Dogies fall short at tourney

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Ron Thon Wrestling Tournament in Riverton is the biggest, toughest tournament of the year and the combined Newcastle/Upton Wrestling squad was among the all but four Wyoming high schools who were in attendance.
“The Ron Thon is a tough one,” head coach Lee McCoy began. “It’s a grinder, so we entered only three kids in the varsity division and the other nine in junior varsity.”
Reid Holmes (120), Kale Corley (132) and Gavin Durfee (138) were the three who made the cut for the upper division. Unfortunately, Holmes re-injured his shoulder in his first match so he was forced to forfeit the rest of his potential matches. 
Durfee went two and out, losing his first match in the third period against a Rock Springs opponent and the second to a Thunder Basin wrestler in the first period.
Corley made the best run of the day for Newcastle, winning his first match with a pin, and his second by decision - both against 3A opponents. He went on to lose his next two contests against 4A wrestlers.
“Kale made it to the consolation quarter finals, so he was just one match away from a placing opportunity,” McCoy nodded. “He came close though and he is definitely improving some of the positions, but he is pretty beat up right now and fighting some injuries so that may have contributed somewhat to the losses.”
On the JV side of things, McCoy noted that most of the kids battled well and only a couple of wrestlers went two and out on the weekend.
Blake Durfee (106), Jory McFarland (113) and newcomer Weston Simianer (220) each made it to the consolation quarterfinals, so like Corley were just one match away from the placing rounds. 
“Jory, Blake and Aidan [Coberley at 132] are wrestling really well right now, and all three are getting close to having a breakthrough,” McCoy exclaimed. “You can see it, and they are seeing it and this weekend was kind of bittersweet for them. They knew they were close, and you could see in their eyes on the way home they wanted more of that and wanted to do better.”
Though no one placed at the tournament, McCoy stressed that each walked away from it with valuable knowledge.
“One of the things I’ve been stressing to the guys is that though we’ve been working hard in practice on specific things, they’ve got to mature mentally and their will to not get beat has to override any doubts, or giving up on certain positions,” McCoy frowned. “We’re seeing where we’re getting in good positions, trying to finish a move or work defense, but when the going gets tough, a lot of them are giving up and we can’t have that if we’re going to get to the next level.”
McCoy admitted that it is hard to simulate those situations in practice because his squad is not that competitive in that arena. However, tournaments like the Ron Thon provide excellent opportunities for the Dogies to learn those valuable lessons.
“For most of the kids this was the first time wrestling at Ron Thon, so it was a good experience for them and they now know where the bar is set.” McCoy declared. “There aren’t very many easy kids there and they are fighting for the same things our kids are so it was eye-opening for them and they realized that we just have to toughen up, and work harder in practice to make our partners and ourselves better.”
This Saturday, some of the Dogies will go to Hill City for a one-day tournament. McCoy stated that he will not be wrestling everyone since several are getting close to being full for the season and some kids, like Holmes and Corley, need the opportunity to rest and heal up before upcoming duals against Wheatland and Douglas.