Randles claims middle school title at FloNationals

SANDPOINT — A pair of Top Dog wrestlers helped lead Idaho to a 7th place finish at the recent FloNationals wrestling championships, held at the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex at Indiana University in Pennsylvania.

Sandpoint Middle School wrestler Casey Randles competed in the high school division, pinning an opponent from Pennsylvania, losing 6-4 to a two-time California state qualifier and was leading a two-time Virginia state placer before getting caught on his back.

The next day, Randles won the 145-pound division of the middle school tournament, pinning two opponents from New York in less than a minute, pinning his Pennsylvania opponent in 2:26 and finally winning 5-1 over a New York opponent to dominate the draw and claim the championship.

Randles was one of three Idaho kids to place in the middle school championships, along with wrestlers from Mountain Home and Boise.

Sandpoint High School and Top Dog wrestler Tyler Brown lost both of his matches in the high school division, one to a state placer from Minnesota and the other to a state placer from New Jersey.

“Flo streamed all 12 mats live for both tournaments, which was very cool,” said proud father and SHS head wrestling coach Mike Randles. “It was very tough wrestling in the nation’s hotbed of high school wrestling. Idaho, as well as other states, had multiple, nationally-ranked state champions post just a few wins before getting bounced out of the tournament.”