Freshmen lead the way

Freshman Thatcher Spiering led Saratoga’s youngest wrestlers to some success at the Evanston Invitational over the weekend, earning an individual championship out of the gate and boosting the freshmen to a fifth place finish.

“It was a good start, it may not look it for how many placed at varsity, but I thought we did some good things,” head coach Jared Mason said. “We weren’t at the caliber of those 4A schools we ran into.”

Spiering pinned Oscar Marrufo, of Riverton, and Trenton Eldridge, of Cheyenne East, on the way to first place at 120 pounds. Both wrestlers are from 4A schools and Cheyenne East was runner-up at state last season.

Teammate Bradley Bifano also took some big wins, including pinning Tayte Payne, of rival and defending champion Cokeville, and 3A Star Valley’s Brigg Hoopes.

“We did not face their best wrestlers by any stretch of the imagination ... but you can tell it’s a scrappy freshman bunch,” Mason said. “Were we mistake free? Of course not. Can we improve? Of course.”

Junior Tate Stinson got his season off to a promising start, pinning Riverton’s Bridger Amman and winning a 14-9 decision over Jace Card, of South Summit. Stinson ran into trouble against a Bear River wrestler, but redeemed his day with a tough 2-0 win over Cokeville’s Alex Dayton to take third place.

“Tate wrestled a little smarter, especially that last match,” Mason said. “It’s not just being able to pin somebody, it’s being able to win a close match.”

Stinson had a two-point lead over Dayton but, whereas in the past he might have taken an ill-advised shot, this time he showed patience. Stinson fought his way out of ties, circled and blocked.

Consistently staying aggressive while wrestling smart is going to be a season-long challenge for the young team.

“I think it surprised some of our kids that, wow, they were in way deep on shots. That was exciting, and that was the thing I wanted to see them be is aggressive,” Mason said. “Sometimes, that’s to a fault. They have to understand, hey, when do I back off?”

Saratoga’s varsity wrestlers only came up with two wins between the three of them. Senior Lionzo Escobedo came up with one by pinning Tyrel Toomer, of Cokeville, in the third round before running into the eventual tournament champion, and senior Levi Weatherd pinned Jaden Nelson, of Lyman.

Saratoga heads to a smaller tournament to Soroco, Colo., Saturday, 9 a.m., to see how they match up with schools closer to their size.

 

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