Four wrestlers place in top five at Ron Thon

Posted 2/7/17

“It’s not bad,” said PHS head coach Nate Urbach, though, “You always hope to be top three.”

However, Urbach also noted that he put some of the team’s freshmen — including Ethan Asher, Brody Karhu and Bo Dearcorn — into the JV …

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Four wrestlers place in top five at Ron Thon

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Powell Panthers claim sixth place

Among the 47 teams that ventured to Riverton to compete in the Ron Thon Invitational, the Powell High School wrestling team placed sixth — and had four wrestlers place in the top five at the varsity level.

“It’s not bad,” said PHS head coach Nate Urbach, though, “You always hope to be top three.”

However, Urbach also noted that he put some of the team’s freshmen — including Ethan Asher, Brody Karhu and Bo Dearcorn — into the JV competition to give them a little more experience.

“I thought that was a good placement, and it was good for those kids to get some competition with kids somewhat their age,” he said.

The Panthers finished with 112 points.

Winning the team event was Star Valley, with 169.5 points, followed by Green River at 139 points and Moorcroft at 122 points.

Zash Easum won his way to the championship match by way of a pin over a wrestler from Big Piney in 30 seconds, a 14-9 major decision victory over an opponent from Riverton, a pin over a Cheyenne East wrestler in 1:53 and a 15-5 major decision win over a Gillette opponent.

“Easum wrestled well,” said Urbach. “He got in the finals and ended up getting thrown to his back against the returning state champ from Lyman, a tough kid, so we just need to adjust a couple things.”

The returning state champion from Lyman was Dryden Menck, who pinned Easum in 2:49. Heading into the tournament, Menck was ranked first and Easum second in the 195-pound weight class.

Finishing third was Ty Dearcorn, who is ranked No. 1 in the state at 170 pounds.

After a first round bye, Ty Dearcorn was pinned by a Douglas wrestler in 1:52.

“He wasn’t ready for his first round match and ended up getting upset,” Urbach said of the loss. “But he showed a ton of heart, I was really proud of him. He came all the way back and won six straight matches to be third.”

That comeback included four pins against Glenrock, Jackson, Cheyenne South and Cheyenne East opponents, a 8-2 decision over a wrestler from Evanston and a 13-2 major decision win over JD Smith of Rawlins for third.

“That takes a lot of guts to do that,” Urbach said of the comeback. “So I was really proud of him. It showed good senior leadership.”

In the 132-pound weight class, Reese Karst placed fourth after losing two matches by just one point.

“Reese had a good tournament,” Urbach said.

After a bye, Karst pinned opponents from Riverton (1:02) and Evanston (1:18) to advance to quarterfinals where Trenton Heil from Sheridan won by an 8-7 decision.

Karst then pinned his next three opponents (2:50 over Natrona County, 3:24 over Moorcroft and 1:52 pin over Laramie) to make his way back to the third place match.

In the third place match, Karst faced off with Cole Reiner from Buffalo once again.

Reiner, a senior, is the defending state champ and heading into the tournament was ranked second behind Karst. Reiner won by a 5-4 decision. The match on Saturday was the fifth meeting between the two and Karst has a 3-2 season advantage.

“He’s doing the right things, just had a couple things go the other way for him,” Urbach said of  Karst’s tournament. “But he’s doing all the things he needs to do to be a champ and he just needs to keep working and doing the things he’s doing.”

The fourth wrestler to medal for Powell was Terrance McLaughlin, who finished fifth.

“He did really well. He just had a great tournament,” said Urbach of McLaughlin. “He’s getting better at every match and it’s good to see that.”

After a first round bye, McLaughlin pinned his Pinedale opponent in 3:54, then was pinned by a Torrington wrestler in 22 seconds. In the next two consolation rounds, McLaughlin pinned opponents from Cheyenne South (2:20) and Natrona County (2:06) to advance to the consolation semi-final round.

There, Bryce Womack from Newcastle/Upton won by pin in 3:48; McLaughlin then won by a 5-3 decision over an opponent from Glenrock for fifth.

“I’m real proud of how far he’s come since last year,” Urbach said of McLaughlin, who’s in his second year of wrestling. McLaughlin is ranked fifth in the heavyweight or 285-weight pound weight class.

Other wrestlers at the varsity level who competed well were Eli Briggs and Stephan Preator.

“Briggs did well, just lost to a tough kid from Green River,” Urbach said. “He’s doing well, doing all the right things again. He just needs to keep plugging and we’ll see what he can do at the state tournament.”

Briggs was one round away from placing in the 182-pound weight class and is ranked No. 2.

Preator is ranked fifth at 120 pounds.

“He’s really come along these last three or four weeks. He’s really kind of bought into what we’re doing and I’m really pleased with what he’s been able to do for us. He’s getting much better,” said Urbach.

On the JV level, three freshmen wrestlers placed in the top three.

Karhu went undefeated to claim first place in the 138-pound weight class. He’s sixth in the state. 

“Brody (Karhu) had a great tournament,” said Urbach. “He’s been wrestling at 138, which is arguably the toughest weight class, everywhere we go. He’s been wrestling nothing but seniors and juniors, but he’s been holding his own and winning some and losing some, thought it would be a good opportunity for him to go down to JV and wrestle kids that are freshmen and sophomores, instead of all juniors and seniors. But he did really well, he’s dominant throughout.”

Of the victories, four were by pin over opponents from Sheridan (two one pin in 55 seconds and the second in 2:50), Douglas (51 seconds) and Torrington (43 seconds) and two wins were by decision over wrestlers from Cheyenne East (6-0) and Dubois (5-3).

“He’s getting better all the time, improving, he’s an easy kid to coach, he pays attention and works real hard. Good to see him do real well,” said Urbach.

Both Asher and Bo Dearcorn finished third.

“(Asher) did real well too,” Urbach said. “He’s relatively new at the sport but he’s picking things up real quick. He’s going to be a real good one the rest of this year, for the next three years I really looking forward to coaching him.”

Asher won his first four matches in the 126-pound weight class by way of pins over wrestlers from Sheridan (43 seconds), Wyoming Indian (1:53), Natrona (2:04) and Lyman (2:18). In the semifinal match, Asher was pinned in 4:11 by a wrestler from Newcastle/Upton but won his next match by an 11-4 decision. In the third place match, Asher pinned Aaron Braun of Rawlins in 1:47.

Bo Dearcorn pinned his way to the semi-final round and then came back to place third at 145 pounds,.

The first four pins were over wrestlers from Worland (57 seconds), Cody (35 seconds), Star Valley (22 seconds) and Cheyenne Central (4:52). In the semi-finals, Bo Dearcorn lost a 9-7 decision and pinned his next two opponents from Star Valley (41 seconds) and Kelly Walsh (2:02) to place third.

“He’s had a great year as well,” Urbach said. “He’s another one of those freshmen that’s tough, good kids. Again upper weight that’s got a lot of juniors and seniors, it’s nice for him and Ethan and Brody to go down and wrestle predominantly freshmen and sophomores at the JV Level.”

Coach Urbach also praised Matt Jones, who won three matches and lost two in the 132-pound weight class.

Overall for the tournament, Urbach said he “thought we wrestled pretty well, especially Saturday.”

“The kids came ready to wrestle and did real well,” he said.

Next up for the Panthers are duals against Cody and Worland. Urbach said both will be tough.

The Cody squad, he said, is “pretty good top to bottom and Worland on Friday is the No. 3 team in the state and we are No. 2.

“So it’s going to be a heck of dual Friday night,” he said.

The dual against Cody will be in Cody tonight (Tuesday) at 6 p.m. and the dual versus Worland on Friday will be at 5 p.m. at home. As the team’s last home competition, Friday will also be senior night.

Win-Loss-Bye

**Overall records include Varsity, JV & 2nd Chance Brackets

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