Youth Panthers wrestle in tourney

The Rangely youth wrestling team entered 45 wrestlers in the Casey Turner Memorial in Meeker on Saturday, and more than 20 placed in the top four, including six champions.
The young Panthers will wrestle in their final league tournament of the year in Grand Valley on Saturday.
“I think the team wrestled well,” head coach Jeff LeBleu said of his wrestlers’ performance in Meeker. “It’s good to see the young wrestlers trying to use the moves we work on in practice and most are improving each week.”
Kenny Hensen, Jaden Heredia, Breckin and Brody McElhaney, Braden Lucas and Kobey Chism all won gold medals. Christian Fortunato, Kacey Allred, Landon Carlson and Justin Allred won silver medals, while Levi and Eric Ptrocco, Jeren Blankenship, Stephen Koenig, Wyatt Zufelt, Dontea Pearce, Dakota Hartman and Corbin Lucero all finished as consolation champs. Joseph Nickson, Carmella Fortunato, Brayden Karshner and Tyson Lewis all placed fourth.
“Good sportsmanship is one of our main goals and over the past two weeks, we have improved in that area,” LeBleu said.
The morning session of the final tournament of the season will start at 9 a.m., at Grand Valley High School.