Wrestlers open in Craig

MEEKER I “It was a successful first outing,” Barone Middle School wrestling coach Lee Overton said of the five duals the young Cowboys wrestled in Craig last Saturday. “We’re growing in numbers and starting to have more success.”
The BMS wrestlers beat Rifle (63-31), Steamboat Springs (69-21), Rangely (54-27) and Orchard Mesa (57-30) before losing to Craig 27-64.
Seventh-grader Casey Turner was the only Cowboy to wrestle and win all five of his matches, all by pin fall at 110 pounds. Eighth-graders Dillon Frantz (140) and Devon Pontine (155) both wrestled and pinned all four of their opponents and classmate T.J. Shelton pinned all three of his opponents at 165.
“We had 15 varsity wrestlers and seven wrestled as independents,” Overton said. “We had a lot of beginners perform very well. Tom Chitwood won four matches, Sam Nieslanik won his first three matches and Cody Nielson came from behind twice to win.”
Seventh-graders Sheridan Harvey (90) and Josh Cochran (95) went 4-1 during the day, as did eighth-grader Robby Jensen (105). Jacob Henderson (115) won three matches, Hunter Garcia (120), Connor Fisher (125) and Jake Neilsen (130) each won two, Brenan Guire (85) and Chase Rule (135) each won a match, while Nick Burri (100) and Caleb Bradford (145) will try for their first win this Saturday.
Meeker will compete in a bracketed tournament Saturday in Hayden.