Gifford Tops Field At Lingle-Ft. Laramie

Ranked second in the district at 220 and in the top five statewide, David Gifford is used to sitting out the early round of any tournament.

On the way to gold in his weight class at the Lingle-Ft. Laramie tournament, the Wildcats’ big man spent much of Friday afternoon waiting for his single match, which lasted just over a minute.

“You just keep your shots nice and clean and technical,” he said after pinning Southeast’s Tanner Wyse.

Saturday proved more difficult. Patrick Forster, from a strong Shoshoni program, battled into the third before Gifford was awarded a technical fall. For most of the match, Banner County’s star was in control, but could never finish a series of near pins.

“I swear I’ve never seen a kid that good at fighting off his back,” Gifford said, shaking his head in admiration. “I couldn’t get that second shoulder down.”

In the championship round, he faced a familiar foe. Lingle-Ft. Laramie’s Riggen McIntosh pinned Gifford in their previous encounter—Banner County’s home tourney. This time around, in Lingle, Gifford battled his way to a 4-2 decision.

“When you’re beating the people who were beating you earlier in the year, you’re getting close to where you want to be,” he explained.

Few wrestlers have topped the 220 pounder. He is now 20-4 on the season and ranked in a strong district.

“This is going to be one heck of a season,” he said.

The Wildcats brought only three competitors to the event. Noah Huber dropped matches to Hemingford’s Rylie Richardson and Elvariste Gomez of Morrill. Meanwhile T.J. Grubbs was forced to watch on Friday as the 195 field went into action the next day. He fell to Colton Stees from Southest by fall and Burns-Pine Bluffs’ River Schroeder in a major decision.

Four Wrestle For Kimball

It was an up and down weekend for the Longhorns at Lingle-Ft. Laramie.

Justin Mohr met up with a first year wrestler in his opening match on Friday. After pinning Justin Hopkins 1:21 into the bout, the Kimball sophomore was sympathetic.

“That used to be me,” he said, weighing the value of a season’s experience.

Mohr went 3-2 at Lingle-Ft. Laramie, placing in the top five at 126 and improving his record to 12-14.

He spent much of the third period against Rocky Mountain’s working for take down points after giving up on the idea of a pin.

“He wouldn’t quite give it to me,” Mohr explained, summing up his 11-9 decision.

In his third match, Mohr took Shoshoni’s Daniel Huxtable up to the final seconds before succumbing. He bounced back with a win over Chris Kimzey from Burns-Pine Bluffs. In the third place match, Cheyenne East’s Kaleb Dooley bested the budding Kimball star after a single mistake with the score tied.

“I’m proud of the way Justin’s wrestling,” Longhorns’ head coach Wade Brashear said, citing a marked improvement over last year. “He didn’t loose his cool.”

Rowdy Keller placed sixth at 103 on the strength of his Friday matches. After struggling through the first half minute of his opening encounter, the sophomore recovered with a quick move and worked Shoshoni’s Trint Nitchmen into a pin.

“My first match I’m usually sluggish,” Keller admitted.

His second bout was anything but sluggish. Keller and Saratoga’s Bradley Bifano pounded on each other without much effect through the first. The Wyoming challenger took control early in the second, but Keller engineered a reversal.

“He’s tall—I should have known he’d ride the legs,” Keller observed. “I found out the hard way.”

Still, by the end of the period he led 4-1. They would work against each other for two more minutes, but the score remained the same.

“Once I got a take down, I was feeling pretty comfortable,” he said.

But the win brought Keller up against his old nemesis, C.J. Sidrow of Morrill. Keller lost twice to the Lions’ standout before taking him down. This time, Sidrow won by major decision.

The setback may have played on Keller. He lost to Wright’s Trenton Smith and Bifano in a rematch.

“That’s because he hasn’t been on a mat in three weeks,” Brashear pointed out. Keller is coming off a foot injury and may have tired deep into the contest.

Despite the 2-3 weekend, he still holds an impressive 17-9 mark on the year.

Tristan Carruthers split his four matches, but he came very close to a spectacular tournament. He almost fought out of trouble against Lingle-Ft. Laramie’s Austin Barnes before losing by pin.

“I got out of it the first time, but the second time I got stuck,” he said. “I have to work on keeping my elbows tight.”

He bounced back, pinning Rocky Mountain’s Anthony Estes and quickly dispatching Caleb Bonnell, now at Gering. But Bonnell’s teammate, John Sayaloune gained the advantage with just a few seconds left in Carruthers’ final match.

Garrett Ryan and Tatum Morgan each ended up 1-2 on the weekend.

Morgan’s win came in dramatic fashion, fighting to pin Gering’s Antonio Murillo a fraction before time ran out in the first period of an—up to then—hard fought battle.

“It was intense,” Morgan admitted. “It seemed like he got gassed—I just took advantage.”

Ryan earned a major decision over Hemingford’s Jason Nelson in his first match. After failing to pin his opponent, the Kimball wrestler opted for a points-paying tactic.

“He was stronger than me, I think, so I had to keep taking him down.”

Kimball heads to Mitchell on Saturday for another grueling tournament.

“We need to be more focused and keep working hard,” Brashear explained.