Nine wrestlers place at Douglas

After the winter break head coach Jared Mason and his Panther Grapplers headed to Douglas last weekend for the Shane Shatto Memorial Wrestling Tournament.

Mason held four practices over the Christmas break with all practices attended by 10 or more wrestlers.

“We don’t know what to expect,” Mason said about the tournament. “This is Saratoga’s first time going to Douglas.”

With a field of 35 teams from all over the state and from Colorado and Nebraska, this tournament gave the young Saratoga squad grapplers a chance to build their confidence.

“We have 12 guys going, and everyone will wrestle in the JV division except Lionzo Escobedo. He will wrestle in the varsity division,” Mason said.

The wrestlers had a good show overall at Douglas with nine of the twelve grapplers placing over the weekend. Bradley Bifano, Thatcher Spiering and Marshal Hill all dominated their weight classes, and all placed first. Spiering and Hill both pinned all of their opponents, and Bifano pinned four opponents and won two matches by decision. The two decisions included a tough 5-2 match over Payton Connolly from Douglas.

Hill’s effort, pinning all six of his opponents, earned him the wrestler of the week in the Panthers locker room.

Trey Ingleby, Tate Stinson and Jacob Wells all took second, with Daynon Mowry and Chaze Wiant ending the tournament in third place in their weight classes.

Hunter Mason had a tough tournament finishing fourth in the 126-pound weight class. Mason had two pins on the weekend, but gave up four matches on his way to a fourth place finish.

Levi Weatherd won three matches on the first day of competition. Weatherd won one by injury default, and two by pins. Unfortunately, the second day was single elimination and Weatherd was pinned in his first match.

Escobedo dropped both of his matches on the weekend by decision, but was awarded and recognized for his outstanding sportsmanship in the tournament.

“It doesn’t matter if Escobedo wins or looses, he is always in good spirits,” Mason said.

“You have to win with humility and loose with grace and that is Lionzo. He definitely deserved that award.”

Hazer Hinkle was pinned in four tough matches, and also couldn’t find a win over the weekend.

Up next for the Panther’s are two tournaments that will have the Panthers matching up against other teams in the 2A.

“The Don Runner and Dogger invites will have kids that we will see at Regionals and State,” Mason said. “We have been wrestling schools from Colorado and Nebraska and other teams from different classes in the state.”

Mason also said, “The next two weeks are big. Our lack of conditioning was obvious. We have to pick it up if we want to win more matches.”