NHS/UHS grapplers perform well in Hill City

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
After a couple of busy weeks, the Dogies/Bobcats took it a bit easy this week with only a one-day tournament in Hill City last Saturday. The squad took advantage of the slower week and finished fifth out of 21 teams.
“This week was a nice break from the schedule we’ve had lately,” head coach Lee McCoy admitted. “Overall we wrestled pretty well, and if we had been at full strength - we were missing a few guys for various reasons - we would probably have scored in the top three.” 
Saturday marked Kale Corley’s return to the mat after several weeks on the sidelines due to a torn meniscus. The junior quickly made up for lost time by going undefeated on the day and taking home first place at 145 pounds. On his way to the title, he pinned Sturgis in 49 seconds, Belle Fourche in 1:57, defeated Custer by major decision 15-4, and finally pinned Rapid City Central at the end of the first period of the championship match.
“It’s nice to have Kale back, and the time off didn’t seem to be as detrimental as it might have been,” McCoy said.
“The last time he competed was before Christmas, but he’s remained as active as he could during his recovery time. It was a good tournament for him to come back to because there was good competition for him, but they were out of state, so there wasn’t as much pressure.”
Not only did Corley leave the tournament with the championship at 145, but he was also awarded the Dusty Swanson Grind Award. It stands for the following characteristics - Grit, Relentless, Inspiring, Noble, and Dedicated. Dusty Swanson was a Hill City wrestler who was injured in a wrestling accident which left him paralyzed. He went on to finish school and get a degree so the school awards one athlete with this honor each year at this tournament.
“We nominated Kale for the award and all the coaches agreed unanimously that he should be the recipient so that was pretty cool,” McCoy nodded. “We all thought him deserving for coming back as quickly as he did from a pretty bad injury.”
Blake Durfee (106) also performed well defeating Rapid City Stevens in 26 seconds in the opening round. He made even quicker work of his second opponent from Custer, pinning him in 14 seconds. Spearfish lasted the whole match with him in the semifinal round, but Durfee got the better of him 9-5. However, he would fall to his Philip opponent in the championship round by a narrow 4-5 decision.
“Blake looked good and he should have won it, but it’s little things now that are plaguing him,” McCoy stated. “He was ahead in the championship match, but he gave up a reversal so was behind a point and then he ran out of time and lost by a point.”
Josh Womack (182) only dropped one match on the day. Unfortunately, it was in the first round where his Red Cloud opponent managed to just get past him 7-6. Timing is everything, so even though Womack went on to win his remaining matches, the best he could muster was third place.
“Josh came through the wrestle-backs and beat some tough kids,” McCoy declared. “The kid he went up against from Philip in the third place round was really tough, but he was able to prevail. The Philip kids are always tough, and you know it’s going to be a fun match.”
Jory McFarland (120) went three and two, fighting his way to the third place contest where Sundance got the better of him to take the win in 1:58.
 “Jory had to wrestle the number one seed right off the bat and lost. He then went down to the wrestle-backs and won four in a row,” McCoy explained. “The third place match was against a pretty good kid from Sundance, and he was doing well but got caught with his head down and that cost him.”
Tristan Wornkey (152) was the other Dogie/Bobcat to bring home hardware. In the junior’s first competition of the season, he also went three and two but fell in the second period of the third/fourth place match to Hot Springs.
“Tristan has a lot of skills and did a great job. The Gillette coaches spoke highly of him so we were anxious to get him on the mat,” McCoy began. “He wrestled hard and he needs to get in better shape, but he could definitely help us out at 152, because we need some experience at that weight.”
With the regular season winding down, the Dogies/Bobcats are now working on the little things to put them in the best position possible as the Regional tournament approaches.
“We have the heart and guts, now we just need to work on technique and effort,” McCoy stated. “We have one more regular season contest this week and then it’s off to the Regional Tournament so now is the time to be peaking.”
Newcastle/Upton will travel to Douglas on Thursday for a quadrangular with Douglas, Wheatland and Rawlins.
“I’m excited to see Rawlins because we’ve really only seen them at Ron Thon,” McCoy nodded. “We’ve got short time and it’s down to the wire now, and there’s some matchups we want to see before Regionals and State.”