Grizzly wrestlers win some matches at Worland duals tournament

Wrestling teams that don’t have the numbers to fill weight classes don’t typically do well in dual matches, and such was the case for the Rocky Mountain Grizzlies as they competed at the Battle in the Bighorns duals tournament Friday and Saturday in Worland.
The Grizzlies dropped all seven of their team-vs.-team duals, falling to Casper Kelly Walsh 66-6, Douglas, Wyoming, 69-12, Douglas, South Dakota, 83-0, and Worland 63-0. In the bronze bracket, Rocky fell to Newcastle 48-18, Shoshoni 58-18 and Powell 40-27.
In the Kelly Walsh match, sophomore Jacoby Wachob pinned Ryan Whitley of KW in 4:49 at 138 pounds, while in the Douglas, Wyoming, match, junior Curtis Wachob pinned Alberto Saenz in 14 seconds at 285 and sophomore Colten Bitton stuck Sam Taylor in 1:37 at 132 pounds.
In the Newcastle match, Sam Loyning and Michael Bassett picked up six points each on forfeits, but sophomore Triffen Jolley pinned Gregory Klemmetsen in 59 seconds at 150 pounds. Curtis Wachob and Bitton picked up forfeits in the Shoshoni match, but Bassett made quick work of Gabe Cornell of Shoshoni at 157, pinning him in 34 seconds.
Against Powell, Loyning and William Torres picked up forfeits, and Bassett pinned Drake Heintz in 1:04 (157 pounds), Jolley stuck Kash Brazelton in 39 seconds (150) and Bitton edged Troy Cheatham 7-6 at 132 pounds.
“The battle in the Bighorns was a tough duals tournament, but we gained quite a bit of experience and momentum from this young Rocky Mountain team,” coach Eddie Whiting said. “There are just a few little things that we need to do to turn the corner. We will be using this off time in the break to improve our current moves but also getting our injured teammates healed and back.
“There were two young men that really stuck out this weekend. Jacoby Wachob is a workhorse. In each match he went all three rounds and showed he has no quit, even when he was in a bad position. He just worked his tail to get out of it. The other young man was Dalan Wambeke. He is just a one-of-a-kind wrestler who is not afraid of a battle but also knows how to be humble with wins and losses. He just shows a lot of maturity in a young man.”
JV and girls
Junior varsity boys and varsity girls wrestled in a regular bracket during the tournament. For the JV boys, freshman Wambeke went 2-1 at 126 pounds, pinning wrestlers from Worland and Lander, and Jacoby Wachob went 0-5 at 132A.
Sophomore Emily Wambeke and junior Rebecca Herren wrestled in the girls tournament, with Wambeke picking up a pin at 125 pounds against Brynlee Roady of Worland in 1:06.
The Grizz will return to action after the holidays when they travel to Lovell Friday, Jan. 5, for the annual Rocky-Lovell-Greybull triangular at 5 p.m., followed by the Wrangler Duals in Shoshoni on January 6 at 10 a.m.