Tigers finish second at regional wrestling tourney

The Mountain Home Tigers went 5-1 at the Green River Dual Wrestling Tournament last Friday and Saturday at Green River, Wyo.

Mountain Home's only loss in the tourney was in their opener against Vernal, Utah, when they lost 47-24. Vernal went on to win the tourney, going 6-0.

The Tiger grapplers made short work of Jackson, Wyo., 83-0, in their next outing. They beat Riverton, Wyoming, 47-27, and finished off Friday's matches with a 36-32 win over Green River.

Saturday morning they beat Rock Springs, Wyoming, 47-23, and closed out the tourney with a 52-27 win over Evanston, Wyo., to finish 5-1. Riverton came in third, and Evanston was fourth.

Three Tiger went undefeated in the tourney.

Kyle Hickerson went 6-0 at 112 pounds, as did David Wise at 119 pounds, and Garrett Wells at 145.

Mike Ramsey went 5-1 in the tourney, and Bobby Cornford, A.J. Hutchison, Kole Spaulding, James Greenfield, Chris Hathaway and Robert Weed all went 4-2 in the tourney.

Tiger wrestling coach Lynn Knudson was happy with their efforts at the Green River Tourney.

"We had a bit of a weak start there, which kind of woke the kids up and made them realize they can't just go in there and expect to win every match, they've got to do their part. I think the experience of who we wrestled, the caliber of wrestlers that we saw, with Utah starting earlier in the year, so they were a little more upbeat than we were, and a little more prepared, but I just felt good about spending that kind of time with those guys, and I think I saw a tremendous amount of improvement, just over the couple of days we were there."

The Tigers are at Twin Falls tonight for duals against the Bruins and the Century Diamondbacks, where Coach Kundson hopes for some good efforts by his team.

"I don't know too much about either team. I know Twin Falls has a new coach, and Century was starting to come on last year. I don't know exactly who they have returning, but I'm positive that we can give them both a pretty good match, and look forward to going down there and seeing what we can do."

Knudson is also looking forward to this weekend, when the Tigers go to a tournament at Centennial High School this Friday and Saturday.

"It'll be some stiff competition. Eagle and Weiser are among the teams that will be there, and they're both quality programs, so we're looking forward to that, too."