Croskrey energizes Bears
With the Greater Spokane League wrestling showdown at Mead set to start at 140 pounds, Central Valley coach John Owen decided to take a chance on Jeff Croskrey.
The senior struggled with an injured hand, but Owen and his wrestler felt it was worth a shot. The Bears were going to be underdogs in the first six matches and a win by Croskrey might be vital before the night was over.
As it turned out, Croskrey’s second-period pin over Nick Bond kick-started a 51-18 win over Mead.
“He’s wrestling one-handed,” Owen said. “What he did was he tore an old scar loose – tore it all the way to the tendon. The doctor said that if he tears it open again, we’re going to lose him for quite a while. We’re going to hold him out of (this weekend’s) Tri-State, but we figured we could protect it long enough to wrestle a dual match.”
Mead suffered a tough break in the second match of the night. Junior Ben Moore held a 6-2 lead on Jordan Choate in the second period when he injured a knee. Moore tried to continue the match, but was forced to withdraw because of the injury.
“I heard it pop,” Owen said. “I said at the time that he dislocated it. It’s too bad, because that turned the match in our favor.”
By the time the match got to 189, where Owen felt his Bears would finally be favored, CV held a 15-12 lead in the team scoring and never looked back.
Jacob Neumann pinned Trevor Welch 1:26 into the second period and Tyler Cochran earned a major decision over Jacob Trotter.
Mead got its final victory of the night when Cody Foote avenged a loss by pin to Dan Gadley at last week’s Inland Empire Classic tournament by earning a first-round pin.
CV won the final six matches, two by pins and two by major decision.
Junior Tanner Teeples scored a pin over Jeremy Burkhardt at 112.
Teeples, the Utah State 2A 103-pound champion last year, is pleased to be back where he wrestled his freshman season.
“Everybody wrestles in Utah, so there are a lot of guys out there in the sport,” Teeples said. “But you don’t see the kind of numbers there that you do here. You don’t have the kind of competition in the wrestling room every day that you see here, pushing you.”
Teeples lost in the 112 finals at last week’s tournament, a loss that has haunted him all week.
“I’ve watched the tape of that match every day,” he said. “My one goal is to get that guy in the finals at Tri-State (Saturday) and beat him. I got frustrated in that match and I made too many mistakes. That’s not going to happen again.”
Chase Ferrozzo (125) subdued fellow state participant Philip Smith 10-4.
Elsewhere in the GSL, an escape with 1 second to go in regulation and an overtime takedown gave Jesse Halley (152) a 16-14 win over Lance Smith and made the difference for host Lewis and Clark in a 38-36 win over Rogers. Rogers’ Tyler Lehman (140) pinned Deavon Davis in 45 seconds. … Gonzaga Prep’s Kevin Healy (152) landed an early takedown and hung on to beat Mike Pursel 6-4 as G-Prep topped visiting North Central 42-31. Ethan Rhoades (160) pinned Dalton Cavasier in 21 seconds for NC. … East Valley had five pins including Clete Hanson (171) over Cameron Kirby in 26 seconds to defeat host Ferris 45-28. … Mt. Spokane’s Justin Scott (125) beat Anthony Krigbaum 8-4 to lead the host Wildcats past Shadle Park 51-17. Bo Scheutzle of Shadle pinned John Bergstrom.
Gymnastics
Shadle Park’s Cali Young won the all-around for the second week in a row – scoring 32.125 points – to lead the Highlanders to a 147.5-120.475 win over visiting Rogers in GSL action. … University’s Renee Messling won all four events and won the all-around (35.775) in her first attempt to lead the host Titans (164.475) over North Central (140.75), Ferris (137.225) and Mt. Spokane (125.65). Ali Reid (32.825) placed second as North Central put three gymnasts in the top five of the all-around.