Wrestlers face tough competition at state tournament

The eight Mountain Home High School wrestlers that competed at the 4A State Wrestling Tournament in Nampa found the competition tough, going 9-16, overall.

Everyone was eliminated by the second day of competition. The Tigers finished 18th as a team in the tourney.

Mountain Home Tiger wrestling coach Lynn Knudson saw some good things from the tournament by his wrestlers.

"They all wrestled hard," the coach said. "Devonte McClain and Jon Ryan were just a win away from placing, and there were a lot of close matches. Just two of the eight at state are seniors, so this was a good experience for them, and if they work hard in the summer along with our other wrestlers, I think we should be a lot better next year."

Here's a rundown of each Mountain Home wrestler, and how they did:

Austin Lisonbee (112 pounds) -- The Tiger freshman opened the tourney against Conner Stubblefield of Canyon Ridge and won by pin in the third round. That put him against the number one seed at 112, Taylor Higbee of Pocatello, in the quarter-finals. He lost by pin in the third round to Higbee. That put him in the consolation bracket against the number-two seed, Juan Navarro of Blackfoot, who had been upset in the first round. Navarro won a 10-0 major decision to oust Lisonbee from the tourney. Austin went 1-2 at state.

Devonte McClain (125 pounds) -- The Tiger senior opened against Alex LeBlanc of Canyon Ridge and won by pin in the second round. He next faced Kurtis Loftis of Kuna in the quarter-finals and lost by pin in the third round. That put him in the consolation bracket, where he stayed alive with a first-round pin of Michael Roberts of Jerome. He then faced Rylee Hobbs of Preston and lost by pin in the third round. Devonte went 2-2 at state.

Tyler Rios (135 pounds) -- The Tiger sophomore opened the tourney against Tanner Beck of Columbi, and lost by pin in the second round. He next faced Jesse Putnam of Lakeland in the consolation bracket and won a 3-1 decision. He next faced Nick Thorne of Jerome and lost an 11-8 decision. Tyler went 1-2 at state.

Ryan Goldsby (145 pounds) -- The Tiger junior opened the tourney against Garrett Grigsby of Columbia and lost a 7-2 decision. That put him in the consolation bracket where he faced Jordan Nolan of Kuna, losing a close 9-8 decision to go out in two matches.

Austin Clark (152 pounds) -- The Tiger junior opened the tourney against Jonathon Horak of Blackfoot and won a 9-4 decision. That put him against the number-one seed, Tre Jarboe of Columbia, in the quarter-finals. He lost by pin to the eventual champion. In the consolation bracket, Austin faced Braeden Grigsby of Columbia and lost a close 9-6 decision to go out of the tournament with a 1-2 record.

Jon Ryan (215 pounds) -- The Tiger junior opened the tourney against Dakota Cole of Emmett and won by pin in the second round. That put him against Brock Robison of Madison in the quarter-finals. He lost by technical fall, 18-2, and went to the consolation bracket, where he stayed alive with a second-round pin over Bruce Anderson of Rigby. He then faced Jacob Barclay of Minico and lost a close 6-5 decision to go out of the tournament with a 2-2 record.

Jeff Checketts (215 pounds) -- The Tiger junior opened the tourney against number one seed JW Pierson of Nampa and lost by pin in the second round. That put him in the consolation bracket. He next faced Sterling Ritcheson of Century and stayed alive with a 4-3 decision. Up next for him was Jacob Barclay of Minico (who, a match later would oust Ryan from the tournament), and lost by pin in the second round, to go 1-2 in the tournament.

Ty McRae (285 pounds) -- The Tiger senior opened up the tourney against Layne Lasike of Jerome and lost by pin in the second round. That put him in the consolation bracket where he faced Cody Owens of Kuna and won by pin in just 25 seconds of the first round. He then faced Alan Rice of Bonneville and lost a tough 2-1 decision to go out of the tournament 1-2.