Wrestling in Wheatland

After the Saratoga Dual was canceled this past Friday, Carbon County School District No. 2 high schools Saratoga and Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) went to Wheatland.

HEM had only three grapplers go to the meet and they wrestled with the Wheatland team.

Wheatland beat Saratoga 48-15. The Panthers also lost to Torrington 24-36 and Lingle/Ft. Laramie/Southeast 12-60.

Wheatland, with HEM, tied Newcastle/Upton 33-33 and lost to Lingle/Ft. Laramie 36-42.

HEM assistant coach McKean (Mac) Madsen was pleased with what he saw with the few wrestlers he had going. Three made the trip. One, Joseph Borah, was wrestling for the first time this season after an injury had him sidelined.

“Anthony Solaas wrestled Cale Mowry from Saratoga in sort of an exhibition match,” Madsen said. “That was a great match. It came down to the last seconds and Cale beat Anthony by one point. Anthony is starting to figure things out because the last time they wrestled last week, he lost by 5 or 6 points. It was good to see.”

Madsen said Anthony wrestled at 106, although he weighs only 93 pounds.

“All of Anthony’s matches were good because he really tries,” Madsen said.

Charlee Solaas wrestled two other girls.

“Lingle/Southeast brought a girl wrestler and Newcastle/Upton had a girl wrestler,” Madsen said. “The Lingle one was a tough match that Charlee only lost by a couple points. Then Charlee came from behind like 5-0 to beat the Newcastle wrestler and that was awesome.”

Madsen said he is seeing more female wrestlers.

“It is always good to see more girls in the sport,” Madsen said. “It is definitely growing.”

Borah won his first match which Madsen said was good for the wrestler coming back after not wrestling for such a long time.

“He had another match, against a kid from Lingle who was really good,” Madsen said. “Joe is wrestling at 220 and it gave him experience he needs. He wrestled well. He is up on his feet and he is doing good things but he needs more conditioning after being out for so long.”

He said the Wheatland team were great hosts and did a lot of cheering for the HEM grapplers.

“It was a good weekend of sportsmanship, which is always great to be around,” Madsen said.

HEM will host several teams at 5 p.m. on February 5, including Saratoga.