Bulldog Wrestlers Win 4th Straight District Title By Point

Prep wrestling

One of the keys to the incredible success of the Sandpoint wrestling program is the huge amount of fan support it receives.

Oddly, though, the large Bulldog contingent saved some of their most vocal outbursts for a heavyweight match that featured no Sandpoint participant.

The final match of the A-1 and A-2 District I-II Tournament at Lake City High School featured Lewiston’s Laki Ah Hi against Matt Smith of Post Falls. If Ah Hi pinned Smith, Lewiston would have ended Sandpoint’s three-year championship run.

Ah Hi won, but couldn’t get the pin, which left the Bengals one point shy of Sandpoint’s total of 241.

“This was the most exciting by far of the four that we’ve won,” Sandpoint coach Dan Taylor said. “I lost a point early in the day for coaching during our time out, and it worried me all day long.”

The A-2 competition went to St. Maries, which used its depth to out-point Lakeland. Lakeland had better individual performances in the final, but couldn’t match the numbers of the Lumberjacks.

“We’ve thought all year that we had the depth to win regionals, and we got a solid performance from our JV kids,” Lumberjack coach Ryan Wood said.

Lakeland turned in the outstanding performance of the tournament, though, as brothers Nathan and Travis Pascoe won individual titles. Nathan, a senior, won his third consecutive regional title. Travis, a freshman, defeated defending regional champion Pat Slusher of Kellogg to begin his goal of a state championship.

“Having an older brother like Nathan has helped Travis because it’s almost like having another coach to help him out,” Lakeland coach Mark Johnson said.

A-1

Sandpoint junior Jared Lawrence improved his career record to 90-0 and won his third regional title. It seems likely that if water was spilled on a wrestling mat, he could walk on it.

“It’s just another experience,” Lawrence said of his win at 119 pounds. “I’ll go to state again and try to wrestle my best to get my third title.”

The other outstanding performance for the Bulldogs came from two-time state champion Pat Larson. Larson manhandled Travis Swam of Lewiston before pinning him 2:51 into the match.

“When Larson wrestles, the other guys look like Ken dolls,” Taylor said. “He goes out like he’s gonna take their heads off and throw them across the gym.”

Lewiston kept close with a dominating win at 145 by Scott Wimer over Conner Duff of Lake City. Wimer jumped out to a 7-1 lead before eventually winning 12-5. The Bengals seemed disappointed to collect the second-place trophy for the second year in a row.

“I didn’t tell Laki going in that we needed a pin to win, because that’s a lot of weight to put on his shoulders” Lewiston coach Dave Harrington said.

Post Falls placed third, but did capture an individual championship from Al Mack at 103. Coeur d’Alene High was fourth and Lake City was fifth.

A-2

The Lumberjacks had just one individual champion, but had almost every wrestler score points to win the title. Shawn Willey upset teammate Travis Duffey to claim the 103 title for St. Maries.

“Our JV guys probably scored 120 points, so it was a good solid team performance,” Wood said.

Lakeland had four individual champions, including an upset at 140 where Nathan Wunische beat defending regional champion Jake Stark of Priest River. Wunische joined the Hawks after Christmas break and surprised Johnson with a regional title.

“We didn’t beat St. Maries, but I’m proud of what our guys did individually,” Johnson said.

At the end of the tournament, the Hawks collected the Intermountain League championship trophy for winning the regular season duals.

Priest River also turned in an impressive performance, by sending seven wrestlers to state despite having only 14 on the team.

“I’m pleased with our performance and I think we’ll do well at state,” Priest River coach Ed Arvin said.

This year marked the first time that the A-1 and A-2 tournaments were held simultaneously. Most participants said they liked the new format despite the amount of time it took.

“It’s a super tournament that I think is great for the sport of wrestling,” Wood said.