Dogies battle through tough opening day — Christensen, Coombs earn podium spots

CASPER — The Newcastle Dogies sit 16th in the team standings with 27 points after two days of competition at the Wyoming 3A State Wrestling Championships in Casper. Two Dogies earned podium finishes while the rest of the squad battled through tough brackets against the state’s best.

“Wrestling today was tough,” head coach Teigen Marchant said. “All of our wrestlers had at least one tough match of the day. I was super happy with Troy’s performance progressing after the first round on to the second. Tomorrow is going to be a long day of wrestling but I am confident in the wrestlers that we brought and their ability to make it back into the placing rounds.”

At 138 pounds, sophomore Troy Christensen earned a sixth-place finish, scoring 11 team points. Christensen recorded a 17-12 decision over Branden Strong of Rawlins, then pinned Oscar Garcia of Lovell in 2:13 and Nicolas Horst of Cody in 3:12 before dropping his final match to Landon Rhyne of Pinedale to finish 3-2.

Freshman Micheal Coombs also placed sixth at 113 pounds, adding 10 team points. Coombs pinned Bo Leever of Torrington in 21 seconds, earned an 11-4 decision over Amos Trujillo of Rawlins and added another 21-second fall against Wyatt Rhamy of Glenrock. His tournament ended with a loss to Brennen Clark of Mountain View, finishing 3-1.

At 190 pounds, senior Noah Williams Gardner went 1-2. He dropped his opening match to Boston Busskohl of Lyman, rebounded with a 2:26 fall over Tyler Dansie of Cody, then was pinned by Monte Blank of Lovell.

Sophomore TJ Harrington competed at 150 pounds and finished 0-2 after a 10-7 decision loss to Kit Tait of Mountain View and a fall to Zayden Stahl of Lovell.

Freshman Asic Dawson went 1-2 at 106 pounds. After falling to Tyrus Connors of Buffalo, Dawson responded with a 19-9 major decision over William Taylor of Powell before being pinned by Jonathan Hine of Powell.

Junior Dane Crabtree wrestled at 165 pounds, finishing 0-2 with losses to Teegan McLaughlin of Burns and Owen Hill of Lovell.

The Dogies conclude their season Saturday as the state tournament wraps up in Casper.

State tournament results

106: Asic Dawson, 1-2.
113: Micheal Coombs, 3-1, 6th place, 10 team points.
138: Troy Christensen, 3-2, 6th place, 11 team points.
150: TJ Harrington, 0-2.
165: Dane Crabtree, 0-2.
190: Noah Williams Gardner, 1-2.