Wrestler places at state tourney

Thursday, February 28, 2013
Members of the Mountain Home High School wrestling team pose for a group photo before they left for the state tournament in Pocatello.

The Mountain Home Tigers took seven wrestlers to the State 4A Wrestling Tournament at Holt Arena on the campus of Idaho State University in Pocatello last weekend. Six of them won at least one match, and one of them, Jacob Lucas, finished in fifth place in his weight class.

Here is the breakdown of the seven Tiger wrestlers and their matches:

Jacob Lucas, 98 pounds

The Tiger freshman had the dubious task of opening the tournament against the second seed in the weight class, Adam Campos of Columbia. Lucas lost by pin to move to the consolation bracket. He then pinned his next three opponents, Hayden Cowden of Twin Falls, Mykel Ostrom of Caldwell and Hyatt Henderson of Blackfoot. He then lost by pin to Kade Smith of Pocatello in the consolation semi-finals, and then beat Austin Pierson of Jerome, 10-5, to claim the fifth-place medal. His record at state was 4-2, giving him an overall dual record of 31-20 on the season.

Aerial Groene, 106 pounds

The Tiger senior made history last year by placing fourth at state as a junior -- the first female wrestler to medal at state -- but her road was tougher this year. She opened against Luke Kirby of Pocatello and lost by pin. That put her against Justin Beck of Nampa in the consolation bracket, and she came up on the short end of a 13-7 decision to go out of the tournament in two straight matches. She finished the season with a 25-18 overall record.

Josh Saporta, 113 pounds

Saporta opened the tourney against Samuel Aguila of Middleton, and lost by pin. He then faced Eddy Ortega of Jerome and won an 8-3 decision. Up next was Tanner McNelley of Sandpoint and the Tiger senior lost by pin to go out of the tourney 1-2, and finish 20-19, overall.

Tanner Sessions, 145 pounds

For Sessions, it was his second straight trip to state and he started out with a 13-2 major decision win over Dillon Bird of Bonneville. The Tiger sophomore then faced number one seed Kurtis Loftis of Kuna and lost by pin. He bounced back with a 15-2 major decision win over Ryan Alton of Twin Falls, but in the consolation quarter-finals lost by pin to Will Putnam of Lakeland to go out of the tournament 2-2 and finish the season with a 44-13 record.

Brett Stempfley, 145 pounds

Stempfley opened the tourney against Daniel Hernandez of Canyon Ridge, and won by pin. He faced the number two seed, Tristian Jarboe of Columbia in the quarter-finals and lost by pin. The Tiger junior then faced Dillon Bird of Bonneville and lost by pin to be ousted from the tournament with a 1-2 record. He finished 30-12 overall.

Josh Deal, 195 pounds

Deal opened the tourney against Colton Kesling of Kuna and lost by pin. The Tiger sophomore then beat Thomas Heiden of Wood River in a 5-3 overtime decision. He then faced Joey Reintjes of Moscow and lost a 5-3 decision to go out of the tourney, 1-2 and finish 31-16, overall.

Dallin Dearing, 285 pounds

Dearing opened the tourney against Alexander Garcia of Emmett and lost by pin. He then faced Skylar Baecht of Canyon Ridge, and won by pin. The Tiger sophomore then faced Tayson Reid of Preston and lost a 2-0 overtime decision to finish 1-2 in the tournament and end his season 14-14 overall.

Mountain Home Tiger wrestling coach Lynn Knudson was happy for Jacob Lucas placing as a freshman.

"We're pretty excited for Jacob Lucas and what he was able to accomplish as a freshman, going over there and placing fifth. He was our only placer. Tanner Sessions was one win out of getting a medal."

Coach Knudson is excited about Mountain Home's wrestling future.

"The good thing about all this is that five of the seven that went to state will be coming back next year on a very young team. Good things are going to happen to us. It's just good to see what we have coming back, and all we have to do is get on the right track and doing some things over the summer time, and we'll be right in the mix of all the other teams next year."

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