Wrestlers gain experience at State Meet

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The combined Newcastle/Upton wrestling team closed out their 2018-2019 season last weekend, sending 12 members to compete at the 3A State Meet in Casper. Though the weekend didn’t turn out exactly as the Dogie/Bobcat team had hoped, head coach Lee McCoy was pleased with the effort his team put forth.
“We did pretty good, especially considering the youth and inexperience we had going in,” he nodded. “A couple of kids didn’t do as well as we had thought they would, but then again, some did better than we had anticipated.”
McCoy named junior Jory McFarland as one of the latter, stating he had an excellent tournament which led to him claiming sixth place at 113 pounds.
“I was very proud of how Jory wrestled all weekend,” McCoy stated. “He beat kids who had beat him throughout the year, and he was winning the fifth place match until he had one little mistake that his opponent used to stick him.”
McFarland won his initial match with a pin in 47 seconds. A loss in the quarterfinals sent him into the wrestle-backs where he fought his way through two more rounds to make it into the fifth place match.
Returning state champ Kale Corley began the tournament strong, winning his way into the semi-final matchup in the 132 weight class. There he made one mistake early in the first period which allowed his opponent to take a 5-0 lead into the second. From there, the Star Valley freshman strategically stayed out of reach of Corley, essentially stalling for the remainder of the match to take the win.
“Kale got put on his back in the first period after he shot on the kid and got turned over,” McCoy described. “That’s a tough situation to come back from and after that, the kid was running from him, he was stalling and wrestling the edges of the mat, and anytime he got into trouble, he got out of bounds. Unfortunately, that was enough to beat Kale.”
From there, Corley won out to take third place, and according to McCoy, the sophomore was on a mission after the loss to get the best outcome possible.
“It was a disappointment for Kale to have his goal of being a four-time state champ die, but he was stoic in the loss,” McCoy stated. “He took some time to gather himself and focus on his new goal, and that’s the kind of resiliency you want to see in kids, and what will take them far in life.”
Senior Reid Holmes (120) won his opening match, but then lost in the quarterfinals which put him into the wrestle backs. Unfortunately, he reinjured his shoulder in the quarters, so when he got to the next match, it just proved to be too much and he ended his career without placing at the State Meet.
“I think his injury and the fact that he hadn’t practiced in the last couple of weeks played a huge role in his situation at State. When you’re up against the best the state has to offer, going in with that handicap is a huge hurdle to overcome, and 120 was a pretty tough weight class that was pretty stacked,” McCoy declared. “I hate to see kids go out like that, especially when it’s due to something they can’t help.” 
Blake Durfee (106) was the only other Dogie to win in the opening rounds of the tournament. He too lost in the quarterfinals round, but was able to get one win in the wrestle backs. 
“Blake’s loss in the quarterfinals was against some pretty tough competition from Lyman,” McCoy began. “But, he did great and I was pretty proud of him, making it to that blood round. He improved a lot this year, especially in the last couple of weeks where he really turned it on.”
Josh Womack (195) lost his first round matchup to the returning state champion from Cody, who had gotten the best of Dogie Teigen Marchant last year in the title match. Womack went on to win his first contest in the wrestle backs, only to fall in the second.
“Josh wrestled his first match pretty tough. He stopped the first couple of shots, but he just got overpowered,” McCoy stated. “He is just a freshman, but he has a great attitude. It doesn’t matter who he is wrestling, he goes in with the attitude that he’s going to take it to them, and that’s what I love to see.”
Cael Holmes (106), Aidan Coberly (132), Gavin Durfee (138), Jacob Rhoades (138), Skylar Jenkins (145), Weston Simianer (220) and Reece Woodard (220) each went two and out in their respective weight classes.
In reflecting on the season, McCoy was very pleased with the growth his team showed from beginning to end, and because the squad will lose only two seniors in Holmes and Gavin Durfee, is looking forward to success in the upcoming years.
“We have the potential to score more next year with all the young kids who gained great experience this year, so the future looks bright if we work toward it,” McCoy smiled. “We need to take advantage of opportunities in the offseason to help us out, but this is a very motivated group so when they do start hitting that success, they are almost unstoppable.”
“This was one of the most fun seasons I’ve had, and I want to thank all those who supported us by cheering us on and giving us goodies on our trips,” he continued “It was great to have that support from the two communities, and we plan on coming back stronger next year!”