Regan, Rosen earn wins at South League match in Pomeroy

The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos wrestling team earned some success last week. The team competed in the South League match on Jan. 11 in Pomeroy.

Two days later several wrestlers competed in the Crusader Classic at Northwest Christian.

Tristan Regan went 1-1 in the league match. In his first match, Regan wrestled Colfax’s Nolan Burrill, who pinned him in the second period.

Regan rebounded from the loss to face Burrill’s teammate, Kolby Sisk, who had defeated him, 4-0 in their match at the Springdale Tournament. Regan would avenge the loss after he pinned Sisk in the third period.

Thomas Rosen also went 1-1 at the event. He wrestled Liberty’s Charlie Hennington, who pinned him in the first period.

Rosen’s next opponent was Pomeroy’s Emundo Meza, who he pinned in 12 seconds.

Sean Murphy lost his first match to Liberty’s Josh Hags. Head Coach Jason Hilzer said Murphy was leading 7-4 before Hags put him on his back and secured the pin.

Murphy then wrestled Pomeroy’s Lane Lagergren, who pinned him in the first period.

Andy Ortiz lost his first match to Colfax’s Dakota Hall, who pinned him in the second period. In his second match, he lost to Colfax’s Blake Bodgey via pin in the second round.

Doug Morris lost to Colfax’s Jonathan Logan in his first match after the Bulldog wrestler pinned him in the first period. He wrestled Pomeroy’s Chance Robinson in his next match.

Hilzer said the bout between Morris and Robinson was close, with the Robinson 2-0.

Overall, he said the Broncos showed improvement in their matches at the South League event. He added there are areas each wrestler needs to work on, but he feels the team is peaking at the right time.

At the Crusader Classic, three wrestlers made it to the medal podium.

Rosen took fourth place in the 285-pound bracket. He pinned Selkirk’s Wyatt George to advance to the quarterfinals, where Mary Walker’s Nicholas Schurger pinned him in the first period of their match.

In the third-place match, Rosen lost to Almira-Coulee/Hartline’s Will Hahn, who pinned him in the second period.

Regan finished in sixth place in the 113-pound bracket to earn his first trip to the medal podium this season.

In the quarterfinals, Regan was pinned by Burrill in the first period.

Regan pinned Republic’s Damon Jaeger in the second period to advance to the fifth-place match, where he lost to Oroville’s Cody Field via pin in the second period.

Murphy was the third Broncos wrestler to place as he took sixth in the 126-pound bracket. In the quarterfinals, he was pinned by Mt. Spokane’s Koby Goff in the quarterfinals in the first period of their match.

In the consolation round, Murphy pinned Mary Walker wrestlers Averly Matherly and Wyatt Crockett to advance to the fifth-place match. Murphy lost to Northwest Christian’s Tommy Luce, who pinned him in the second period.

Jesse Ryan went 1-2 in the 132-pound bracket. He pinned East Valley’s Logan Mejia in the second period of their match. He lost his next match to Lagergren via pin in the second period. In his last match, Ryan was pinned by Oroville’s Mike Lewis in the first period.

Morris went 2-2 in the 182-pound division. Morris pinned Newport’s Gus Newman in the second period of their match. He lost to NWC’s Seth Hill, who pinned him in the first period.

In the consolation round, Morris pinned Colfax’s Leonard Huels in the first period.

In his last match, Morris wrestled Davenport’s Skyler Henry. The match was tied 2-2 going into the third period, before Henry pinned him.

Hilzer said he thought the athletes performed better in the tournament than they had in the league match. He added every athlete who competed came away with at least one win.

The Broncos will travel to Kittitas on Jan. 20 to compete in the Coyote Classic before coming home on Jan. 23.

Hilzer hopes the athletes will continue to improve as they reach Districts.