Tiger matmen win district, seek state title

Two down, one to go! The Mountain Home Tigers followed up their Southern Idaho Conference 4A wrestling title with a district championship, after winning the two-day tourney at Skyview last week.

Mountain Home picked up 320 points to win the district title. Kuna was second with 294 points, Nampa, third with 242. From there it went Columbia (233.5), Middleton (198.5), Skyview (111), Bishop Kelly (94), and Emmett (76).

Mountain Home took 25 wrestlers to the district tourney, and 20 of them were still in the running for state after the first day of action. In all, the Tigers qualified 15 wrestlers on to state. They include three district champions, four runner-ups, three thirds, two fourths, one fifth and two sixths.

Taking district championships were Kaeo Doronio at 119 pounds, Kori Andrews at 160, and Matt Ward at 189.

Second-place finishers at District were Calvin Vivier (140), Chris Knudson (171), Tyson Sessions (215) and Blake Pharis (285).

Third place efforts went to Tommy Miller (125), Nico Pinque (135) and Kamron Spaulding (145).

T.J. Billinger (112) and Ty Kleffner (130) finished fourth, Colby Lord (189) was fifth, and Chris Vogl (135) and Nick Loomis (171) both took sixth.

Mountain Home wrestling coach Lynn Knudson was pleased with the effort at district and said the coaches were also impressed with the fan support.

"The outcome of the tournament, being district champions is a really neat deal for the kids and for Mountain Home and Mountain Home High School.

"I think we were well represented over there by all the fans, and it was a great feeling for our kids, and as a coach, I feel really great about it and I know the rest of the coaches feel the same.

"I'm really happy about the way we wrestled, and hopefully, we can carry that on at state."

Kaeo Doronio and Calvin Vivier made number one seeds in their weights. Kori Andrews goes in as the number two seed. Matt Ward and Tyson Sessions are both seeded third, Chris Knudson, fourth, Nico Pinque, fifth, and Kamron Spaulding and Blake Pharis are both seeded sixth.

Coach Knudson knows the 4A State field is tough, but is confident his Tigers can get the job done and bring home a state title.

"It's going to be a battle between all the other 4A schools that are there, because I think, state-wide, the 4A schools throughout the state are all tough. Whoever shows up to wrestle the tournament and wrestles well is going to be the state champion. I think our kids will be ready for the challenge. They've been working hard all season long and I think they'll be ready and we can come out of there in great shape."

Action gets under way Thursday afternoon and continues on through Saturday afternoon at Holt Arena in Pocatello.