Wrestlers place second at Weiser tourney

It was another good week for Mountain Home Tiger wrestling, as they won a dual match and placed high at the Weiser Invitational.

The Mountain Home Tigers improved to 24-1 in dual match competition last Thursday night, downing the Nampa Bulldogs 42-26, in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

The Tigers won nine of the 14 matches, three by pins.

Calvin Vivier (140 pounds), Kamron Spaulding (145) and Tyson Sessions (189) won by pins.

T.J. Billinger won by forfeit at 112 pounds.

Kaeo Doronio picked up a win by technical fall (17-2) at 119 pounds, Chris Knudson won by major decision (11-3) at 171 pounds, and Matt Tennant (125), Nico Pinque (135) and Kori Andrews (160) all won decisions.

Ty Kleffner lost a tough 1-0 decision at 130 pounds, Ryan Hammer lost by technical fall (23-8) at 152 pounds, and Zach Pomerantz (103), Colby Lord (215) and Blake Pharis (285) lost by pins.

Mountain Home traveled to Weiser on Friday and Saturday for the Weiser Invitational Tournament, where they came home with second place out of the 20 teams competing there.

American Falls won the tourney with 195 points, Mountain Home came in second with 179.5. Columbia finished third with 132, LaGrande, Ore., was fourth with 128, and Weiser came in fifth with 112 points.

Three Tigers came home champions from the Weiser tourney.

Kaeo Doronio won the 119 pound weight class, Nico Pinque won the 135-pound class, and Calvin Vivier took first at 140. Ty Kleffner brought home a second place at 130 pounds, and third-place efforts went to Kori Andrews (160), Tyson Sessions (215) and Blake Pharis (285).

Tiger wrestling coach Lynn Knudson was pleased with the efforts of his wrestlers at Weiser.

"With not taking all our starters over there because of illness or injuries, I thought that we did very well and I'm pleased with the efforts of the kids. They stepped up and did a good job."

The Tigers close out their regular season schedule tonight at home against Kuna. JV action gets under way at 6:30 p.m., with the varsity to follow at 7:30 p.m. It is Senior Night, when the senior wrestlers will be honored.

"All we have to do is get through Kuna and we'll be coming out with a perfect (7-0) SIC record, so we're looking forward to that," said Coach Knudson.