Panther wrestlers place second at regional tournament

Posted 2/20/18

Reese Karst, Brody Karhu and Brandon Thompson all won first place in their respective weight classes.

“I thought we wrestled well for the most part,” said PHS head coach Nate Urbach. “Probably the most consistent that we have had all year, …

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Panther wrestlers place second at regional tournament

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The Powell High School wrestling team finished as the runners-up among the eight teams that competed in the 3A West Regional wrestling tournament in Lyman over the weekend.

Reese Karst, Brody Karhu and Brandon Thompson all won first place in their respective weight classes.

“I thought we wrestled well for the most part,” said PHS head coach Nate Urbach. “Probably the most consistent that we have had all year, which is good to see.”

A total of 18 wrestlers placed in the top eight which, in turn, earned them a spot at this weekend’s 3A State Wrestling tournament in Casper.

Star Valley won the tournament with 269.5 points, Powell was second with 188 and Cody took third with 148 points. Coming in fourth was Lander with 127, Lyman was fifth with 95, Pinedale placed sixth with 92, Riverton was seventh with 91.5 and Mountain View was eighth with 40 points.

Karst won the 3A West Regional title at 238 pounds. Three of his four matches were won by a pin, with times of 51 seconds, 2:41 and 2:30. His fourth victory came by way of a 16-0 technical fall.

“Reese [Karst] looked really good,” Urbach said. “Just really stayed steady and had a great finals match and a great semi-finals.”

Brody Karhu won all three of his matches by pins in 1:10, 1:48 and 3:28 to take the 152-pound weight class 3A West Regional title. Urbach said Brody Karhu “looked as good as I’ve ever seen him.”

Thompson, meanwhile, won in the 285-pound weight class. After a first round bye, he pinned his first opponent in 1:56. Thompson, who was ranked sixth going into the tournament, then beat second-ranked Eric Flores of Cody in the semi-finals by a 5-2 decision. In the championship match, Thompson pinned fourth-ranked Hunter Cranney of Star Valley in 4:43.

“He wrestled super good,” Urbach said of Thompson.

Also placing in the top eight and earning a trip to the 3A State Wrestling Tournament were:

Emma Karhu and Colt Nicholson at 106 pounds. Karhu placed fourth, while Nicholson finished sixth.

“Thought Emma Karhu wrestled really well,” said Urbach said; in the consolation semi-final match, Emma Karhu defeated Brady Carey of Lander — who’d beaten her earlier in the year — by a 9-5 decision.

At 113 pounds, Trevor Feller placed seventh and Riley Bennett took eighth.

Michael Maddox placed fourth at 120 pounds and Brian Brazelton took fifth.

Urbach said Maddox wrestled well.

“He had a couple close wins and he looked good,” the coach said.

At 126 pounds, Stephen Preator placed third in what Urbach described as a good tournament.

Corey Linebaugh took seventh at 132 pounds in a “great” showing, Urbach said.

“He won a couple tough matches and his weight class was loaded, so he wrestled really well,” the coach said.

One of Linebaugh’s tough wins was over two-time state medalist Grayson Hicks by a 13-0 major decsion.

Matt Jones took sixth at 138 pounds.

At 145 pounds, Seth Horton took third and Cole Davis placed sixth. Horton bounced back after being pinned by Jack Sweeney of Lander in 1:52 to take third place.

“He [Horton] did well,” Urbach said.

The coach similarly praised Cameron Schmidt’s wrestling at 160 pounds, where he placed sixth.

Bo Dearcorn took third at 170 pounds and “looked good,” Urbach said. Dearcorn came back to beat Trent Clark of Star Valley to take third place after losing to him earlier in the tournament.

Matthew Seckman placed eighth at 195 pounds and “wrestled pretty well,” Urbach said.

“He’s real close to doing some real good things,” the coach said.

Duy Linh Hoang took third at 220 pounds in his first season of wrestling.

“He’s really starting to pick things up which is good to see,” Urbach said of Hoang, saying the athlete wrestled really well in Lyman.

The 3A State Wrestling Tournament will take place in Casper this Friday and Saturday with start times at 9 a.m. both days.

Urbach said the state touranment will be tough, as the Panthers could place anywhere from second to sixth place.

“We [have] just got to be ready to go and rise to the occasion,” Urbach said. “I’m excited.”

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