Sandpoint To Wrestle With Country’s Best Tournament In Reno Will Give Bulldogs Exposure To College Coaches

Oklahoma State wrestling coach and former U.S. Olympian John Smith jumped at the chance to have his team involved with the Reno Tournament of Champions and College Duals this week in Nevada.

And so did Sandpoint High School coach Dan Taylor, for every bit the same reason - college recruiting.

The elite invitation-only field features 32 high school teams from 16 states, including 24 of USA Today’s Top 25-ranked teams, in double-elimination brackets.

Four top NCAA Division I teams will compete in a dual format: No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 4 Arizona State and No. 7 Oregon State.

“This is a breakthrough for high school wrestling and college recruiting,” Taylor observed. “This is something that we stepped up to. These kids have worked really hard and I think all of them deserve a chance to be seen. We’ve got guys in there that can get scholarships.”

Not to mention a team considered a title contender by Reno tournament director David Nevin.

“Sandpoint, they look like the dark horse of the tournament,” Nevin said via telephone. “I think they have a good chance to be right up there in the top. In a tournament like this, they impress me.

“(Points are) going to be spread out,” Nevin added. “You’re not going to see a team with a bunch of champions and other kids who are scoring points underneath.”

First-round matches start Friday morning on nine mats at the Reno Convention Center. Championship matches are Saturday night.

“This trip is going to save (Smith) about $25,000 in recruiting fees,” Nevin said. “Most of the kids he wants to see are going to be there.”

Sandpoint is ranked No. 7 in the nation. Defending Tri-State Tournament champ La Grande (Ore.) and Washington AAA champ Moses Lake are entered, ranked No. 15 and 22, respectively.

Blair Academy of New Jersey and Walsh Jesuit-Ohio are the No. 1 and 2 ranked teams, respectively.

Fifty-eight individual high school champions are among the 448 wrestlers. The top six in 14 weight classes will medal with the top three named All-Americans.

Six team awards will be presented, along with a Super Bowl-style ring to the Outstanding Wrestler.

“It was a brainchild of Ross Aguire, a local policeman,” Nevin explained. “He works with youth programs. We’d like to have an event like this, then start a youth center for kids targeting single-parent families.

“Hopefully, what we want to do is get this event big enough that it can generate enough revenue to support this youth center,” Nevin added. “This (tournament format) has never been done before; that in itself is an event.”

More than 100 collegiate coaches are expected to attend. The 92-page souvenir program has been made available to all 400 colleges which offer wrestling.

The Bulldogs, twice-defending State A-1 champs, raised $4,300 to make the trip. They enter 11 wrestlers led by the Lawrence brothers, Brett, a senior at 125 and Jared, a sophomore at 112; junior Zach Vaughan at 119 and junior Shawn Garner at 130.

Sandpoint is still without junior Pat Larson at 160. The two-time state champ has resumed practicing after being sidelined with a knee injury.

“What you have to do is go in looking at it as a regular tournament,” Taylor said. “No matter how great everybody seems to be, you have to wrestle 6 minutes and you have got to break it down. You have to win four (matches) to go into the championships and win five to be a champion. You don’t have to wrestle 32 guys.”

, DataTimes