Photos/Barb Rapp

Buoyed by a pair of individual champions and a pair of runners-up, the NCHS wrestling team captured third place at last weekend’s East regional tournament, held in Lingle.

The Tigers finished with 142.5 points, behind Hulett’s 173 and Wright’s 165.5. The host school Doggers finished fourth with 127.5 and Moorcroft rounded out the top five with 88 points.

Lance Hladky (152) won his third All-Conference award by pinning Hulett’s Garrett Haberman, while Ace Thurston (189) won his second All-Conference with a 5-0 decision over Hulett’s Ethan Dirks. Both juniors look to improve on last year’s finishes in Casper- Thurston finished second while Hladky finished third.

Senior Travis Gaukel (112) was denied his third All-Conference championship by Garrett Bietz of Moorcroft and Colton Miller (140) dropped his championship match to Curtis Clark of Hulett. Gaukel won third place and Miller came in fifth place at state last season.

Freshman Jathan Nelson (103) finished third for his first trip to Casper, while Jesse Bunner (119) and Harley Cushman (160) each lost early, but won their way back through the brackets to also claim third place medals and return trips to state. Bunner defeated David Englebrechet from LFL 9-0 and Cushman pinned Burns’ Frankie Vossler.

John Boussu (171) and Jake Spivey (215) were both denied third place finishes in their final matches. LFL’s Tyler Arnett outlasted Boussu 6-5 and Spivey was pinned by Wright’s Paige Begay. Jacob Wasserburger (285) placed fifth and returns to state with Boussu and Spivey.

Freshmen Ian Zerbe (130), Zack Manasco (135) and Colby Thurston (145) all will be making their first trips to Casper while junior Derek Smith (171) made a late push to qualify for state as well.

In the 2A West Regional, Greybull-Riverside ran away with the team title with 214.5 points while defending state champion Cokeville finished second with 173.5. Lovell (134.5), Kemmerer (113.5) and Saratoga (111) rounded out the top five.

The 2A State Wrestling Championships will be Friday and Saturday in Casper at the Casper Events Center. Admission prices and all weight brackets are available online at www.whsaa.org.



For the complete article see the 02-24-2010 issue.

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