Wrestlers battle at Ron Thon Invitational

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Newcastle/Upton wrestling team, along with nearly every other team in Wyoming, got a practice run at the state tournament last weekend at the annual Ron Thon tournament in Riverton. This huge event boasts 32 man brackets and offers competitors tough matches throughout. 
The Dogies/Bobcats entered three athletes in the varsity division, while the rest competed in the junior varsity realm. But make no mistake, the JV tournament at Ron Thon is just as tough as any varsity tournament elsewhere.
“A lot of the kids who wrestled JV this weekend will see those same competitors at Regionals and State so it’s such a great opportunity for them,” head coach Jason Wheeler declared. “We also saw a lot of great competition we don’t usually see which was good.”
Blake Durfee (106), Jory McFarland (120) and Josh Womack (182) were the three who dove into the varsity ring, and no one went in seeded due to the nature of the tournament. With competitors from all classes in Wyoming and from other states, it was a situation where athletes drew into their brackets. As such, these three went into their brackets against some pretty tough competition.
“Josh drew hard with some tough guys,” Wheeler began. “We thought Blake had a better draw but I don’t know if it was the combination he had, but he ended up going two and out. Jory had a pretty good tournament, and he was only one match away from making it to Saturday.”
None of the three made the cut for Saturday’s matches, however McFarland picked up two wins against Powell and Wheatland to score two points for the team. 
“Jory lost his first, won his second two and lost his fourth. In the process, he beat kids who had gotten the better of him earlier in the year so that was good to see,” Wheeler smiled. “They were some quality wins for him.”
McFarland’s matches were pretty close, but according to Wheeler he wrestled really smart. In one, it went right down to the wire where he won right at the last second with an escape. In the other, he really worked his technique and didn’t let his opponent work his moves that had gotten the better of him earlier in the season. 
In the JV side of the tournament three Dogies brought home hardware. Cael Holmes went 6-1 on the day and finished third at 106. At 132, Dillan Wornkey also took third by winning all but one of his eight matches. Finally, Skylar Jenkins was fourth at 160 after he went 4-2 on the weekend.
“Cael did really well and I was very impressed with how much he improved from the last tournament,” Wheeler nodded. “He wrestled much more on his feet and he showed a lot of growth and improvement. Dillan had a lot of good matches as well, and Skylar looked good after having been sick the last couple of weeks.” 
Of those who didn’t place, most were within only one or two matches out of placing so they also had a good weekend. The wins that all of the Dogies/Bobcats claimed gave the team an 11th place finish out of over 30 teams.
“All of our kids on the JV side got a lot of matches and it was a really good tournament for them,” Wheeler stated. “The decision to enter our kids in the JV division is not based on their status as varsity wrestlers. We like to give our guys the best opportunity to get in a lot of matches against good opponents and they get that at Ron Thon.”
This week, the Dogies/Bobcats have a tournament on Saturday in Hill City, then a quad next week to prepare for the Regional Tournament coming up in two weeks. 
“I think we’re looking good as we head into the final push,” Wheeler smiled. “We just need to keep our kids healthy and I think it’ll be fun!”