Panther wrestlers grapple at Ron Thon

Posted 1/30/18

“[W]e lost a bunch of really close matches, but overall, I thought we competed really hard; I was actually pretty happy with our performance overall,” said PHS head coach Nate Urbach. “We’re just a small step away from winning a bunch of …

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Panther wrestlers grapple at Ron Thon

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On Friday and Saturday, the Powell High School wrestlers competed in Riverton at the Ron Thon Invitational. The annual tournament featured 39 teams from across the state, competing for the highly sought-after championship title in each weight class.

“[W]e lost a bunch of really close matches, but overall, I thought we competed really hard; I was actually pretty happy with our performance overall,” said PHS head coach Nate Urbach. “We’re just a small step away from winning a bunch of those matches making a big difference. I was happy.”

As a team, Powell placed 16th at the varsity level.

Reese Karst placed second at the 138 pound weight class.

In Karst’s trek to the championship match, Karst pinned all four of his opponents in, 2:59, 2:27, 1:55 and 51 seconds.

In the title bout, Karst met up with Donny Proffit of Kemmerer, where he lost by a 12-3 major decision.

“He’s awful tough,” coach Urbach said of Proffit. “I thought [Karst] wrestled tough, really solid throughout the whole tournament. In fact, he’s been really solid the last two weekends, which is what we’re looking for — to be steady and solid.”

At the junior varsity level, Powell placed 13th out of 30 teams.

Due to the number of competitors and caliber of competition, some PHS wrestlers who’ve been wrestling at the varsity level all season competed at the JV level at Ron Thon.

Matthew Seckman took the JV championship title at 195 pounds.

Seckman won his first two matches by pin in 1:25 and 1:27. He then prevailed in the quarterfinals with a 7-2 decision and won the semi-finals by a pin in 2:02.

The 195-pound championship match pitted Seckman against Calvin Webb of Laramie, where the PHS sophomore won by a 6-4 decision.

Three of Seckman’s five opponents were from 4A schools.

“He had a great tournament; that was awesome for him,” Urbach said. “I’m really happy for him.”

Also placing at the JV tournament was Duy Linh Hoang, who took third at 220 pounds.

There has been a change to the wrestling schedule this week. The dual versus Greybull/Riverside tonight (Tuesday) has been canceled and a new dual in Worland has been added for Thursday at 6 p.m. This dual in Worland is switched from the dual that was originally to take place on Feb 9.

On Friday, the Panthers will host the Lander Tigers in a home dual at 6 p.m.

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