Sandpoint 4A wrestling favored
Mike Randles hasn’t dusted any shelves in Sandpoint High’s trophy case. The Bulldogs wrestling coach doesn’t put much stock in rankings, either.
Idahowrestlingnews.com compiles rankings for each classification and a combined poll for all classifications. Randles’ Bulldogs are ranked No. 1 in the 4A and overall rankings.
In other words, Sandpoint is favored to capture the State 4A championship when the state tournaments, celebrating their 50th anniversary, begin a three-day run today at Idaho State University’s Holt Arena in Pocatello.
Sandpoint has won six state titles – three straight when it was in the 5A division (1994-96) and three straight in 4A (2001-03).
The Bulldogs aren’t headed to the southeastern corner of the state for anything less than a state title. But Randles doesn’t think his team is the favorite, even if three Bulldogs are seeded first and three are seeded second.
“On paper, the favorite is Blackfoot,” Randles said.
Lakeland coach Rob Edelblute doesn’t buy the paper theory.
“Sandpoint is probably the front-runner,” Edelblute said. “If they put all six of their top guys in the finals, that’s a lot of points.”
No team has more first or second seeds than Sandpoint. Defending state champ Minico has a one and two twos; Blackfoot has three ones and a two; Mountain Home has two ones and a two; and Lakeland has one one and two twos.
Among the top five teams, Blackfoot takes the largest group to state, qualifying 18. Minico is taking the second most (15), followed by Mountain Home (14), Sandpoint (13) and Lakeland (12).
The more qualifiers the better chance of scoring points in the consolation rounds, Randles said.
“It all comes down to the quality of the tournament,” Randles said. “If the quality of the competition is up and some of these teams start knocking each other off, then we’ll do really well. If the quality is down, the teams with more qualifiers will do well with their depth. We certainly can’t beat them on straight numbers.”
Randles figures the state champ will score in the neighborhood of 175 to 180 points. He figures the Bulldogs will be in that range.
“If we wrestle like we can, our top seeds can put quite a few points on the board,” Randles said.
This isn’t a typical Sandpoint team. The state title teams were made up of products from the Top Dog youth program.
“These kids don’t have that club experience,” Randles said.
That’s not to say that this team hasn’t put in extra training time, though.
“Between last year’s state tournament and this year’s season, they’ve put in close to an extra season between open-mat workouts and attending intensive summer camps,” Randles said. “They’ve paid their dues.”
The nucleus of the team has grown up quite a bit since their sophomore seasons.
“If you go back a couple of years ago these guys were being manhandled by guys at state,” Randles said. “This is an incredibly hard-working group of kids. Some of the kids they’re seeded ahead of they were losing to consistently two years ago.”
The six Bulldogs who could win state titles are: Timmy Pepperdine (29-2), a junior who is seeded first at 103 pounds; Alec Ward (40-5), a senior seeded second at 112; Joey Fio (15-0), a senior seeded first at 125; Kyle Meschko (38-5), a senior seeded first at 152; and the Morris twins – Taylor (39-5), seeded first at 189, and Jerod (39-5), seeded second at 171. They’re seniors.
Lakeland’s top seeds are: Brandon Richardson (29-4), a freshman seeded second at 119; Tim Klippert (29-5), a senior seeded second at 130; and Zach Horsley (36-0), a senior seeded first at 145.
The Hawks figure to challenge for a trophy. The top four teams take home hardware.
“I see us in the mix for one,” Edelblute said. “Last year we were in the hunt for one and all it took was one bad round. In order for us to bring back a trophy, some of our guys who aren’t seeded have to get some wins. I’m confident all of them can win matches for us.”