Kale Knezovich pins his opponent's shoulders to the mat during Friday competition at the Thoman wrestling tournament. Knezovich went undefeated throughout regular tournament duals.
The Green River Wolves' first chance to compete at home ended as well as it could have with a first-place finish at the annual Thoman wrestling tournament over the weekend.
Head coach Josh Wisniewski said the Wolves faced two very strong teams on the way to winning the tournament -- the squads from Kemmerer and Pinedale. Pinedale joins Green River in 3A and Wisniewski said the team is very competitive with Green River.
"These are tough teams, we can't overlook them," he recalls telling his wrestlers.
At the end of the competition, the Wolves won all of the duals they competed in and had five wrestlers selected for the Best of the Best competition, a series of matches that pits two wrestlers with the best records against each other regardless of school classification.
Axel McKinnon, Kale Knezovich, Connor Todd, Thomas Dalton and Deylin Miller qualified for the competition, with Todd and Dalton winning their matches.
All five entered the competition with undefeated records at the tournament.
Another undefeated wrestler was Spencer Wright, who received the Thoman Spirit award. Wisniewski said Wright missed joining the Best of the Best group because the two wrestlers from his weight class scored more team points than he did.
As of press time, the Wolves are scheduled to travel to Rawlins to wrestle two duals, one with the Outlaws themselves and a second dual with a squad from Burns-Pine Bluffs.
Rawlins was originally scheduled to participate at the Thoman tournament, but pulled out due to quarantine. Following those two duals, the Wolves will take part in the annual Ron Thon competition in Riverton.
The Ron Thon will attract almost every team in Wyoming, which Wisniewski sees as an opportunity to see where the Wolves stack up against teams they haven't competed against yet. So far, he's happy with what he sees when the Wolves are on the mat.
The wrestlers continue to be aggressive in their matches and seek pins. Wisniewski also said the team wrestles for one another, viewing their competitions as a team sport rather than solely as individual matches. They remain hungry to better themselves as well.
"We're still looking to improve daily," Wisniewski said.
Reader Comments(0)