Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Senior Rowdy Keller and freshman Clay Keller brought home silver medals and runner-up top finishes from the Lingle-Ft. Laramie Dogger Invitational Wrestling Tournament this past weekend.
The two-day affair that took place on Friday and Saturday involved 17 schools with Bayard winning the team title with 224 points beating out several Wyoming schools for bragging rights. Kimball wound up 13th with their limited squad numbers scoring 59 points.
Rowdy Keller, wrestling at 120 pounds, won 4-2 over Shepardson of Lingle, won 11-4 over Evans of Gering, won 7-6 over Frentheway of Cheyenne Central, and lost 7-5 in the championship match to Burry of Bayard going 3-l on the day.
Clay Keller at 132 won by fall in 1:34 over Munsey of Natrona County, won by fall in :42 over Riesen of Scottsbluff, won by fall in 3:38 over Mason of Saratoga, and lost a 5-1 decision to Eldridge of Cheyenne East in the championship match leaving him at 3-1 on the day.
Justin Mohr at 138 was one win away from placing and finished with a winning record of 3-2 for the tournament. Mohr won by fall over Vassalo-Perez of East in 2:36, lost 16-5 to Bifano of Saratoga, won by fall in 1:06 over Purdy of Central, won by forfeit over Lucas of Bayard, and lost by fall in 1:12 to Peak of Natrona County.
Eric Escajeda at 285 was 1-2 for the tournament losing twice by fall and pinning Lopez of Torrington in :49. Garrett Pedersen at 106, Logan Stahla at 132, and Cody Kirby at 220 all suffered 2 losses.
Coach Wade Brashear said, "Although we wanted different outcomes in some of our matches, we had a solid performance at a good tournament. This tournament provided a good learning experience for us which we will carry into practice this week. Our next competition is this Saturday (January 31) at the Mitchell Invite." The school calendar shows a start time of 8:30 on Saturday. Next up is the SPVA tournament at Maxwell on February 5.