Panthers finish as runners-up at 3A West regional wrestling in Cody

In what’s supposed to be a rebuilding year, Powell High School’s wrestlers finished second as a team at the 3A West Regional Tournament, had nine medal placers and 17 wrestlers advance to compete at state.

Powell amassed 174.5 points at the Friday-Saturday tournament in Cody, trailing only Star Valley, which claimed first place with 285.5 points. Riverton had 161 points to round out the top three of eight teams.

“We’ve done alright as far as overall,” said PHS head wrestling coach Nate Urbach. The coach said he has mixed feelings about the wrestlers’ individual performances at the tournament.

“There’s guys I am super excited about, I’m really excited about what they did, and there’s guys I’m disappointed in,” Urbach said.

While the overall results are impressive for a rebuilding year, Urbach has built a wrestling program with high standards and prides itself in excellence.

“Basically we did OK, we did average at the regional,” Urbach said. “I think we got another full step that we can do for the state tournament; we’ve got to push it up a notch.”

Urbach said some wrestlers do OK in certain situations, then don’t in others; he said the team has room to grow both on the mat and mentally.

“I wasn’t disappointed, but I wasn’t ecstatic either,” Urbach said.

Nineteen PHS wrestlers competed at the regional tournament: eight freshmen, four sophomores, one junior and six seniors.

The top four finishers at the regional tournament receive a medal and a seeded position in the state bracket.

Sophomore Reese Karst won the 132-pound weight class.

“He ended up being dominant as far as scores are concerned,” said Urbach. “But he got out of position a couple of different times and again, that’s something we got to fix.”

In the first round, Karst pinned a mountain view opponent in 1:44 to advance to the quarterfinals — where he pinned a Lyman wrestler in 2:18. In the semifinal match, Karst won by a 21-5 tech fall over a Riverton opponent and pinned Jon Sanchez of Cody in 5:19 for the championship.

“He’s had a good season; we just need to continue with what he’s done,” Urbach said.

Going into the state tournament, Karst is now ranked No. 1 in the state. Cole Reiner of Buffalo flip-flopped with Karst all season for the top ranking at 132 pounds, but Reiner has since dropped down to the 126-pound weight class.

The other champion for PHS was 170-pound wrestler Ty Dearcorn.

The senior pinned his first opponent from Riverton in 55 seconds. In the semifinals, Ty Dearcorn faced then-No. 6 ranked wrestler Brody Dempster from Lander — winning by pin in 5:55.

Ty Dearcorn then finished the sweep by beating then-No. 3 ranked Dylan Brog of Star Valley by a 9-4 decision.

“He looked really good actually, really calm, composed, in the regional finals,” said Urbach. “He got taken down early but he just kept his composure and worked his way back and ended up having a good performance against a real good Star Valley kid.”

With the championship win, Ty Dearcorn is still ranked No. 1 in the state.

Senior Zach Easum advanced to the 195-pound championship match with two pins in under 30 seconds, getting a wrestler from Riverton in 22 seconds and a Lander opponent in 18 seconds.

In the championship match, Easum, ranked No. 2 in the state, faced No. 1-ranked Dryden Menck of Lyman.

“Menck is a heck of an athlete,” Urbach said. “(Easum) just got out of position and with Menck, if you get out of position he can put you away and that’s what happened. (Easum) wrestled well up to that point, but then just got out of position.”

Easum was pinned in 2:56 for a second-place finish.

Senior Terrance McLaughlin also picked up a silver medal for the Panthers.

“I’m so impressed with that kid. He tries so hard,” said Urbach.

McLaughlin made his way to the championship match with a 38 second pin in the quarterfinals and a 6-0 decision in the semifinal match.

For the championship, McLaughlin faced No. 3-ranked McCabe Smith of Star Valley. Smith led 2-1 after the first period. To start the second period, Smith chose down and McLaughlin held him to only a single point (for an escape) to make the score 3-1. Smith went on to win 6-1.

“I really admire the spirit of Terrance McLaughlin. He is always trying to do well; he’s always trying to improve his position, to be competitive,” said Urbach. “I’m real proud of him; I can’t tell you anything different. He’s just an awfully good kid and he’s has come so far in two years. I was super super impressed with what he did this weekend.”

McLaughlin goes into the state tournament ranked No. 6 in the state.

Freshman Brody Karhu finished third in the 138-pound weight class.

Karhu advanced to the semi-final match by way of a 1:02 pin over a Mountain View wrestler in round one and a 45 second pin in the quarterfinal over a Lyman opponent.

In the semifinal match, Karhu faced off against the No. 1 ranked wrestler in the state, Palmer Schafer of Lander, and lost a 16-6 major decision.

Karhu then wrestled his way back to the third-place match with a pin over Jeremiah Stover of Lyman in 2:47. That landed Karhu a rematch with David Plummer. Plummer, ranked No. 5, beat Karhu 16-4 on Feb. 7, but this time, Karhu won by a 7-1 decision.

Coach Urbach said that Karhu, now ranked No. 7, wrestled really well against both Schafer and Plummer.

“He turned it on at the right time and I’m excited to see him this weekend,” Urbach said, adding, “Both (Karhu) and (Logan) Lamb were probably my top two performers as far as performing as for what they should have done.”

Logan Lamb, a senior, finished fourth at 220 pounds.

“I was super excited and impressed with his performance; he won a number of close matches against some tough-nose kids,” Urbach said. “I’m really proud of him.”

Lamb advanced to the quarterfinals by coming back from a 5-2 deficit to pin a Pinedale opponent in 2:52.

In the quarterfinals, Lamb faced Eric Flores of Cody, the No. 3 ranked wrestler in the state, and was pinned in 3:55.

But Lamb wrestled his way back by way of pin in 2:09, a 5-0 decision and a 3-1 decision.

Flores and Lamb met once again in the third place match, and Flores was victorious again with a pin in 55 seconds.

Going into the state tournament, Lamb is ranked No. 7.

Also finishing fourth at regionals were freshmen Michael Maddox at 113 pounds, Bo Dearcorn at 145 pounds and senior Eli Briggs.

Coach Urbach described Maddox as having an up and down tournament.

Maddox lost the quarterfinal match to a wrestler from Star Valley, Logan Hoopes, who broke a 2-2 tie in the third period and pinned Maddox in 5:36.

Maddox then pinned two wrestlers from Pinedale — one in 50 seconds and the other in 4:38.

That put Maddox in the third place match, where he met Hoopes again. Maddox led 2-0 after the first period and, again, they went into the third period tied at two. This time, Hoopes would not get a pin, but he did win a 4-2 decision.

“He (Maddox) had some good matches and he had some matches where he had opportunities that he didn’t take,” said Urbach. “We need to keep the good stuff going and fix some of the bad.”

Going into the state tournament, Maddox is ranked No. 4 in the state.

Meanwhile, freshman Bo Dearcorn picked up two wins in the 145-pound weight class by way of pin — one in 1:22 and the other in 4:49. His only losses came to No. 3-ranked Trevor Clark of Star Valley and No. 6-ranked Josh Jones of Cody.

“He’s done well; I’m excited for him next weekend also,” Urbach said, describing Bo Dearcorn as a wrestler who’s been steady for the team.

Briggs won three matches and lost two. The three wins were a 48 second pin, a 0-1 rule over teammate Matthew Seckman in the quarterfinal and a 9-5 decision in the consolation semifinal match.

Urbach said Briggs has had a great career, but added that he’d like to see Briggs compete more steadily at the state tournament, where he’ll enter as the No. 2-ranked wrestler.

Other PHS wrestlers who’ll compete at state are: junior Stephan Preator at 120 pounds, freshmen Ethan Asher and Corey Linebaugh at 126 pounds, senior Shattuck Swenson at 152 pounds, sophomore Cameron Schmidt at 160 pounds and freshman Matthew Seckman at 182 pounds.

State wrestling will begin Friday at 9 a.m. at the Casper Events Center.

Win-Loss-Bye

**Overall records include Varsity, JV & 2nd Chance Brackets