Regional champs x 3

Posted 2/23/10

Colt Nix led the parade of first-place finishes at 130, opening with two pins, both in 3:17, and following with a technical fall in the semi-finals. In the finals, he met Worland's Jordan Hernandez and won an 11-7 decision for his gold medal.

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Regional champs x 3

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PHS three-peats as regional champs, 16 finish in top 4 Twelve Powell Panthers reached the finals and eight took championships to lead their team to their third straight regional wrestling championship last weekend.Four more Panthers earned third place, three finished fourth and four more reached the top eight, pushing the team score to 309.5 points, 89 points ahead of second-place Worland. Lander finished third and Mountain View fourth.

Colt Nix led the parade of first-place finishes at 130, opening with two pins, both in 3:17, and following with a technical fall in the semi-finals. In the finals, he met Worland's Jordan Hernandez and won an 11-7 decision for his gold medal.

At 140, Randy Andrews, who opened with a first-round bye, scored an 18-3 technical fall in the quarterfinals and then followed with two first-round pins. His win in the championship came at the expense of Worland's Jeff Redland, who he pinned in 1:35.

Auston Carter pinned his way through the 145-pound competition, ending his first match 35 seconds into the second period and pinning Cody's Drew McMillan in the final minute of the match. In the finals, he ended his match in the first period, pinning Drake Manck of Mountain View in 1:23.

Jimmy Seckman needed less than two periods in his three 152-pound matches, pinning three opponents in a total of 3:47. His quickest pin came in just 46 seconds in the semi-finals, and his longest was a 1:41 defeat of Seth Edwards of Cody in 1:41 in the finals.

Matching Seckman was Cole Kary, who also ended his three matches early. After a 24-second pin in the quarterfinals, he earned his shot at first with an 18-1 technical fall, and then pinned Worland's Kaleb Matthiesen in 3:19 for the title.

The string of pins continued at 189, where Monte Nickles pinned four straight opponents, averaging just over one minute per pin. He opened with a pin in 1:01 and pinned his next two opponents in 26 seconds and 47 seconds. In the finals, he nearly had to go into the second period, but ended his match with Wynston Anglen of Mountain View with a second to spare in the first.

Joe Lujan advanced into the semis where he won a 6-3 decision over James Porter of Worland. and went on to pin Bo Aimone of Mountain View in 4:47.

At 285 pounds. Trevor Griffeth won a hard-fought 13-11 battle with Lander's Jordan Hanson in the semi-finals before taking a 4-1 decision over Tyson Lopez of Mountain View to finish in first.

Second-place finishers for the Panthers were Luke Wozney, Jessee Craig, Trent Gillett and Danny Harris. At 119, Wozney opened with a pin and defeated teammate Robert Friday to reach the finals, where he lost a 12-4 decision to Lander's Derek DeBolt. Craig also opened with a fall and won a 9-2 decision before facing top-ranked 119-pound wrestler Jared Leithead of Worland, who prevailed with an 8-4 decision.

After scoring three straight pins, Gillett also faced a top-ranked Worland Warrior in the finals, in Matt Osbon, and lost a 5-1 decision to earn his second-place medal. Harris was a surprise finalist, pinning his first two opponents and scoring a major decision in the semi-finals, before losing to another Worland wrestler, Dane Dooley.

Olie Olson, one of three state champions competing at 125, finished third after losing a 12-9 decision to Brodie Bullington of Lander. He came back with two decisions to win his medal.

Other third-place finishers were non-scoring wrestlers Robert Friday, Waylon Bays and Beau Williams. All three lost semi-final matches, but came back with two wins for their medals.

Fourth-place finisher Dylan Rood lost a semi-final match to tournament champion Jay Stine of Worland, but reached the third-place match with a decision before losing to Levi Anderson of Mountain View.

Non-scoring wrestlers Zach Thiel and Clay Saldana also earned fourth-place honors.Thiel reached the 125 semi-finals where he lost to the tournament champion, Worland's Jorden Osbon, but he pinned his next opponent to reach the third-place match against Olson. Saldana earned his medal the hard way, losing his first-round match to Jackson's Frank Boda but coming back with three wrestleback wins to earn a second shot at Boda in a match for third. Boda again prevailed with a 5-2 decision.

Four other Panthers, Charles Wittick, Drew Feller, Mike Mundy and Kurt Bullinger, reached the top eight, earning the right to compete at state as well.

Coach Nathan Urbach said the Panthers wrestled well in Jackson, and the performance of his two 171-pound entries, Danny Harris and Beau Williams, who finished second and third, respectively, was a “nice surprise.”

“Having 12 in the finals and placing 16 in the top four means this regional title was a team effort,” Urbach said.

Having eight champions seeded No. 1 at this week's state meet puts the Panthers in a strong position as they go for their third straight team title, but Urbach cautioned that the team's main challenger, Douglas, is also in a strong position, and the Panthers can expect a strong challenge from the Bearcats.

“One more week,” Urbach said. “We just need to take care of the little things and keep focused.”

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