Lovell Bulldogs face competition on the mat in Powell

By: 
Avery Layne

The Lovell High School wrestlers kicked off their season at the Powell Invitational this past weekend. The Powell Invite brings together wrestlers from 23 different schools from both Wyoming and Montana.

“We had a small varsity team due to injuries and missing wrestlers, but I felt like the guys we did bring wrestled outstanding this weekend,” head coach Ty Hecker said. The Bulldogs managed to place themselves well within the two-day tournament with several placers between the varsity, JV and the girls teams. 

The first day of the Powell tournament is wrestled in a round-robin format where wrestlers are sorted into several round-robin brackets. Wrestlers who fare well on Friday will be placed into the bracket on Saturday. After weeding through the tough competition, varsity wrestlers Talon Burton, Dino DeLaCruz, Rudy Hall and Kasey Jordan qualified for the second day of the tournament. Out of those four, two of them wrestled in placing matches. 

Senior DeLaCruz wrestled in the 126-pound division and ended his weekend in third place.

“DeLaCruz looked like a monster on his feet,” coach Hecker said. “His hard work in the offseason is showing up now as he is defeating 3A ranked opponents.” The senior’s overall record between the two days was 4-3, with one of those victories avenging a loss against Powell’s Chevy Hill, an opponent he had lost to by sudden victory on the first day.

Senior Hall qualified for the second day of the tournament in the 190-pound weight class after placing second overall in his pool of four other wrestlers on Friday. Hall placed fourth overall and ended his weekend with a total record of 4-3.

“Hall is one of the hardest workers in the practice room. He wrestled awesome, but he had a couple of matches slip through his fingers that I feel we can get back later this season,” Hecker said.

Jordan and Burton also made it to the second day in their brackets but fell short of placing matches. Nevertheless, coach Hecker mentioned their commitment on the mat this weekend, saying, “Kasey and Talon picked up some varsity wins this weekend. Talon wrestled up a weight and showed a lot of heart. Kasey wrestled very well but came up a little short.”

On the JV side of the tournament, Bulldog wrestlers Xaden Baxendale, Chance Hatch, Taevyn Gruell, Hudsen Mickelson and Tyler Wilkerson successfully landed a spot in the second day of the tournament. Three out of five of those wrestlers ended up placing in their bracket on Saturday. Assistant coach Skye Mickelson coached in the corner at the JV tournament this weekend.

“Our JV team wrestled really well,” Mickelson said. “For the most part, we outclassed everyone we wrestled.”

Hudsen Mickelson went undefeated in the JV tournament in the 120-pound weight division with a clean record of 6-0. 

Hudsen pinned everyone all the way through,” Mickelson noted. “He looked very strong on the mat this weekend.”

Hudsen entered the second day of the tournament seeded second in his bracket and having to wrestle his teammate Tyler Wilkerson in the first round.

“If they hadn’t had to wrestle each other in the first round, I definitely think Tyler and Hudsen would have been placed in the finals against each other,” Mickelson said.

Mickelson faced Montana opponent Ryker Schmidt of Huntley Project in the finals and managed to wrap up his match 12 seconds into the third period by pinning Schmidt, placing him first in the bracket.

Hatch successfully made it to the second day of the tournament in the 144-pound JV division after defeating all of the opponents he wrestled on Friday. Meeting more competition on Saturday, Hatch ended up placing fourth with a total record of 4-2.

“Hatch wrestled well but just got caught in a couple of things. Otherwise, he would’ve placed higher,” explained Mickelson. 

Freshman Jaxen Baxendale wrestled the 126-pound JV division, ending his weekend with a 2-3 record and placing fourth in his bracket on Saturday. Likewise, freshman Taevyn Gruell competed in the 190-pound JV division and made it to the second day after defeating two out of three of his opponents. Gruell finished in fourth place on Saturday with a 3-3 record.

“For freshmen, Gruell and Baxendale wrestled amazing and are looking ready to make the next step up as wrestlers,” Coach Mickelson said. 

“I was very impressed how we came out in Powell,” Hecker concluded. “I was a little nervous moving to 3A, but our wrestlers have shown we can wrestle tough against any class in the state. Everybody overall wrestled well, even the ones who didn’t make it to the second day.”

Girls tournament

The Lady Bulldogs wrestled at a separate tournament in Cody last weekend in which five Lady Bulldog wrestlers stepped out onto the mat to compete. Two of the wrestlers ended up placing at the tournament. 

Hecker highlighted freshmen Harley Tillett and Kaylynn Mickelson for their effort. Though they did not end up placing on Saturday, Hecker noted how tough they wrestled on the mat this weekend, noting, “Harley and Kaylynn picked up wins at their first tournament of the season. They wrestled aggressively and confidently, and Harley even wrestled tough in a match against a previous state placer.”

Senior Danika Crumrine placed second in her pool of three other girls in the 145-pound weight class. On Saturday, Crumrine worked through the left side of the bracket after losing a tough first match. She finished the meet in third place after avenging her loss to Greybull/Riverside’s Elizabeth Holloway. Crumrine finished her weekend with a record of 5-2.

Senior Maecie Joy also placed this weekend in the 135-pound weight class.

“Joy truly battled through this weekend,” Hecker said. Joy placed second in her pool on Friday and wrestled the left side of the bracket after losing her first match on Saturday. Joy finished in fourth place in her bracket with a 5-3 record. 

This weekend the Bulldogs will be wrestling at the Battle in the Bighorns in Worland, which is a two-day dual tournament for the boys and a bracket tournament for the girls.

“We’ll be going into this tournament a little shorthanded,” explained Hecker, “but I hope to get a lot of matches in before Christmas break. My goal is to come out of this tournament with good spirits and a healthy team.”

The Bulldogs will face several tough teams from across Wyoming and wrestle for a chance to land a spot in the Best of the Best matches. Matches will start at 1 p.m. at Worland High School on Friday, and the tournament will continue the next day at 8 a.m. 

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