RANGELY | Last Friday the Panther wrestling team traveled to Hotchkiss for a dual with Merino. The two teams were evenly matched throughout the dual. At 126 pounds Colten Stevens lost a hard fought match 8-6. At 132 Landon Carlson won 7-2.
The highlight match of the dual was at 138 pounds where No. 3 ranked Kobey Chism squared off with No. 6 ranked Tyler Frank. Chism led 2-1 going into the third period. It was his choice and he chose down, quickly escaped and took his opponent down to win the match 5-1.
Aydan Christian, Colin Zadra, Izaiah Moody, Kasen LeBleu and Jaxon Torsell all won by forfeits. The team was without Jaime Sanchez. Final score of the dual was Rangely 36-33.
On Saturday the Panthers competed in the Fight at the Fork tournament. This was a 27-team tournament with ranked 4A, 3A, and 2A wrestlers in the brackets.
Christian started off the scoring for the Panthers with a pin in the second period. He was injured in his second match and withdrawn from the tournament. Wyatt Stevens went 0-2 on the day, Colton Stevens lost another very close match at the end of the third period in his second match which eliminated him from the tournament. Landon Carlson went 2-2 on the day.
“Landon is starting to wrestle with confidence, which he will need for the upcoming regional tournament,” said coach Jeff LeBleu. Chism lost the rematch with his Merino opponent, putting him in the consolation side where he finished in third place. Colin Zadra went 1-2. “Colin is starting to put it together, and is wrestling better,” LeBleu said. Izaiah Moody is wrestling up a couple weights and went 0-2, as did Kolby Olsen. “Kolby is a freshman and needs to gain confidence.”
Kasen LeBleu started his tournament off with a quick pin, then lost his next three. “All three matches were very close, he just needs to believe.” He placed sixth.
Jaxon Torsell also started his day off with a win, then became ill and he didn’t wrestle well at all. “We pulled him from the fifth-place match,” coach LeBleu said. Torsell placed sixth.
“We lost a lot of close matches at the end of the match, so we will need to get better in the third period, but I think we wrestled pretty good.”
This Saturday the Panthers travel to Grand Valley for a dual team tournament.
Special to the Herald Times
