It was tough sledding last Friday and Saturday on the new mats in the Bob Carey Memorial Fieldhouse in Lander. No, it wasn’t an indoor alpine event matching the snowy conditions outside, but a hotly contested heavily attended Lander Valley High School Wrestling Invite.
A total of 25 teams traveled from as far away as Cheyenne, Laramie, and Torrington to vie for the team title and 14 individual boy’s championships.
For the first time, the invite had a girl’s division as well.
Class 2-A Kemmerer boasts one of the best wrestling programs in the entire three divisions of Wyoming wrestling and the Rangers ran away with the team title behind four first-place finishes and 208.5 total points.
A total of eight Fremont County boys earned medals in the event, paced by unbeaten Dubois High School junior Wyatt Trembly at 170 pounds.
Trembly marched through the first two rounds pinning James McCormick of Big Piney in 56 seconds and then scoring a blazing fast 17-second win by pin over Lannon Brazelton of Powell.
He was more methodical in a high-scoring match against Lander senior Gabe Harris. The match ended at 3:17 via technical fall with Trembly leading 16-0.
He repeated the technical fall win in the championship match over Dylan Campbell of Cody with an identical 16-0 score that ended the match early in the third period at 4:22.
Wind River’s two-time defending state champion 220-pound wrestler Tucker Jensen had his first loss of the season in the semi-finals when he fell into a combination early in a match with Cale Haws of Burns. Jensen was pinned at the 35-second mark of the opening period. He returned to the mat with a vengeance in the consolation semi-finals with a 51-second pin over Noa Vega of Worland, and a 31-second pin for third place over Carter Archuleta of Douglas.
Wind River had two more place winners with freshman Landon Rhyne continuing an outstanding season with a fifth-place finish at 106 pounds.
Cougar junior Aidan Ruby was fourth at 126 pounds.
Riverton had a pair of Wrestlers in the medal round with Jayden Bucholtz fourth at 160 pounds and Parker Devries fifth at 195.
The host Tigers placed a pair of wrestlers as well with Hunter Velarde fourth at 138 and Gabe Harris sixth at 170.
“Tough tournament with a lot of talented wrestlers,” Lander head wrestling coach Eric Watson said. “We were banged up going in, so we held some guys out. Happy how are young guys performed.”
Wind River’s Cora Remacle was the highest-placing girl with a runner-up finish at 100-105 pounds. The lower weights were combined to fill brackets. Her teammate Molly Bornhoft finished sixth after she was unable to wrestle in the fifth-place match.
Lander’s Emily Skiba won by fall over Riverton’s Tymberlee Stanley in the combined 110-115 pounds class, and Wind River’s Maggie Jensen was fourth, losing a tough third-place match to Lecsi Ramirez of Worland by a 7-1 decision.
Lander Valley High School Invite
Boy’s Team Scores: 1. Kemmerer 208.5, 2. Cody 191, 3. Green River 188.5, 4. Pinedale 155, 5. Douglas 143.5, 6. Rawlins 138, 7. Powell 127.5, 8. Worland 93, 9. Wind River 73, 10. Laramie 71, 11. Torrington 64, 12. Burns/Pine Bluffs 62.5, 13. Lyman 60, 14. Mountain View 46.5, 15. Saratoga 45, 17. Dubois 38, 18. Lander 37.5, 19. Greybull/Riverside36, 20. Riverton 34.5, 21. Cheyenne South 31, 22. Cokeville 27, 23. Thermopolis 26, 24. Jackson 12.5, 25. Wyoming Indian 2
Boy’s Individual Results:
106: 1. William Wood, COD, 5. Landon Rhyne, WR
Fifth place match – Landon Rhyne, WR over Wyatt Nicholson, POW Fall 2:18
113: 1. Ty Peterson, COD
120: 1. Axel Mackinnon, GR
126: 1. Roany Profitt, KEM, 4. Aidan Ruby, WR
Third place match – Garrett Madole, PIN over Aidan Ruby, WR Dec 9-4
132: 1. Jake Hammer, PIN
138: 1. Conner Todd, GR, 4. Hunter Velarde, LAN
Third place match – Ayden Kelley KEM, over Hunter Velarde, LAN Dec 6-5
145: 1. Gabe Emery, KEM
152: 1. Riggen Walker, KEM
160: 1. Lane Ewing, DOU, 4. Jayden Bucholtz, RIV
Third place match – Ezra Archuleta, RAW over Jayden Bucholtz, RIV Dec 6-3
170: 1. Wyatt Trembly, DUB, 6. Gabe Harris, LAN
Championship match – Wyatt Trembly, DUB over Dylan Campbell, COD Tech Fall 16-0
Fifth place match – Tanner Schramm, KEM over Gabe Harris, LAN Fall 4:41
182: 1. Landon Heaps, KEM
195: 1. Jimmy Dees, POW, 5. Parker Devries, RIV
Fifth place match – Parker Devries, RIV over Quade Jordan, SAR Maj Dec 19-5
220: 1. Jace Grant, COD, 3. Tucker Jensen, WR
Third place match: Tucker Jensen, WR over Carter Archuleta, DOU Fall:31
285: 1. Kenai Bergquist, DOU
Girl’s Team Scores: 1. Pinedale 97, 2. Kemmerer 63, 3. Green River 50, 4. Worland 48, 5. Lyman 47, 6. Cheyenne South 42, 7. Burns/Pine Bluffs 38, 8. Powell 36, 9. Wind River 30, 10. Jackson 27.5, 11. Thermopolis 24, 12. Big Piney 21, 13. Rawlins 16, 14. Lander 13, 15. Cody 7, 16. Riverton 7, 17. Laramie 6, 18. Dubois/Wyoming Indian 0
Girl’s Individual Results:
100-105: 1. McKinzie Mortensen, PIN, 2. Cora Remacle, WR, 6. Molly Bornhoft, WR
Championship match – McKinzie Mortensen, PIN over Cora Remacle, WR Fall 3:18
Fifth place match – Braxton Burgener, LYM over Molly Bornhoft, WR Forfeit
110-115: 1. Rhaychel Cole, LYM, 5. Emily Skiba, LAN, 6. Tymberlee Stanley, RIV
Fifth place match – Emily Skiba, LAN over Tymberlee Stanley, RIV Fall 1:34
120-125: 1. Tai Mcbride, JAC
130-135: 1. Rivers Carrell, WOR
140-145: 1. Kaylie Julander, KEM, 4. Maggie Jensen, WR
Fourth place match – Lecsi Ramirez, WOR over Maggie Jensen, WR Dec 7-1
155: 1. CharlieMarie, JAC
170: 1. Ashton Hubbs, COD
190: 1. Nadia Runnion, KEM
235: 1. Katyana Dexter, PIN