Check back with the Tribune throughout Friday and Saturday as we'll be posting the latest updates as they become available. The most recent information will always appear immediately below this note.
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Saturday, 9:15 p.m. -- Nick Petersen is your 2011 national champion at 184 pounds. Petersen won the title with a 4-1 decision victory. After scoring an early takedown and giving up the escape, Petersen spent the entire second period attempting to get to his feet after starting in the down position. Petersen returned the favor in the third period, keeping his opponent on the mat despite a couple nerve-wracking scrambles, the latter ending in a two-point nearfall for Petersen with roughly 10 seconds remaining in the match.
The Trappers' two other championship match wrestlers finished on the losing side of narrow decisions. Jesse Hillhouse struck first with a takedown at 133 pounds, but gave up escapes in the first and second periods to enter the third period knotted at 2-2. The two grapplers spent two minutes on their feet with no points scored in the third period, then repeated the process for another minute in overtime. In double overtime, starting down, Hillhouse was unable to work to his feet in 30 seconds. Working from the top in the reciprocal 30-second period, Hillhouse surrendered his third escape of the match and was unable to press forward for a winning takedown in the final seconds, losing 3-2.
For Cast, a second-period escape put the freshman on top 1-0, but he gave up an escape early in the third period to re-tie the match. An edge-of-the-mat takedown against Cast brought Trapper head coach Jim Zeigler out, but the call stood. Cast got back to his feet for an escape with 55 seconds remaining but got caught for another takedown attempting to press the action and take the lead. Cast escaped again with 15 seconds left, but was unable to threaten a takedown against his defensive-minded opponent, falling 5-3.
No team score updates yet, but when those scores are posted, expect yet another top-1o finish for your Northwest College Trappers.
This will be the last posting in this blog entry. Thanks for following along with the action and for more coverage of both the Wyoming 3A and the NJCAA national wrestling tournaments, check out Tuesday's edition of the Powell Tribune.
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Saturday, 7:15 p.m. -- The Powell High School Panthers will bring home three state champions as Craig, Seckman and Olson all won their championship matches. The upper weights are still underway, but it appears that performance will not be enough to bridge the gap between the Panthers and Douglas in the race for second place. Worland is your 2011 state champion.
At Spokane, the championship round is scheduled to begin at approximately 7:45 p.m. Mountain time. Northwest College wrestling fans can watch the championship matches online at: www.nic.edu/athletics/wrestlingnationals/
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Saturday, 2:45 p.m. -- The Panthers have narrowed the gap between themselves and second place, but Worland continues to pull away from everyone at the 3A state wrestling tournament.
They are up to the medal rounds now, so here's your rundown of Panthers who will be competing today and bringing home a medal for finishing somewhere in the top six:
103-Charles Wittick will wrestle for the state title.
119 -Jessee Craig will wrestle for the state title.
125-Robert Friday will wrestle for third place.
140-Colt Nix will wrestle for third place.
145-Waylon Bays will wrestle for third place.
152-Jimmy Seckman will wrestle for the state title.
152-Tyler Patterson will wrestle for fifth place.
160-Olie Olson will wrestle for the state title.
160-Clay Saldana will wrestle for fifth place.
171-Randy Andrews will wrestle for third place.
215-Kurt Bullinger will wrestle for fifth place.
285-Trevor Griffeth will wrestle for fifth place.
Team standings heading into the medal round show Worland in front with 234 points. Douglas is in second at 208.5 and Powell is third with 198.5 points. From there, it's 72.5 points back to fourth place, so this has been the three-horse race everyone predicted it would be.
For those curious, Douglas has 13 wrestlers competing in the medal rounds. Worland and Powell each have 12. Lander, with seven, is the only other 3A school to have more than five still competing.
For those not able to make it to Casper, remember that you can watch Powell's four championship contenders wrestle their final matches at www.rtcom.tv.
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Saturday, 1:30 p.m. -- The championship semifinals have just concluded and the Northwest College Trappers have gone 3-for-3. Jesse Hillhouse, Keithen Cast and Nick Petersen will all be wrestling for national titles this evening.
Hillhouse advanced through a meeting between the No. 1 and No. 2 wrestlers at 133 pounds when the match was stopped in the third period due to an injury. Hillhouse will face Tyler Holloway from Rend Lake in the title match tonight. Holloway entered the national tournament with a No. 6 ranking nationally.
Cast earned a narrow 4-3 decision in the semifinals. The Trappers' freshman will take his No. 4 ranking into the finals against an opponent that he actually knows quite well -- North Idaho's No. 2 ranked Jesse Nielsen. The two have faced off twice previously this year.
Finally, Nick Petersen breezed through the semifinals with an 8-0 victory. The margin was impressive enough, but looks even larger when one considers it came against the No. 3 wrestler in the weight class. One person who might not be impressed is Rend Lake's Austin Morehead, Petersen's opponent in tonight's championship. Morehead, ranked second nationally, advanced with a 9-4 decision over Labette's Ray Hall, the wrestler that took Petersen into overtime in the zone championship tournament two weeks ago.
Sears Tiernan's tournament finished one win shy of All-American honors. The Trappers' sophomore heavyweight lost a major decision in the All-American round to be eliminated from competition. Northwest had slipped to 12th in the team standings after the All-American round, but obviously will shoot upwards after its three semifinal victories.
No updates from Casper yet. Stay tuned.
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Friday, 10:45 p.m. -- The Powell Panthers will wrestle for four individual state titles on Saturday, but find themselves chasing two schools that will be wrestling for six apiece.
Charles Wittick (103), Jessee Craig (119), Jimmy Seckman (152) and Olie Olson (160) chained together three wins on Friday and go to sleep tonight knowing they need just one more to wrap up the dream of a state title. Between the four, they've recorded 11 wins by fall and one technical fall victory.
Wittick (33-11 overall this season) scored a pair of first-period wins by fall in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds to go along with a prelim round match that went into the second period before Wittick pressed his man flat. He'll square off Saturday against Justin Lewton, who brings a 45-4 record into the match. Like Wittick, Lewton's day consisted of three wins by fall, two within the first minute.
Craig, like Wittick, cruised through Friday with three wins by fall. He takes a 33-10 record into Saturday's championship match where he'll face Josh Materi of Thermopolis in the first of two Powell-Thermop pairings in the final round. Materi reached the finals with a 26-second fall in the prelims and back-to-back major decisions in the quarters and semis.
Jimmy Seckman finally got pushed beyond the first minute of a match in the semifinals, but that hardly changed the outcome. Seckman, now 33-4 on the year, has a Saturday date with Lane Read of Douglas, whose two wins by fall and a technical fall gave him a comfortable route into the championship round.
Finally, Olson scored his 40th win of the season in the semifinals on Friday night. It didn't take long as he recorded it via a first-period pin. Now he'll face Kyle Larson of Thermopolis for the title. Larson's day didn't contain much drama, but it did contain a variety of results as he won by fall, technical fall and major decision.
Powell enters Saturday a distant third in the standings, staring at a 31-point gap between themselves and defending state champion Douglas. The Panthers have 144.5 points. Douglas has 175.5 points while Worland is in striking distance with 164 points. Both Worland and Douglas have six wrestlers in the finals, so if the Panthers are going to make a move, it will have to come in the consolation rounds.
Now, let's shift focus to Spokane, where the Trappers have three wrestlers in the semifinals tomorrow. Nick Petersen captured a quarterfinal win by fall to advance. Jesse Hillhouse earned his second victory by decision on the day, scoring a 7-3 victory. Both can now call themselves two-time All-Americans as they are assured of spots in the top eight. Also assured of All-American status by virtue of reaching the semifinals is freshman Keithen Cast, whose 8-6 win in the quarterfinals allows him to keep wrestling for a title when action resumes on Saturday.
On the consolation side of the bracket, Bobby Robbins' day came to a close in the third consolation round, where he was a major decision victim. Sears Tiernan picked up a victory by fall in the third consolation round to stay alive. Tiernan needs to produce just one more victory to give the Trappers their fourth All-American of this year's national championships.
The Trappers were sitting in eighth place heading into what is affectionately known as the All-American round of the elimination bracket, a reference to the fact that those who win the round have achieved All-American status and a finish somewhere in the top eight. Northwest has amassed 44.5 points but will need to gather more on Saturday to continue its string of top-10 finishes for head coach Jim Ziegler.
That'll do it for today. Get some sleep and join us for the excitement of championship Saturday, both at Casper and Spokane.
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Friday, 6 p.m. -- A quick update as I dash out the door. The Panthers remain third in the team race after the quarterfinal round with 92.5 points. They're 15.5 in back of Worland in the team chase .
Wrestling tonight in the semifinals will be Charles Wittick (2 wins by fall at 103), Jessee Craig (2 wins by fall at 119), Robert Friday (2 wins vs. Wheatland opponents, including a 9-7 quarterfinal win), Colt Nix (a 7-0 quarterfinal winner after a morning pin to begin his state tournament), Jimmy Seckman (2 wins by fall at 152 pounds, coming in a combined 1:19) and Olie Olson (a technical-fall winner in the quarterfinals 18-2).
They've tipped off in the Park County rivalry game between Powell and Cody, so this will be my last post until late tonight when I'll do my best to summarize the day's action at both venues.
If you're reading this, be sure to leave a comment of support for your favorite wrestler(s) -- I'm sure they'll appreciate it, and we'd love to know who you are and where you're following the action from!
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Friday, 4:30 p.m. -- They're through the second elimination round at Spokane and two Trapper wrestlers have seen their season come to a close as Bernie Dupuy (165) and Ben Price (197) each suffered their second losses of the tournament. Each of the defeats came by a single point.
Bobby Robbins (149) staved off elimination by winning 7-4 in his latest outing. Sears Tiernan (285) won via injury default. As a team, the Trappers had 19 points entering the round, placing them in a tie for 12th place among all teams in attendance.
Still no word on the 3A championship quarterfinals out of Casper. Hopefully I'll receive an update there before the Cody-Powell basketball games take me away from the computer tonight. Just a reminder -- the championship semifinals are reportedly being streamed live to the Internet at www.rtcom.tv for those wanting to tune in and watch tonight. They also claim to be broadcasting Saturday's championships. No information on what sort of computer specs you might need in order to enjoy the broadcast.
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Friday, 3:15 p.m. -- All Northwest College wrestlers have been through their second round matches. Both of the Trappers' No. 1 wrestlers have advanced safely into the quarterfinals, as has freshman Keithen Cast, ranked No. 4 at 174 pounds. Everyone else is still alive in the elimination side of the bracket.
Cast's first match on the mat didn't last long as his opponent was forced to forfeit due to an injury just 65 seconds into the first period. He'll face ninth-ranked Travis Peralta of Ridgewater in the quarterfinals.
Nick Petersen, who, like Cast, had a first-round bye this morning, won convincingly with a 13-3 decision over No. 11 Nate Bazan. He'll face unranked Teagen Franco of Yakima Community College in the quarters.
For Bernie Dupuy (165), it was a good effort against the top-ranked wrestler in his weight class, but not quite enough to take the win. Dupuy dropped a 7-3 decision. For Sears Tiernan, it was a meeting with the No. 2 man in the heavyweight division, and a 12-2 loss in a battle of top-10 grapplers. Ben Price, who lost in the opening round, received a bye in the first elimination round of the day, keeping all seven Trappers alive on the bracket.
On the high school side, the championship quarterfinals are close to wrapping up. No results or team score updates yet, but to clarify an item from earlier today, Randy Andrews was an upset victim in the first round, bringing an abrupt end to the state title hopes of the 34-6 wrestler. Andrews will look to make as much noise as possible on the elimination side of things as he goes after a third-place medal and score as many points as possible toward the team race.
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Friday, 1:40 p.m. -- Haven't been able to reach anyone on-site in Casper, but we can at least remove part of the asterisk from the 1:15 p.m. post. The 160-pound bracket has been revised and now shows Olson as a winner by fall in the first period. Powell's team score has similarly been adjusted. The Panthers remain in third place, but now have 40 points, putting them six off the pace. As tight as this three-horse race for the 3A title is forecast to be, those points could come in handy by tournament's end.
Out in Spokane, Jesse Hillhouse turned in a 7-2 decision in his showdown with North Idaho's Brock Banta. He's into the quarterfinals against Wismit Moinius, an unranked grappler out of North Iowa Area. Bobby Robbins wasn't as fortunate at 149 pounds, dropping a 16-5 major decision to sixth-ranked Mark Marionovich.
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Friday, 1:15 p.m. -- And just like that, the results have appeared from Casper. Or have they? After round one, the Panthers sit in third place with 36 team points. Worland is in first with 46 points. Douglas is second with 42 points.
The bigger story, if accurate, would be that Olie Olson (160) and Randy Andrews (171) are both shown as having lost their first-round matches by fall. If true, that would deal a significant blow to Powell's chances for a state title as both were on a short list of state title contenders at their respective weights. I'm putting an asterisk by this one for now (*) and making some phone calls to verify.
In the meantime, Powell won at least 12 matches in the first round, including eight wins by fall among scoring wrestlers. Kurt Bullinger turned in the fastest first-round pin, needing just 20 seconds to get on and off the mat with his arm raised in victory. Jimmy Seckman and Dylan Rood also took less than 45 seconds to finish off their round one foes.
Round two should be getting started. Obviously, we'll report back in with clarification on the situation at 160 and 171 if needed. Round two is also underway in Spokane, updates coming as events warrant.
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Friday, 1 p.m. -- Round one is pretty much in the books at Spokane and it couldn't have gone much better than it did for Northwest College. The Trappers have six of their seven wrestlers alive on the championship side of the bracket. Bernie Dupuy was a 10-4 winner at 165. Sears Tiernan won by fall in just 2:26. Only Ben Price fell onto the elimination bracket, dropping a 4-0 first-round decision at 197. No team scores have been posted yet as the final 285-pound matches are still on the mat, but Northwest pulled good points through round one.
The second round will be coming up and now we start getting to the fun part. Of the six Trappers still in title contention, five will be hitting ranked opponents. Dupuy will square off against the top-ranked grappler at 165. Tiernan will face the No. 2 man at 285. Robbins, Hillhouse and Petersen will also take on opponents ranked 11th or better in the nation. Only Cast draws an unranked foe in round two as he'll face Tony Lisek of Jamestown.
Still waiting on WHSAA to make round one results available from Casper. We'll pass those along as quickly as possible.
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Friday, 11:45 a.m. -- We now have our first correction of the weekend. The results have changed in Spokane and are now showing that Hillhouse's first-round victory was actually a win by fall, adding a little more to the Trappers' team score as the school goes after another top-10 finish.
In the meanwhile, Bobby Robbins has hit the mat and defeated Ryan Davis of Iowa Central by a narrow 5-4 decision. Up next for him is Lincoln College's Mark Marionovich, ranked sixth in the weight class.
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Friday, 11:15 a.m. -- The first result is in from Spokane and returning All-American and No. 1 in the 133-pound division Jesse Hillhouse cruised to a technical fall victory in his tournament opener. The victory sets up a second-round showdown with Brock Banta of North Idaho, who also won by tech. fall. One month ago, this would have been an unheard-of match at this stage of the bracket. Hillhouse was ranked No. 1 and Banta No. 2 when the pair faced off at the Apodaca Duals. It certainly isn't the sort of match you'd expect in the second round, but Hillhouse and NWC head coach Jim Zeigler were comfortable with their game plan, which produced an 8-2 win in January.
Keep in mind that Keithen Cast (174) and Nick Petersen (184) are already through to the second round as well by virtue of first-round byes. The 141-pounders are getting set to take the mat at Spokane. I'll check back in on the progress of Bobby Robbins (149), Bernie Dupuy (165), Ben Price (197) and Sears Tiernan (285) in about an hour, at which time we should also be in possession of the first round results from Casper and the state 3A championships.
Cast's first match on the mat didn't last long as his opponent was forced to forfeit due to an injury just 65 seconds into the first period. He'll face ninth-ranked Travis Peralta of Ridgewater in the quarterfinals.
Nick Petersen, who, like Cast, had a first-round bye this morning, won convincingly with a 13-3 decision over No. 11 Nate Bazan. He'll face unranked Teagen Franco of Yakima Community College in the quarters.
For Bernie Dupuy (165), it was a good effort against the top-ranked wrestler in his weight class, but not quite enough to take the win. Dupuy dropped a 7-3 decision. For Sears Tiernan, it was a meeting with the No. 2 man in the heavyweight division, and a 12-2 loss in a battle of top-10 grapplers. Ben Price, who lost in the opening round, received a bye in the first elimination round of the day, keeping all seven Trappers alive on the bracket.
On the high school side, the championship quarterfinals are close to wrapping up. No results or team score updates yet, but to clarify an item from earlier today, Randy Andrews was an upset victim in the first round, bringing an abrupt end to the state title hopes of the 34-6 wrestler. Andrews will look to make as much noise as possible on the elimination side of things as he goes after a third-place medal and score as many points as possible toward the team race.
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Friday, 1:40 p.m. -- Haven't been able to reach anyone on-site in Casper, but we can at least remove part of the asterisk from the 1:15 p.m. post. The 160-pound bracket has been revised and now shows Olson as a winner by fall in the first period. Powell's team score has similarly been adjusted. The Panthers remain in third place, but now have 40 points, putting them six off the pace. As tight as this three-horse race for the 3A title is forecast to be, those points could come in handy by tournament's end.
Out in Spokane, Jesse Hillhouse turned in a 7-2 decision in his showdown with North Idaho's Brock Banta. He's into the quarterfinals against Wismit Moinius, an unranked grappler out of North Iowa Area. Bobby Robbins wasn't as fortunate at 149 pounds, dropping a 16-5 major decision to sixth-ranked Mark Marionovich.
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Friday, 1:15 p.m. -- And just like that, the results have appeared from Casper. Or have they? After round one, the Panthers sit in third place with 36 team points. Worland is in first with 46 points. Douglas is second with 42 points.
The bigger story, if accurate, would be that Olie Olson (160) and Randy Andrews (171) are both shown as having lost their first-round matches by fall. If true, that would deal a significant blow to Powell's chances for a state title as both were on a short list of state title contenders at their respective weights. I'm putting an asterisk by this one for now (*) and making some phone calls to verify.
In the meantime, Powell won at least 12 matches in the first round, including eight wins by fall among scoring wrestlers. Kurt Bullinger turned in the fastest first-round pin, needing just 20 seconds to get on and off the mat with his arm raised in victory. Jimmy Seckman and Dylan Rood also took less than 45 seconds to finish off their round one foes.
Round two should be getting started. Obviously, we'll report back in with clarification on the situation at 160 and 171 if needed. Round two is also underway in Spokane, updates coming as events warrant.
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Friday, 1 p.m. -- Round one is pretty much in the books at Spokane and it couldn't have gone much better than it did for Northwest College. The Trappers have six of their seven wrestlers alive on the championship side of the bracket. Bernie Dupuy was a 10-4 winner at 165. Sears Tiernan won by fall in just 2:26. Only Ben Price fell onto the elimination bracket, dropping a 4-0 first-round decision at 197. No team scores have been posted yet as the final 285-pound matches are still on the mat, but Northwest pulled good points through round one.
The second round will be coming up and now we start getting to the fun part. Of the six Trappers still in title contention, five will be hitting ranked opponents. Dupuy will square off against the top-ranked grappler at 165. Tiernan will face the No. 2 man at 285. Robbins, Hillhouse and Petersen will also take on opponents ranked 11th or better in the nation. Only Cast draws an unranked foe in round two as he'll face Tony Lisek of Jamestown.
Still waiting on WHSAA to make round one results available from Casper. We'll pass those along as quickly as possible.
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Friday, 11:45 a.m. -- We now have our first correction of the weekend. The results have changed in Spokane and are now showing that Hillhouse's first-round victory was actually a win by fall, adding a little more to the Trappers' team score as the school goes after another top-10 finish.
In the meanwhile, Bobby Robbins has hit the mat and defeated Ryan Davis of Iowa Central by a narrow 5-4 decision. Up next for him is Lincoln College's Mark Marionovich, ranked sixth in the weight class.
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Friday, 11:15 a.m. -- The first result is in from Spokane and returning All-American and No. 1 in the 133-pound division Jesse Hillhouse cruised to a technical fall victory in his tournament opener. The victory sets up a second-round showdown with Brock Banta of North Idaho, who also won by tech. fall. One month ago, this would have been an unheard-of match at this stage of the bracket. Hillhouse was ranked No. 1 and Banta No. 2 when the pair faced off at the Apodaca Duals. It certainly isn't the sort of match you'd expect in the second round, but Hillhouse and NWC head coach Jim Zeigler were comfortable with their game plan, which produced an 8-2 win in January.
Keep in mind that Keithen Cast (174) and Nick Petersen (184) are already through to the second round as well by virtue of first-round byes. The 141-pounders are getting set to take the mat at Spokane. I'll check back in on the progress of Bobby Robbins (149), Bernie Dupuy (165), Ben Price (197) and Sears Tiernan (285) in about an hour, at which time we should also be in possession of the first round results from Casper and the state 3A championships.
