Dogie Invite keeps growing

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
There was no rest for the Newcastle/Upton grapplers last weekend as they jumped into competition at the Newcastle Invitational on Friday, and followed that up with a full day of wrestling at the Blazer Duals Tournament in Torrington on Saturday. 
Over the course of the two days most athletes were able to get plenty of mat time, with anywhere from five to 11 matches for each of them.
The home tournament on Friday was the largest it’s been, with around 80 more athletes than in the past on site ready to compete. 
“The tournament went pretty well, and it keeps getting better and better every year,” head coach Lee McCoy exclaimed. “For the last four years, it’s gotten bigger with higher quality competition and coaches complimented us for that, as well as how well it was run.”
Though the first round didn’t go as well as McCoy had hoped, he noted that some of the losses his team suffered may have been due to a lack of seeding opportunities.
“A lot of those young kids aren’t getting seeded, so there’s a pretty good chance they will run up against a number one kid right out of the gate,” McCoy frowned. “Until we can start getting seeded in tournaments, those first round matches will be tough for us.” 
Despite some of those early-round losses, several Dogies were able to earn their way into the brackets through the wrestle-backs.
Jory McFarland (113) and Nate King (182) were two that worked their way back to take sixth place by the end of the day. Josh Womack (195) and Gavin Durfee (138) ended up on the losing end in the semifinal round, however were successful in clinching fifth and third place respectively.
Jacob Rhoades (138) suffered his first and only loss in the championship match so took second, while Reid Holmes (120) and Kale Corley (132) went undefeated on the day and as such, were champions in each of their weight classes.
As a team, the Dogies accumulated enough points to finish sixth out of the 14 teams participating in the tournament.
“It was a good day for us, and the guys got in a lot of matches, which was great,” McCoy nodded. “It was great that Reid and Kale were champs and that Jacob was in the championship match as well. It was a great confidence booster for him, and fun for all of them to do well in front of their hometown fans.”
Early on Saturday morning, the team loaded up and headed to Torrington for their duals tournament. By the end of the day, the Dogies had wrestled five duals against Buffalo, Burns, Laramie, Lusk and Torrington.
“It was nice to see some teams we don’t normally see like Laramie and Burns,” McCoy stated. “We also got to see Torrington, which is a team we don’t normally compete against during the season.”
The Dogies picked up wins against Burns and Lusk, and more importantly got valuable mat time once again against some good competition.
Holmes and Corley had a productive day individually and for the team. Corley lost only one match, by decision, on Saturday and Holmes went undefeated on the day, as well as for the weekend. 
“Reid just really had a great weekend,” McCoy declared. “Not only did he go undefeated, but he was also named our team’s outstanding wrestler for the dual tournament in Torrington.”
The Dogies headed back to Torrington on Tuesday where they wrestled the Blazers, Wheatland, Douglas and Lusk, and coming up this weekend for the team is the Moorcroft Mixer on Friday and Saturday.