Wrestlers dominate the day

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter      
 
The Newcastle/Upton grapplers took Niobrara County by storm and dominated at the Lusk Invitational in their opening weekend, defeating Glenrock 45-21, Wright 42-24  and Lusk 48-21.
“It was a pretty fun weekend, and we didn’t do too bad,” conceded co-head coach Lee McCoy. “It was good to start out with three wins.”
“They were good duals and were pretty competitive, and we matched up pretty well with all the teams,” he continued. “And for being the first event out of the chute the kids did pretty well — but we also discovered we do have a lot to work on of course.”
Glenrock was first on the docket for the Dogies/Bobcats, and according to McCoy they came in with a couple of pretty tough kids. Fortunately, his team matched up pretty well. Their top wrestler was competing at 152, two-time state champion Kale Corley’s weight class. 
McCoy admitted that he expected it to be a pretty competitive match, however Corley made quick work of his opponent, sticking him just 47 seconds into the second period.
“The kid chose down to start the second which is a mistake when you wrestle Kale,” McCoy laughed. “He handled him pretty easily after that.”
Corley’s second match of the day went 34 seconds into the second period before he pinned his Wright opponent, who then finished the day with a forfeit win against Lusk. 
Blake Durfee (120) had a good match in his debut contest of the season which was over almost before it began. Durfee left no room for debate as he pinned his opponent in just 33 seconds, and the senior would go undefeated on the day, by sticking his Wright and Lusk competitors in 1:46 and 4:09 respectively.
Cael Holmes (120) also had a short go of it, sticking his challenger in just 1:06, but then got caught in a headlock in his match against Wright and lost by a 2-8 decision against Lusk.
“I’m confident Cael would have won against the Wright kid,” McCoy began. “Unfortunately, he just made a little mistake that put him in a bad position. 
Skylar Jenkins also had a good start to his season. Jenkins was expected to wrestle at 170 on Saturday, but he competed at 160 due to Newcastle being awarded two extra pounds on the day. The reason for the two-pound leeway was that Glenrock had contests on Thursday and Friday, and as such were given one bonus pound per day. Because Glenrock was allowed two extra, so was Newcastle.
Jenkins finished off the Herder competitor in 26 seconds, almost before he could break a sweat, and did the same to his Wright Panther opponent just one second shy of the end of the first period. Lusk was open at the 160-pound weight class, so the senior finished the day with a perfect record. 
Johnny Carlson went two and one at 132, defeating Glenrock in a 7-5 decision, losing by pin to Wright in the third period and sticking Lusk just 28 seconds into the match.
Josh Womack, in the 195-pound weight class, had a nearly perfect day aside from losing his first match by a close 17-20 decision, winning his second by forfeit and closing out the day with a quick pin in his final contest after only 44 seconds of competition.
“It was a good way to start the season, and it was also good for us and the guys to see what still needs to be done,” McCoy nodded. “They were good team wins, but we have a lot of individual things we need to work on in order to get where we need to be.” 
McCoy went on to stress that his team has a pretty full slate of things to improve upon this week as they prepare to host Buffalo in a dual in Upton on Thursday, then travel to Worland on Friday for the annual Battle of the Big Horns. There they will see Thermopolis, Powell, Lovell and Worland. 
Thursday’s dual will also be the senior recognition for the team since Blake Durfee and Aidan Coberly are each from Upton. They will be recognized again at the Newcastle Invite for the Dogie seniors. 
Though school dismisses for Christmas break on Friday, the squad has one more contest before Christmas. On Tuesday, Dec. 22, they will travel to Sheridan for the 3A/4A duals and will go up against Thunder Basin, Sheridan and other 4A teams. 
“We have some tough teams coming up so we need to be ready for those,” McCoy concluded. “But it’s great that we will be seeing some quality competition before the break.”