Everything going to plan for Post Falls wrestling at states

POCATELLO – Through Day 1 of the Idaho high school wrestling championships, things are going according to plan for defending 5A champ Post Falls.

Maybe even better than the Trojans planned.

Post Falls put nine wrestlers into Saturday’s semifinals and amassed a 42.5-point lead over Columbia in the process. It means the Trojans have plenty of opportunities for individual glory, but it also means their lead will be difficult for any other team to chase down.

Multiple Post Falls wrestlers have individual dreams left to chase as well. 98-pounder Ridge Lovett has improved to 38-0, and 145-pounder Alius De La Rosa has his dreams of a fourth title still intact.

Still, they’re focused on Saturday and the chance for medals and another team trophy.

“It’s not over yet,” said Post Falls 106-pounder Jordan Grimm. “We’re in a great position, maybe better than we had thought we’d be, but there’s a lot left to go.”

Grimm got to the semis by pinning a district rival, Coeur d’Alene’s Jacob Krous, in the quarters.

“I’d wrestled him once before. I think that helped, because I was a little familiar with him,” said Grimm. “I wrestled my match in this one; I don’t think I did that earlier today.”

In addition to the aforementioned, Post Falls also put Matthias De La Rosa (113), Matt McLeod (120), Braydon Huber (126), Wyatt Shelly (132), Tyler Wolf (138) and Queong Rahman-Smith (152) into the semifinals.

Coeur d’Alene placed three in the semis: Kaleb Maciosek (113), Dylan Lockwood (138) and Vince Rey (182). The Vikings are seventh in the team standings.

Things aren’t quite as rosy on the team front for Lakeland, but the Hawks aren’t complaining. They sit second in the 4A team race on the strength of six semifinalists, led by the Edelblute trio – Sam (98), William (106) and Brian (120) – and top-seeded 170-pounder Jared Walker.

Walker blew through his first couple of matches, including pinning Twin Falls’ Kevin Lovell in the quarterfinals in under a minute. He timed his opening attack precisely with the starting whistle, and the outcome was never in doubt.

“I saw he was on his front foot a little bit so I went with it,” said Walker. “I do that sometimes just to keep opponents on their toes. I knew there was another match with the same weight watching us so I didn’t want to give too much away. I decided to be more aggressive this time.”

Lakeland, which has won eight straight district championships, is hoping to hold off Minico in third. It would take something extraordinary to overhaul Caldwell and claim victory in the team championship on Saturday – Lakeland trails by 57.5 points and has five fewer semifinalists than do the Cougars.

Still, Lakeland is looking ahead and not over its shoulder.

“It’s gonna be tough because they brought 25 guys and we only have 19, but we’ll try to get it to the end,” said Walker. “We’re hoping they have a bad day and we have a great day, and maybe it’ll happen.”

Chandler Axtell (98) and Larry Johnson (126) also made the semis for Lakeland.

In addition to Lovett going for the perfect season, Sandpoint’s Casey Randles kept his unblemished record alive, registering a technical fall over Century’s Jeremiah Ditton.

Randles couldn’t quite score the pin but dispatched of the match in one period, winning 16-1.

“I just couldn’t get that shoulder down for some reasons. Some wrestlers are just like that. He was really strong and made it hard for me to finish it,” said Randles.

“I’m wrestling really confidently right now compared to the past. Before I used to get freaked out by the moment and panic, but now I’m just having fun and worrying about myself. I don’t look at brackets or anything.”

The Bulldogs are fifth in the team standings, 7.5 points behind Pocatello.

Joining Randles in the semis from Sandpoint are Mahonri Hunsaker (152), Tyler Presser (160) and Jacob Williams (285). Moscow has Britton Needham (120) in the semis.

In the 3A ranks, eight locals are in the semis. Bonners Ferry has Caleb Gering (195), Priest River has Gregory Fitzmorris (182), Timberlake has Caleb Munson (170) and Ryder Mervin (285), and Kellogg has Tanner Figueroa (132), Jaden Ballard (138), Dylan Huber (152) and Robby Smith (160).