Rangely wrestlers in Kremmling

RANGELY I The Panther wrestling team continues to be short wrestlers due to illness and injuries but seven team members did travel to Kremmling for the annual West Grand High School invitational and two returned with medals.
“We wrestled in 16-man brackets against some tough teams from Colorado and Wyoming,” head coach Jeff Heinle said.
Panther senior Colton Coombs was the highest placer for Rangely, finishing second in the 160-pound bracket. Coombs lost a close match (4-6) to Meeker’s T.J. Shelton. The two Rio Blanco County wrestlers have wrestled each other in the first three tournaments of the season.
Heath Peters was the consolation champ in the 113-pound bracket and the only other Panther to place. Coach Heinle said Ethan Allred was one match away from placing in the 170-pound bracket.
“They all wrestled extremely well,” Heinle said. “We saw some improvement, some good things throughout the day and some things that we still need to work on.”
Ryan Barlow (132), Caleb Lawson (145) and Josh Bolding (152) all wrestled varsity put did not place in Kremmling and JV wrestler Jesse Odom (145) also got valuable mat time.
The Panthers will wrestle in a triangular meet in Duchesne, Utah, in their final matches of 2012 against the host team and Altamont.
“With illness and injuries we were a few wrestlers short but we should be back to almost full strength for the triangular with Duchesne and Altamont tonight,” Heinle said.
The Panthers will open the 2013 part of the season at the Tournament of Champions in Vernal, Utah, Jan. 11-12, 2013.