Wrestlers to send 16 to state

The Mountain Home Tigers finished second at the District III 4A Wrestling Tourney at Vallivue last weekend, and qualified 16 wrestlers on to the State Wrestling Championships this weekend in Pocatello.

Kuna won the District Meet, with 384 points.

Mountain Home finished second with 300.5 points, ahead of third place Emmett, with 261. Vallivue was fourth with 215.5, and Bishop Kelly and Caldwell tied for fifth, with 143 points.

Mountain Home had four District Championships, two second place finishes, five third place efforts, four fifth place finishers, and one sixth place finish.

The top six places in each weight class qualifies for state.

Keeping his record on the season unblemished was David Wise, who won the 119 pound weight class. Wise beat teammate Marcos Ortiz in a 5-3 decision for the District Championship.

Mike Ramsey won the 130 pound weight class, James Greenfield won the 135 pound weight class, and Chris Hathaway upset favored Creed Knee of Vallivue, 5-0, for the 140 pound title.

Joining Marcos Ortiz with a second place finish was Kole Spaulding at 171 pounds.

Finishing third for the Tigers were Kyle Hickerson at 112 pounds, A.J. Hutchison at 125, Garrett Wells at 135, Brennen Lawson at 145, and Kori Andrews at 152 pounds.

Fifth place efforts were won by Brian Stempfley at 103 pounds, Daniel Doronio at 112, Tyson Sessions at 160, and Charles Davidson at 215 pounds. Robert Weed finished sixth at heavyweight.

"I really felt like everybody stepped up a notch and did what they needed to do to get us into second place and stay in second," said Tiger wrestling coach Lynn Knudson of their district efforts.

"I was really impressed with some of the performances in the final championship round, where Chris Hathaway beat Creed Knee for the (140 pound) championship, James Greenfield beat the kid from Emmett (at 135 pounds), Mike Ramsey won (at 130 pounds) and David Wise and Marcos Ortiz finished one-two at 119 pounds.

"It was really impressive how everyone finished the tournament."

Of the 16 Tigers that will be competing at the State Meet this week in Pocatello, 11 of them go in seeded in the top six in their weight classes.

David Wise and Mike Ramsey earned the number one seeds in the 119 and 130 pound weight classes. Marcos Ortiz (119), James Greenfield (135) and Kole Spaulding (171) enter the state competition seeded second in their weights.

A.J. Hutchison (125 pounds) and Chris Hathaway (140) both go in seeded third. Kyle Hickerson (112 pounds) and Garrett Wells (135) are seeded fourth. Kori Andrews earned a number five seed at 152 pounds, and Brennen Lawson is seeded sixth at 145 pounds.

"I feel really good about the 16 that we're taking (to state), and I believe that we improved a lot during the district tournament," said Coach Knudson.

"We worked with them a lot on the little things they need to improve on and we hope to keep that going and pick up on our wrestling techniques, and do some really great things at state."