Bo Dearcorn shocked ‘em all at the 2020 Ron Thon Memorial wrestling tournament in Riverton on Saturday — especially Cheyenne East’s Blaise Ronnau. With a pin of Ronnau in the 170-pound title bout, Dearcorn helped boost Powell to third place at the prestigious, all-class meet.

Dearcorn, who trailed 7-1 in the match, took Ronnau to his back in a lightning takedown with 1:12 left that brought the capacity crowd in the Riverton High School gym roaring to its feet. Seconds later, the championship was his.

Dearcorn, a Powell High School senior, signed just last week to continue his education and wrestling career at Northwest College; Trapper coach Jim Zeigler remarked then, “He’s a pinner.”

Point taken.

For the tournament, Dearcorn earned 32 precious points for his team.

After trailing early in the finals, Dearcorn “decided he wanted that belt” for himself,” said PHS head coach Nate Urbach. “He took him [Ronnau] down and cradled him up. Bo is pretty lethal on top.”

Overall, said Urbach, the Panthers “wrestled really well” in Riverton.

“Anytime you can be third in basically an all-state tournament is great,” he said, adding that “anytime you can bring a trophy home” from the Ron Thon is a notable achievement. There have been times, he said, that the
Panthers have won the state tournament but not placed in the Ron Thon team standings.

The Panthers posted a number of come-from-behind wins, which, said their coach, “showed our toughness.”

Green River (203.5 points) won the team title, followed by Kelly Walsh (172.5) and Powell (133). Star Valley (129.5) was fourth and, for fifth, it was a deadlock between Cheyenne East and Sheridan (128.5).

Seth Horton was unbeaten in the tournament when he stepped on the mat to challenge Warren Carr of Thunder Basin for the championship at 152 pounds. The title bout went to Carr by major decision (9-1), but Horton’s 23.5 team points loomed large in Powell’s lofty finish as well.

“Seth [Horton] wrestled very well,” noted Urbach, and “came back from injury” in his semifinal.

“He did well against one of the best kids in our state,” Urbach said.

Colt Nicholson pinned Trevor Scicluna of Green River (2:18) in the 106-pound match for fifth. Corey Linebaugh also seized fifth at 138 pounds with a victory by fall (4:04) over Cael Porter from Thunder Basin.

“Cory and Colton had good tournaments,” commented their coach. “They wanted to finish higher, but they did well” against an impressive field.

Carson Olsen landed sixth. The 220-pound Panther’s consolation semifinal was forfeited when he rolled an ankle and was assisted off the mat. Urbach held Olsen out of the match for fifth, which went into the books as a medical forfeit win for Phoenix Buske of Kelly Walsh.

Matthew Seckman earned eight team points at 182 as did Riley Bennett, wrestling at 145. Michael Maddox at 132 pounds added five points to the Panthers’ grand total, Evan Habek scored three at 126 and Logan Werner added a point for his work at 113.

Other Panthers taking the mat at Riverton were Nate Balderas (106), Emma Karhu (120), Trevor Feller (126), Colby Bennett (138) and Dallas Oliver (285).

The Panthers are “looking forward to February,” said Urbach. “We want to go nothing but up from here” and “still got some growing to do.”

“The Ron Thon is great, but it’s not the end goal,” the coach said, referring to the 3A state championship.

The Panthers host Lander in a 6 p.m. dual Friday.

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