Sandpoint places seventh in tourney

| December 23, 2006 8:00 PM

PASCO — Sandpoint finished 2-2 in duals, placing 7th out of 32 teams in the Best of the West Duals at Pasco, Wash., this week.

Alec Ward was a perfect 4-0 over the two-day tournament, including solid wins over Hermiston, Ore., and Billings, Mont. Timmy Pepperdine finished 3-1, his only loss coming against the Montana state champion. Kyle Meschko took down the Hermiston wrestler that finished third at Tri-State. Jerod and Taylor Morris both went 3-1 overall. James VanEssen wrestled up a weight class and posted some solid wins.

Head coach Mike Randles called it an up and down tournament, magnifying the difference between the Bulldogs strength in duals versus tournaments. They ended up in the tougher half of the bracket, as Deer Park, a team they handled earlier in the year, finished third overall. Randles said they normally shuffle kids around, but against nationally-ranked Hermiston, who won the tournament, each team let their best square off against each other, and Randles said they were simply out-wrestled overall. They then lost by bonus points to Montana power Billings.

The Bulldogs were without their best wrestler, Joey Fio, who will be sidelined for a period with a knee injury, but is expected back later in the season. They leave for the Sierra Nevada Classic on Dec. 26. More than 100 teams are entered in the two-day tournament, the biggest of the year for Sandpoint.

OVERALL TEAM SCORES: 1 — Hermiston, 2 — Pasco, 3 — Deer Park, 4 — Royal, 5 — Newberg, 6 — Crook County, 7 — Sandpoint.

SANDPOINT-43 RICHLAND-33

103-Timmy Pepperdine-SAND Pin 1:06 Channing Winterrose-RICH; 112-Alec Ward-SAND Major 14-4 Jordan Manthei-RICH; 119-Corey Carpenter-RICH Pin 5:27 James Van Essen-SAND; 125-Jordan Calaway-RICH Dec 15-12 Will Hughes; 130-Kevin Maier-RICH Forfeit Will Hughes-SAND

135-Dallon Rindlisbacher-RICH Pin 5:08 Sid Winter-SAND; 140-Darren Thompson-SAND TF 17-2 Kody Weynick-RICH; 145-Scotty Paramoure-SAND Pin 0:24 Jeffery Young-RICH; 152-Jeffrey Crawford-RICH Pin 4:50 Sam Sisson-SAND; 160-Kyle Meschko-SAND Pin 1:20 Kyle McCue-RICH

171-Jerod Morris-SAND Major 13-2 Jeremy Knighton-RICH; 189-Taylor Morris-SAND Pin 0:27 Stephen Jansons-RICH; 215-Aaron Sevigny-RICH Pin 0:29 Austin Posey-SAND; 285-Jesse Peterson-SAND Pin 0:23 DJ Clark-RICH.

SANDPOINT-61 CROOK COUNTY JV-18

103-Timmy Pepperdine-SAND Pin 1:31 Brent Forseth-CROOK JV; 112-Alec Ward-SAND TF 17-2 Riley Wood-CROOK JV; 119-James Van Essen-SAND Major 11-3 Zach Hite-CROOK JV; 125-Jared Dixon-CROOK JV Pin 1:01 Will Hughes-SAND; 130-Taylor Coyle-CROOK JV Forfeit None

135-Sid Winter-SAND Major 14-2 Andy Williams-CROOK JV; 140-Cliff Ciszmar-SAND Pin 1:13 Anthony McLoughlin-CROOK JV; 145-Darren Thompson-SAND Pin 1:55 Jake Shinkle-CROOK JV; 152-Tyler McCormack-CROOK JV Pin 1:21 Leonard Fister-SAND; 160-Kyle Meschko-SAND Pin 3:47 Dustin Chapman-CROOK JV; 171-Jerod Morris-SAND Pin 1:12 RJ Kriege-CROOK JV; 189-Taylor Morris-SAND Pin 1:17 Levi Roan-CROOK JV; 215-Austin Posey-SAND Forfeit-Exb None; 285-Jesse Peterson-SAND Forfeit-Exb None.

HERMISTON-54 SANDPOINT-13

103-Timmy Pepperdine-SAND Major 16-7 Ben Jorgensen-HERM; 112-Alec Ward-SAND Dec 4-1 Chase Winters-HERM; 119-James Van Essen-SAND Dec 6-1 Dylan Olsen-HERM; 125-Brandon Adolf-HERM Pin 5:00 Will Hughes-SAND; 130-Cody Britt-HERM Forfeit None; 135-AJ Almaguer-HERM Pin 0:42 Sid Winter-SAND; 140-Brent Parks-HERM Pin 2:26 Darren Thompson-SAND; 145-Marty Britt-HERM Pin 3:04 Scott Paramoure-SAND; 152-Kyle Meschko-SAND Dec 5-3 Ryan Barton-HERM; 160-Randy Larson-HERM Pin 4:17 Leonard Fister-SAND; 171-Kevin Verwey-HERM Dec 7-6 Jerod Morris-SAND; 189-Troy Kessell-HERM Dec 9-2 Taylor Morris-SAND; 215-Garrett Later-HERM Pin 1:28 Austin Posey-SAND; 285-Josh Barraza-HERM Pin 0:37 Jesse Peterson-SAND.

SKYVIEW-BILLINGS-39 SANDPOINT-33

103-Brice Gretch-SKYV Dec 10-4 Timmy Pepperdine-SAND; 112-Alec Ward-SAND Pin 3:25 Brennan Barta-SKYV; 119-James Van Essen-SAND Pin 3:25 Zeke Concepcion-SKYV; 125-Seth Goodell-SKYV Forfeit None; 130-Tyler Elm-SKYV Pin 1:20 Will Hughes-SAND; 135-Jeff Jones-SKYV Pin 3:34 Sid Winter-SAND; 140-Cory Champney-SKYV Pin 0:55 Darren Thompson-SAND; 145-Garrett Bergum-SKYV Dec 8-4 Scott Paramoure-SAND; 152-Kyle Meschko-SAND Dec 12-5 Casey Malia-SKYV; 160-Joe Mancuso-SKYV Dec 11-7 Leonard Fister-SAND; 171-Jerod Morris-SAND Pin 3:27 Jared Berry-SKYV; 189-Taylor Morris-SAND Pin 3:06 Preston Banderob-SKYV; 215-Chris Molen-SKYV Pin 1:10 Austin Posey-SAND; 285-Jesse Peterson-SAND Forfeit.

Exb None.