Undefeated Doronio wins 4A state wrestling championship

Wednesday, March 4, 2009
The Tiger wrestling team is shown here on way to the 4A State Wrestling Tournament last week.

Mountain Home went into the 4A State Wrestling Tournament with just two seeded wrestlers, and both came through big-time.

Kaeo Doronio, who went in seeded number one in the 130-pound weight class, went undefeated to win the 130-pound state title.

Cory Pinque, who went in seeded sixth at 112 pounds, finished third.

"I'm really pleased that we got a state champion," said Tiger wrestling coach Lynn Knudson. "Kaeo Doronio did a great job of winning his final match, 4-2, against Williams of Blackfoot.

"He did an outstanding job, and it just feels good to get another state championship, which makes our 11th since I've been the head coach, and that's always a big one when you can get one.

"From District III, Kuna had one and we had one, so that's real big," Knudson said.

But that wasn't all he was pleased about.

"Cory Pinque, losing his first match, came all the way back through and placed third in the tournament, so he wrestled outstanding on top of that, and so did the other kids throughout the whole tournament. In order to place 11th, we had to have some of them win, so I was really happy with the overall performance of our team."

The Tigers took ten wrestlers to state, and they went a combined 15-17, as seven of the ten won at least one match.

The following is a run-down of the Tiger wrestlers' matches at state.

112 pounds

Cory Pinque went into the state meet seeded sixth.

He dropped his first match, an 8-5 decision to Gabriel Davis of Moscow. He then faced David Allen of Nampa in the consolation bracket, and beat him by technical fall, 18-2. Up next was Matt Gallegos of Blackfoot, and Cory disposed of him by major decision, 14-5. He then beat Kyle Csizmar of Sandpoint, by pin. Up next was Nick Porter of Preston, and Cory pinned him as well, to get to the third-place final with Garth Crane of Minico. Cory beat him 13-3 to finish with a third-place medal, going 5-1 in the tournament.

Joe Gutierrez opened the tourney against Josh Robinson of Hillcrest and lost a 14-7 decision. That put him in the consolation bracket, but an injury caused him to default to Garth Crane of Minico, as he went out, 0-2.

119 pounds

DeVonte McClain lost a tough 6-5 decision to Eddie Millward of Pocatello. He then faced Zach March of Columbia in the consolation bracket, and lost to him by pin, to go 0-2.

130 pounds

Kaeo Doronio went in as the number one seed at his weight class, and opened against Chris Book of Sandpoint, and pinned him in the first round. He then faced Koty Cook of Blackfoot and took just 17 seconds to pin him. He then faced Austin Powell of Columbia, and won a 3-0 decision. That put him in the championship match against Kyle Williams of Blackfoot and Kaeo won a 4-2 decision to claim the championship.

Stefan White opened against Shayne Rollings of Kuna and won 4-0. He then faced number two seed Kyle Williams of Blackfoot, and lost by pin in the second round. Stefan stayed alive with a 3-2 decision over Sean McClellen of Pocatello. He then lost to Josh Womack of Preston to go out of the tournament 2-2.

135 pounds

Tommy Miller opened with a 12-0 major decision over Tyson Alder of Preston. He then faced number one seed Gerald Cervantes of Blackfoot, and lost a 14-0 major decision. That put him against Miguel Chavez of Minico, and Chavez won by pin, with Tommy going out of the tournament, 1-2.

Ryan Goldsby opened against Zach White of Bishop Kelly and won by major decision, 12-4. He then faced number two seed Triston Storrs, who pinned him in the first round. Ryan then faced Nick Thorne of Jerome, and lost a tough 5-3 decision to go out of the tournament, 1-2.

145 pounds

Cody Staebler opened against number two seed Tre Jarboe of Columbia, and lost by pin. He then won a 7-1 decision over Braden Grigsby of Skyview. He then faced David Borden of Minico, and lost an 8-0 major decision to go out of the tournament, 1-2.

171 pounds

Michael Heinen opened against number two seed Adrian Dickinson of Columbia and lost by technical fall, 17-2. He then faced Steven Hoskovec of Jerome in the consolation bracket and won by a pin. Next he faced Corey Dondero of Kuna, and lost a 5-1 decision to go out of the tournament, 1-2.

285 pounds

James Bailey opened the tournament against Cory Harvey of Middleton and lost an 8-1 decision. He then faced Josh Wardlow of Century and lost a tough 5-1 decision to go out, 0-2.

The Tigers finished 11th in the team standings with 59.5 points. Columbia won the 4A State title with 214 points, Blackfoot was second with 207.5 and Pocatello was third with 168.5 points.

"We were happy with our (11th place) finish," said Coach Knudson. "I thought that we might make it into the top 10 -- that was kind of our goal going in, but 11th was really close to that goal, so we're really pleased with how the kids wrestled."

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: