Two state champs: Panther wrestling team places fourth

Posted 2/27/18

Reese Karst and Brody Karhu won the state championship in their weight classes (also earning All-State honors in the process) while Bo Dearcorn took third, Brandon Thompson placed fourth and both Emma Karhu and Stephen Preator placed fifth.

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Two state champs: Panther wrestling team places fourth

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Powell High School’s wrestlers brought home five medals — including two state titles — while placing fourth as a team at the Class 3A State Wrestling Championships over the weekend.

Reese Karst and Brody Karhu won the state championship in their weight classes (also earning All-State honors in the process) while Bo Dearcorn took third, Brandon Thompson placed fourth and both Emma Karhu and Stephen Preator placed fifth.

Star Valley won the Friday-Saturday tournament with 267 points, Cody placed second with 164, Worland was third with 153 and Powell followed with 143.5 points.

Reese Karst, 138 pounds

In round one, Karst pinned Hayden Johnston of Worland in 3:14, then went on to pin Seth DeWitt of Wheatland in 1:09 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinal match, Karst won by a 15-0 technical fall over Tyson Hoopes of Star Valley.

The junior capped his weekend with a 5-2 decision over Tristen Kingsley of Torrington to become a two-time state champion.

“He pretty much dominated the bracket,” Powell High School head wrestling coach Nate Urbach said of Karst. “He’s a kid that puts a ton of time in and goes to a bunch of different tournaments throughout the year and is a kid that really works hard to do well.”

Karst, who has a goal of being a three-time state champ, said “I’m just one step closer to what I want to do.”

“It feels great,” he said, thanking his coaches, parents and teammates.

Brody Karhu, 152 pounds

Sophomore Brody Karhu pinned all four of his opponents en route to the title.

He began by pinning Kyler Lesher of Lander in 46 seconds, then pinned Kye Hicks of Wheatland in one minute and Christian Coffman of Douglas in 25 seconds.

For the championship match, Brody Karhu — with a 36-10 record — faced off against Wyatt Corley of Newcastle, who had a 45-6 record going into the match.

Corley led 5-4 after the first period. Brody Karhu choose the down position to start the second period and got an escape with 18 seconds remaining to tie the score at five.

In the third period, both wrestlers were up. Brody Karhu got a takedown with 1:44 remaining, then Corley got a reversal, followed by more reversals and an escape by Corley before Brody Karhu got a takedown and a pin at 3:50.

It finished a string of six straight matches with pins.

“A lot of wrestling is trying to figure out mentally where you want the kids to be before the match,” Urbach said.

Some wrestlers need to get really energetic and psyched up, but to prepare Brody Karhu, Urbach said he tells him the corniest jokes he can find on his phone.

“We finally figured out he needed to be calm,” Urbach said.

His win reflected his improvement from last year’s state tourney, where Brody Karhu placed sixth.

“That was awesome to see him get remarkably better throughout the year,” Urbach said. “Going from sixth to first is pretty awesome.”

Brody Karhu said winning the state championship title feels amazing, thanking the Lord, his parents, sister Emma Karhu, his coaches and teammates for all of their support.

Like Karst, Brody Karhu said his goal is to become a three-time state champion.

Bo Dearcorn, 170 pounds

After getting a bye, Dearcorn pinned Desmon Martinez of Rawlins in 57 seconds in the quarterfinals before being pinned in 3:55 to drop into the consolation bracket.

In the consolation semifinals, Dearcorn pinned Dylon Case of Douglas in one minute, then won the third-place match by a 7-2 decision over Trent Clark of Star Valley.

“That was absolutely excellent,” Urbach said of Dearcorn’s bronze performance. “I was very impressed, very proud.”

Urbach described Dearcorn as a hard worker and a wrestler who’s always helping wrestlers at the  junior high level.

“He loves the sport; it’s great,” said Urbach.

Brandon Thompson, 285 pounds

Thompson started his state tournament off with a 3-1 decision over Roy Collins of Lyman, where he won by a 3-1 decision. In the quarterfinals, the PHS senior wrestled Dallas Wik of Douglas and won by a 3-2 decision.

In the semifinals, he fell to Jacob Wamboldt of Torrington by a 4-2 decision, but rebounded with a 3-2 win over Gage Northrup of Pinedale in the consolation semifinals.

In the third-place match, Thompson was pinned by Hunter Cranney of Star Valley in 4:36 to take fourth.

Urbach said he figured Thompson could finish anywhere from first to seventh because the 285-pound weight class was “so tight, there was so little difference between them.”

“He did pretty well,” Urbach said of Thompson, who just joined the Panther wrestling team this year. “I really appreciate him coming out and wrestling for us.”

Emma Karhu, 106 pounds

Freshman Emma Karhu was not predicted to place at the state meet, but “she had a great tournament,” Urbach said.

“She had a great regional [placement] which set her up for her state run,” the coach said.

Emma Karhu began by pinning Jary McFarland of Newcastle in 1:18, then lost to Austin Ireland of Thermopolis by a 3-2 decision to drop into the consolation bracket. There, she pinned her next two opponents in 49 seconds and 2:22, respectively.

In the consolation semifinals, Emma Karhu fell to Brady Carey of Lander by a 6-2 decision, putting her into a rematch against Ireland for fifth place.

After the first three periods, the score was tied at 1-1, forcing an overtime period. However, the score remained tied at one, forcing a double overtime. With 21 seconds to go in the second bonus period, Ireland went to make a move, which resulted in both wrestlers falling and knocking their heads together.

Ireland was knocked out and taken to the hospital for precautionary measures (he was later released), while Emma Karhu, who was dizzy, was checked out for a possible concussion.

Urbach said he believes Ireland had no ill intent and was trying to create some movement, as Emma Karhu was controlling the match.

The coach described the accident as bizarre, saying he’s “never seen anything like that” in 39 years of coaching or competing in wrestling.

Emma Karhu won the match by injury default.

Coach Urbach said she earned the “awesome” fifth-place finish.

“She had to beat a couple real tough kids to medal,” the coach said.

Emma Karhu became the first girl to medal in Class 3A and was just the second girl to ever medal at a Wyoming High School Activities Association state wrestling tournament. (The first was Jordan Thurston of Niobrara County, who medaled in 2007 at 103 pounds.)

Karhu said being the first girl to place in Class 3A “feels pretty great.” She added that it makes her feel like all her hard work throughout the season has paid off.

“She just wrestled her heart out; I thought she wrestled well above the expectations and that’s always nice,” Urbach said.

Throughout the state tournament, Emma Karhu said a lot of coaches came up to her and said, “Wow, you really impressed me.”

Her goal for this season was to medal — a goal she’s also setting for next season.

Stephen Preator, 126 pounds

Preator “had a really good tournament,” Urbach said.

The PHS senior pinned his first two opponents in 1:20 and 1:34 to advance to the semifinals, where he lost to Gavin Patterson of Star Valley by a 8-0 major decision.

In the consolation semifinals, Preator faced Kaleb Bigelow of Pinedale and made an unsafe move, which resulted in Bigelow getting hurt. Preator had to forfeit the match, which dropped him into the fifth/sixth place match.

Urbach said that, other than the unsafe move, Preator “wrestled as well as he ever has in his whole life; he looked really good.”

The team will be losing three seniors — Preator, Thompson and Brian Brazelton, who wrestled at 120 pounds.

Urbach said that Brazelton will “be missed and is always a good kid and goes after it.”

Brazelton was the only senior who has been a part of the team for all four years of his high school career.

As for the future of Panther wrestling, Urbach said, “we’re a young team; I’m excited for next year.”

“We have some kids that didn’t place that probably could have,” said the coach. “I’m excited for those kids to right that wrong at next year’s tournament.”

With the Panther wrestling team’s season now concluded, Urbach extended thanks to the wrestlers’ parents and the school administration for all their help.

“I couldn’t do it without them,” Urbach said of the parents, while school administrators “always makes it easy for me to do my job and I always appreciate that.”

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