Lady grapplers face tough competition

The Lady Dogie wrestlers competed in a huge, highly competitive tournament in Moorcroft Friday and Saturday, where three of head coach Shaide Bowthorpe’s crew brought home hardware and three more came one match short of doing so.

“It wasn’t our best weekend, but we still had some girls place, which was good,” Bowthorpe said. “We were up against some pretty tough competition from Montana so our girls had their work cut out for them.”

Ayonna Hunter, in the 105-pound weight class, and Brylee Caster (145) each finished fourth in their weight classes, Sage Lichtenberger (100) placed sixth, while Ashlyn Shoyer (120), Adelyn Bergstrom (145) and Meadow Thomas (155) made it to the blood round (the round before placing), before being knocked out of contention for hardware.

“Ayonna has been having great weekends. She has that fire under her where she really wants to compete and she is pushing hard for stuff,” Bowthorpe said.

The third-place match was a tough loss, as Hunter gave up two points to her Sheridan opponent in the final moments of the match to lose by decision 3-5.

“That was a bummer because Ayonna had beat this girl earlier in the year,” Bowthorpe said. “But it was a great learning opportunity for her going forward.”

Caster picked up her 20th win of the season in her fourth-place performance at the tournament.

“Brylee is always really consistent and is always ready to wrestle,” Bowthorpe said. “The matches that she loses are just because she is outgunned by girls who are taller and bigger than she is.”

Caster beat Natrona in the quarter-finals by pinning her opponent in 36 seconds, but ran into one of those tough Montana wrestlers in the semis where she was defeated. The most exciting match of the day was Caster’s win in the consolation semis where she defeated Campbell County in a 7-6 decision.

“I pinned (Haylee Blomberg) the first time we saw each other, and then the next time she beat me by a point, which made me really mad. It was great vengeance to get to pay her back,” Caster said. “I almost never go bottom, but at the end when I had the choice of where I wanted to start, I looked at coaches and I decided to go bottom. I got the escape, which tied up the match and then she got called for locked hands, which gave me another point. I believe that my decision to go bottom won me that match.”

Lichtenberger picked up wins over Harmony Sullivan (Newcastle) and a Baker, Montana, opponent on her way to sixth place.

“Sage does a really good job of staying in good positions and working through stuff,” Bowthorpe said. “We had hoped that she would place a little bit higher, but I think we are all pretty happy with how she finished.”

Bergstrom’s last two matches were super tough, according to Bowthorpe. Both went into overtime and one went into double overtime. Both losses were by decision, with one being decided by a tie-breaker.

“Those were some tough, exciting matches!” Bowthorpe said. “She wrestled, probably the best we’ve seen all season, so we know that she’s improving.”

This week, the Lady Dogies will head to Riverton for the annual Ron Thon Tournament, which is essentially a preview of the state tournament.