Sanford, Alexander reign as regional champs

Boys sending entire team to state tourney this weekend in Casper

Loomis Alexander and Bennett Sanford won individual titles while teammates Zack Kuntz, Hayden Jensen, Garrett Wiggins, Caiden Sorenson and Nikoah Sorensen captured top-four finishes for Greybull-Riverside at last weekend’s Class 2A West Regional.

As a team, the Hound Dogs finished in a two-way tie with Rocky Mountain for fourth place, each with 104 points.  Kemmerer won the team title with 181, followed by Cokeville with 164.5 and Thermop with 111.5.

Ellie Holloway was G-R’s only placer in the girls division, bringing home a second. With no one joining her on the podium, the team struggled to score, finishing 17th with 34 points.

Boys 

Coach Mark Sanford said the boys “wrestled a little sloppier than I’d have liked us to,” but “didn’t end up far from where I thought we would (in the standings).

“How we got there is what bothered me. We had opportunities and we didn’t capitalize on them. That’s what you have to do this time of the year.”

Alexander made a triumphant return to the lineup after missing a couple weeks with an injury. “We looked a little rusty, but not bad,” Sanford said of the RHS senior, who went 2-0 with a pin and a major decision at 157 to improve to 31-3.

Sanford had a slightly tougher road at 138.  The GHS junior won his first two matches by pin to reach the final, where Tanner Delay of Thermop was waiting.  A dominant second period proved was the difference, as Sanford erased an early 3-1 deficit and gave himself enough breathing room to withstand a third-period rally and win 10-8.  “A little more touch and go than I’d have liked,” Coach Sanford said, “but when you wrestle kids over and over again, they start to take away some of your stuff and you have to adjust.  They did a good job of that.” With the wins, Sanford improved to 27-7. 

Zack Kuntz also made finals, but wasn’t as fortunate, losing by pin to Kashton Walker of Cokeville. With two wins in three tries, Kuntz improved to 30-10.  “That Walker kid is tough ... big and strong,” Sanford said. “Zack got where he needed to be (going into state).”

Jensen, Wiggins, Caiden Sorenson and Nikoah Sorensen all wrestled for third place, but only Jensen was successful. He went 2-2 at 144 pounds, moving his record to 13-11.

Wiggins went 1-2 at 150, recording a pin while suffering losses to Zavier Clifford of Big Piney, now 20-4, and Noah Parks of Kemmerer, 36-13. “Garrett got to where I thought he should,” Sanford said.

Sorenson saw one slip away in the semis. The GHS senior was up 9-1 on Rocky Mountain’s Triffen Jolley and going for a takedown when Jolley took him to the mat and pinned him at 2:26. “He was wrestling a great match to that point,” Sanford said.  Sorenson won his next match, but did not wrestle for third, sitting it out with a minor injury.

Sorensen “is another one who ended up about where we thought he would.” He went 2-2 at 175 pounds, contributing 11 team points and setting himself up well to go on a run at the state tourney.

All 15 G-R boys who competed at regionals placed and will be going onto the state tournament.  

Braxton Link went 1-2 and placed seventh at 106 pounds.

Carlin Mulley went 0-2 and placed fifth at 113.

Riley Wiggins went 1-2 and placed seventh at 138.

Levi Cochrane went 1-2 and placed eighth at 144.

Ben Mendenhall went 0-2 and placed eighth at 157.

Corbyn Godfrey went 0-2 and placed seventh at 190.

Camden Schriner went 1-2 and placed seventh at 215.

Phillip Thomas went 0-2 at 285. 

The standouts get most of the attention, but it’s often the unseeded kids who go on runs to contribute a few unexpected points who help teams reach their goals in Casper. Several G-R grapplers have the potential to do just that, Sanford said, with Link and Schriner foremost among them.

“What we really need to do is capitalize on our opportunities — we had them this past weekend and didn’t,” Sanford said. “If we do that ... we’ll be good, right up there in the mix.”

Girls division

Holloway, who placed second at 155 pounds, will be the only G-R girl going to Casper. She won her first three matches, including an 8-1 drubbing of Alix Sorensen of Thermop in the semis, but was pinned by Sarah Eddy of Rock Springs in the final. It was their first encounter since the Ron Thon, when Holloway handed Eddy her only loss of the season.

Sanford said both girls looked a little different at the regional — Eddy a little more determined, Holloway lacking the not-going-to-be-denied mindset that served her so well in Riverton.  “This week, we have to be  ready to go, to move and shake and not let her dictate the ties and decide what’s going to happen,” he said.

Of the rest, Adeline Kunkel, Melanie Perez-Cabrera and Kadence Powell came closest to qualifying. Each of them bowed out a round out of doing so, with Kunkel going 1-2 at 110, Perez-Cabrera 2-2 at 115 and Powell 1-2 at 140.

Meanwhile, Kaluha Woolsey went 1-2 at 110, Ashlyn Chacon went 1-2 at 115 and Rihanna Gaytan went 0-2 at 130. Sanford said Gaytan was disqualified for biting the finger of her first opponent, a call the G-R coaches challenged, but to no avail; she finished with a 25-10 record, easily the best among the G-R nonqualifiers.

“I’m pretty proud of all those girls,” Sanford said. “They fought hard, really have all year, and a made a lot of progress.”