LRS wrestling squad competes in first tournament

The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague wrestling squad had their first busy week of the season last week.

It began with weight certifications on Thursday where each wrestler received their weight class for the tournament the following Saturday.

Four of the Broncos wrestling squad are in the 285-pound weight class. Tucker Guiles, Joe Benedict, Karl Hawks and Alexis Guizar were all certified as heavyweights at the weigh-in.

Matt Vercoe weighed in at 220-pounds followed by Aaron Ritz at 195-pounds. Alex Whitman will be wrestling in the 145 weight class and Matthias Ferderer weighed in at the 132-pound class.

The lightest on the team are Dylan Lane at 126-pounds and Maisa Ferderer at 120-pounds.

Matthias and Guiles would like to lower their current weights to the next weight class, 220 and 126 respectively. But Head Coach Jason Hilzer said their body fat percentages might not allow that as for males they must retain a seven percent assessment and no lower.

After the weigh-in came their first tournament of the season. This took place on Saturday, Dec. 12, in Spangle. Only three of the squad were able to participate due to a number of reasons.

Whitman started off his season against a wrestler from Cheney High School. The score was five to five heading into the third period.

Hilzer stated, “Alex kind of ran out of gas at that point and ended the match losing nine to five.”

Whitman then moved on to face a wrestler from Colfax High School who made it to the Regional Tournament last year.

In this match Whitman lost by pin. His third match of the day was against Newport High School and Hilzer stated it was his best match of the day.

“Whitman was ahead by points and pinned him in the first round,” Hilzer explained.

Guiles was the next Bronco to take the mat. He had a bye to the semifinals round where he faced the wrestler who took second in the State Tournament last year.

Hilzer said Guiles wrestled good but was ultimately pinned in the first round.

In his third match he met fellow Bronco, Hawks as they are in the same weight class.

Hawks was victorious in this match and moved on to the next round.

Hawks day started with a match against a wrestler from Waistburg High School. Hawks threw his opponent and in the process the opponent rolled him and pinned him in the first round. After the match Hilzer reminded Hawks to be patient when on the mat.

In his second match of the day Hawks faced an opponent from Colfax. He was able to pin the opponent in the first round.

He then moved on to face Guiles who he also pinned in the first round.

From this match he moved on to the match to determine third and fourth place.

Here he met the same opponent from the first round. Hawks remembered his coach’s words and remained patient on the mat.

With a score of nine to two Hawks was able to pin his opponent in the second round and received third place in the tournament.

Hilzer stated he hopes to have four or five wrestlers eligible for the next tournament, which is their first league match.

Overall he stated his wrestlers did well on Saturday. Hilzer will have them work on holding down their opponent when on top and to stay on the hips. He also wants them to work on their half-nelson move.

He stated, “The only thing that really hurt us was our endurance on the mat, we need to work on conditioning a bit more.”

The Bronco wrestling squad will wrestled in Colfax on Dec. 16 with weigh-in at 5 p.m. and matches at 6 p.m.

With the canceling of the White Swan Tournament, the team has two weeks off until the next competition.