Belgarde, Fister and Dillon pace Bulldogs at Madison

REXBURG — Garret Belgarde, the No. 1 ranked 112 pound wrestler in the 4A ranks and defending 103 pound state champion, finished second at the Madison Invitational last weekend to lead the Bulldogs, who made the lengthy bus trip to get a first hand look at their chief 4A competition prior to state.

Belgarde mowed through his half of the bracket, before falling 12-4 in the championship match to North Fremont’s Kolten Glider.

Leonard Fister, the No. 3 ranked 160 pound wrestler in 4A, finished fourth after being pinned by Blackfoot’s Chris Percy in the third place match. Payton Dillon, the No. 4 ranked 103 pounder in the state, lost 4-2 to Jerome’s Eric Ayala in the 5th/6th place match, rounding out the Bulldog placers.

“We sent a skeleton crew to the varsity tournament,” said head coach Mike Randles, whose already thin team was without Dave Marienau for the weekend. “This gives us a good idea of where we need to be and what we need to do from this point forward.”

The Bulldogs also sent 14 wrestlers to the JV tournament, with a host of strong performances, led by senior Curtis Mickelson’s second place finish. Josh Wren (4th), Jake Deil (5th), Troy Goodman (5th), Devin Schalk (5th) and Josh Allen (6th) also placed for Sandpoint.

Sandpoint is at St. Maries in duals action today.