Photos/Barb Rapp

The NCHS wrestling team spent last Friday and Saturday at the 2A state tournament and despite three wrestlers making the semifinals, none came home as state champions.

Lusk finished ninth in team points with 98.5, well behind Greybull/Riverside’s winning score of 203.5 points. Cokeville finished second (157), Hulett (154) was third, with Wright (129) and Lovell (114) rounding out the top five. The ninth place finish was the lowest for the Tigers since 1996 when the team came in eighth place.

Travis Gaukel (112), Lance Hladky (152) and Ace Thurston (189) all qualified for Friday night’s semis with a berth in the championship match on the line. Gaukel lost a close 6-4 decision in overtime to eventual champ Tom Stockwell of Saratoga, but rebounded to win two matches on Saturday for his second consecutive third place medal. Hladky’s first round opponent defaulted before Hladky won his next two to advance. Cokeville’s Hadley Harmon was the NCHS junior’s finals opponent and after a hard fought match, Harmon came out ahead with the 6-2 decision. Thurston was making a repeat appearance in the championship match in a different weight class than last season’s 171. After winning handily in his first three matches, Thurston was matched up against Greybull’s Bob Anderson in the final. The match was close throughout, but Anderson came out on top 5-1.

Jake Spivey (215) and Jacob Wasserburger (285) also claimed medals at this year’s event. Wasserburger earned fifth place after his opponent had to injury default while Spivey dropped his fifth place match to Big Piney’s Boone Bowker.

Other Tiger wrestlers and their records include: Jathan Nelson (103) 0-2, Jesse Bunner (119) 0-2, Ian Zerbe (130) 0-2, Zack Manasco (135) 1-2, Colton Miller (140) 0-2, Colby Thurston (145) 1-2, Harley Cushman (160) 2-2, Derek Smith (160) 0-2, John Boussu (171) 2-2.



For the complete article see the 03-03-2010 issue.

Click here to purchase an electronic version of the 03-03-2010 paper.