Eight wrestlers medal at state, team finishes 5th overall

The Mountain Home Tigers finished fifth at the State 4A Wrestling Championships at the Idaho Center in Nampa over the weekend and had eight wrestlers medal.

Members of the high school wrestling team...

Mountain Home took 15 wrestlers to the state tourney, and after the first day of matches still had 12 open with wins and the Tigers were in first place in the team standings. Ten of the wresters won at least two matches, and seven of them made the Friday night semi-finals, with three of them making the championship finals.

Eight Tigers placed in the top six in their weight class for the tournament.

Blackfoot won the 4A State title with 211 points, Columbia was second with 197.5, Pocatello came in third with 174, Nampa, fourth with 155, follwed by Mountain Home, three points back with 152. Rounding out the top 10 was Minico (141), Sandpoint (83), Middleton (67), Kuna (66), and Jerome (63).

The Tigers had three second place finishers. Nico Pinque lost a 3-0 decision in the 140-pound championship match. Calvin Vivier lost in overtime, 3-1 in the 145 pound championship, and Colby Lord lost by pin in the 189 pound championship.

Third place efforts went to Kamron Spaulding at 152 and Matt Ward at 171 pounds. Kaeo Doronio finished fourth at 130 pounds, and Ty Kleffner finished sixth at 135 pounds, as did Chris Knudson at 171 pounds.

Chris Vogl at 135 pounds and T.J. Billinger at 119 both went 2-2 at state, a win away from placing. Tanner Carpenter at 160 pounds and Luke Loomis at 189 both went 1-2.

Cody Staebler at 145 pounds, Tim Hazelbaker at 152, and Tucker Martin at 215 each lost both of their matches at state.

Mountain Home Tiger wrestling coach Lynn Knudson was proud of his guys efforts at the state tournament.

"It was a battle and our guys have done that all year long, and with the numbers that we have, we always have to do that extra by getting those pins when they won, so it takes a little more effort, but it was a great battle.

"We started out looking good all the way through and in first place after the first day, and then jumped down to second and then to third, and spent much of the tournament in third place, and here at last, it looks like we missed out on the trophy spots by finishing fifth, but we gave it a big effort.

"The kids did what they could do and just came up a little bit short on the points, but I'm very proud of this group and can't say enough about them. We put up a good battle and everybody knows it, and all the credit goes to our kids. They constantly battled and it's neat to see such a group at Mountain Home and what they're able to do."

The eight wrestlers that placed at state all have over 100 wins in their wrestling careers at Mountain Home High School.

"We have eight wrestlers that hit 100 wins (in their career)," said Coach Knudson. "It was just amazing what they were able to do in their four years with us at the high school. They were always there and always working hard. It's just a tremendous group and we're going to miss them all.

"They were all seniors except for Kaeo Doronio, and he'll be back and he'll have to lead our team next year, and we'll be right back at it next year fighting and trying to make another championship team."