Barone wrestlers third in tourney

MEEKER I Wrestlers from Barone Middle School won all four dual meets wrestled in Craig last Saturday but finished third in the tournament. The Cowboys defeated West Grand (60-42), North Park (51-10), Craig (42-40) and Steamboat Springs (48-42) but the margins of victory were not enough to wrestle for the team championship, which was won by Hayden, defeating Rifle.
“They wrestled three pools and Hayden and Rifle had more points than we did, so we wrestled Steamboat for third,” BMS head coach Lee Overton said. “Forfeits hurt us but this was a great way to start the season with a bunch of matches.”
The Cowboys filled 11 varsity weights and five JV wrestlers also wrestled in the dual-format tournament.
The Cowboys won 31 of 46 matches, 30 by pin.
“Because of forfeits, we started behind against Craig and Steamboat but we had a ton of pins,” Overton said. “We have been working a lot in practice on cradles and we threw a ton of them. We started down 18 against Steamboat and then had seven pins in row to win by one match.”
Overton said beating Craig was the “highlight of the day.”
“They were wrestling real tough on the other mat but we matched up with them real good head-to-head,” Overton said of the team victory.
BMS eighth-graders J.C. Henderson, Aaron Cochran and Willis Begaye all won four matches, Cochran and Begaye pinned all their opponents, while Henderson pinned all but one. Zane Pfau and Austin Purcell each pinned all three of their opponents.
Tristin Pelloni, Anthony Watt, Kenny Kohls, Jake Phelan, Qynton Larson and Dylan Mobley all pinned two opponents and lost one, while Tim Barnes pinned one and lost two.
Dalton Carson, Tony Collins and Josh Winge all wrestled but did not win a match.
The Cowboys will compete in a bracketed tournament Saturday in Hayden.