small contingent of Green River wrestlers picked it up in the second round on the back side of the bracket and competed very well.
Although they did not place anyone, Coach Wisniewski felt that "we went out, competed, and this will make us better in the long run. The team with just six guys participating in the tournament placed 70th out of 104 teams with wrestler Thomas Dalton only one match away from placing."
The rest of the wrestlers from varsity, along with JV and the girls' varsity team, competed in their own very tough regional tournament as they competed in Vernal at the Uinta Tournament of Champions. The tournament featured over 30 teams from Utah, Wyoming and Colorado, with big brackets and lots of great wrestlers. The coaches were very encouraged with how the wrestlers competed in Vernal, with two varsity wrestlers placing, two varsity girls placing, and six JV wrestlers also placing.
For the varsity, Lucas Todd in the 106 pound weight class placed sixth, while Axel Mackinnon placed third. The coach observed: "These two have been working their tails off in the wrestling room and it's really showing in their wrestling on the weekends."
The coach went on to say that he is very encouraged about how the rest of the team competed with improvement every weekend, with the team finishing 17th out of 31 teams in this tournament.
In the girls varsity tournament, Green River had one wrestler take first place. Lily Harris went undefeated in her bracket to take the crown while Zella Maez placed fifth. The rest of the girls in this new program wrestled well, according to Coach, who stated he is "very happy with how the girls are wrestling. With the sport being new to them they are nevertheless improving every week...very exciting to see."
The girl's team took ninth out of 18 teams.
Finally, the JV team had a great tournament according to their coach, ending up with three champions: Kaleb Hunter, Jayden Walther, and Declan Henderson, with Logan Bauers as a runner-up. Two wrestlers, Conner Smith and Jakob Lloyd, also placed third, with the other JV wrestlers winning a lot of matches and coming close to placing.
Next up for Green River is their return home to host another tough regional tournament, the Thoman Tournament, this Friday and Saturday, with sixteen teams participating.
DOC Buchanan Results
Varsity 113: Spencer Wright 0-2
Varsity 132: Kale Knezovich 0-2
Varsity 138: Thomas Dalton 4-2
Varsity 145: Conner Todd 1-2
Varsity 155: James Herwaldt 0-2
Varsity 220: Deylin Miller 0-2
Varsity - Tournament of
Champions Results
106: Lucas Todd placed 6th 4-3
120: Axel Mackinnon placed 3rd 4-1
126: Ashton Lucero 1-2
126: Ethan Guzman 0-2
132: Ryker Mele 3-2
144: Hunter Davis 2-2
150: Jaxxson Gomez 0-2
157: Nick Weipert 2-0
157: Tyler Waters 2-2
175: Christian Balzly 0-2
Varsity - Tournament of
Champions Girls Results
100: Jayleigh Wright 1-2
110: Brianna Uhrig 2-2
120: Zella Maez 4-2
125: Lily Harris 4-0
135: Mikayla Green 1-2
145: Kylie Miller 0-2
Tournament of Champions
JV Results
120: Kaleb Gunter's place is 1st 4-0
120: Robert McMullan's 4-2
126: Dacen Adams's 0-2
126: Kendal Porter's 2-2
132: Keenan Hamel's 3-2
138: Christopher Sorrells's 0-2
138: Orion Balizan's 2-2
138: Conner Smith's
place is 3rd 5-1
144: Zachary Dalton's 2-2
150: Jaydon Walther's place
is 1st 4-0
165: Declan Henderson's
place is 1st 4-0
190: Jakob Lloyd's
place is 3rd 4-1
190: Logan Bauers's place is 2nd 3-1
285 :Ethan Maez's 0-2
Reader Comments(0)