It was an early start to the weekend at Wolverine Gym Thursday night with visiting Casper Kelly Walsh battling the Wolverines in a dual wrestling match. A good crowd was entertained by close matches throughout in a 48-23 win by the visiting Trojans.
“Our boys competed, it’s amazing when they all come out on fire,” Riverton head coach Robert Thoman said. “Kelly Walsh is a good team.”
The first two matches were decided on points, with Karston Kelgore of Casper winning by major decision over Riverton’s Garrett Withrow, 18-6 at 106 pounds. Liam Winters piled up 16 points with three near falls in his 113-pound match over Dashton Grunwald in a technical fall that ended the match in the third period.
Riverton took an 11-4 lead after Levi Gale built an 11-0 lead over Tayvin Campbell at 120 pounds, then pinned him in the second period.
Pryce Wiginton fell to Kelly Walsh’s Maverick Gallup in an entertaining match at 126 16-5 in a major decision, and Casper took the lead for good 14-11 after Parker Hill pinned Jayden Olheiser in the 132-pound match.
The 138- and 144-pound matches featured even, exciting wrestling with Austin Lackey taking a 12-7 decision over Riverton’s Frankie Strickland at 138.
The best match of the evening came in a battle between Devan Clawson and Casper’s Chris Diaz at 144 pounds. After a scoreless first period, the two wrestlers each tallied two points on reversals, leaving the score tied at 2-2 entering the third period. It looked like a tie until just a few seconds remained when Diaz scored a reverse to win the match 4-2.
Dennis Thornock wasted no time at 150 pounds, pinning Casper’s Deegan Walling in the first period.
Kelly Walsh won five of the six matches from 157 to 285 pounds to finish the match.
Travis Hurtado went the distance with Joseph Humphreys of Casper at 165 pounds, dropping a 17-7 major decision.
At 190, Riverton’s Weston McLaughlin built a huge lead before pinning Parker Belzinger early in the final period for the Wolverines’ final points of the dual.
Riverton’s junior varsity wrestles at Pavillion on Saturday in the annual Don Runner Memorial Tournament, while the varsity heads to Green River for the Thoman Duals. Aside from host Green River, the Wolverines will see teams from Kemmerer, Laramie, Lyman, Mountain View, Pinedale, Rawlins, Rock Springs, Wheatland, and Worland, along with Rifle, Colorado, and Salem Hills and Uintah from Utah.
Kelly Walsh 48 – Riverton 23
106: Karston Kelgore, KW over Garrett Withrow RIV MD 18-6
113: Liam Winters, RIV over Dashton Grunwald, KW TF 16-0
120: Levi Gale, RIV over Tayvin Campbell, KW Fall
126: Maverick Gallup, KW over Pryce Wiginton, RIV MD 16-5
132: Parker Hill, KW over Jayden Olheiser, RIV Fall
138: Austin Lackey, KW over Frankie Strickland, RIV Dec 12-7
144: Chris Diaz, KW over Devan Clawson, RIV Dec 4-2
150: Dennis Thornock, RIV over Deegan Walling, KW Fall
157: William Alt, KW over Jace Auerbach, RIV Fall
165: Joseph Humprheys, KW over Travis Hurtado, RIV MD 17-7
175: Ethan Hauge, KW over Daniel Lemley, RIV Fall
190: Weston McLauglin, RIV over Parker Belzinger, KW Fall
215: Timothy Schrack, KW over Ayden Sanchez, RIV Fall
285: Landon Smith, KW over Daniel Clawson, RIV Fall