Randles first, Kohal second at Inland Empire

SPOKANE — Casey Randles navigated the 182 pound bracket with clean, efficient wrestling, winning a championship to lead the Bulldog wrestling team to a fifth place finish among 20 teams last weekend at the Inland Empire Classic in Spokane. 

Randles has high expectations for himself, and continues to handle those as he matures on the mat, and this weekend was no exception. Randles posted three first period pins, including a Tri-State placer, on his way to the finals where he pretty much controlled the match against a quality University opponent.

Bulldogs head coach Mike Randles said the most surprising wrestler was Tanner Kohal, who went 4-1 at 145 pounds to finish second, including a solid win over Mead in the semis.

Jake Williams (195 pounds) battled through injury to post a 5-1 record and a third place finish.

“He got his arm torqued in the semis and we thought his day was over but he fought through some pain to finish third,” said Randles of Williams. “Including a win over a Washington state placer in the consolation semis.”

Tyler Presser (170) went 4-2 to finish fourth, Mahonri Hunsaker (152) went 5-2 to finish fifth, Hyrum Hunsaker (145) went 5-2 to finish fifth, and Elijah Guthrie (160) was the final Bulldog to nab a podium spot by going 5-2 to finish fifth.

“We took 16 wrestlers, and 14 won at least one match,” said Randles. “Our middle weights all fought back through consolation rounds to earn spots on the podium.”

Scout Nash (126) went 3-3, Owen Stebbins (170) and Zach Alamillo (220) each went 3-2, Tucker Hall (132), Andrew Webster (182) and Justin Hobson (285) each went 2-2, and August Johnson (120), Preston Bunty (138) and Dean Ramey were also in action.

Randles said arguably the best match of the tournament by his squad was turned in by Stebbins in an opening loss.

“Out of the gates, Stebbins drew the top seed, the defending Washington state champ out of Moses Lake,” said Randles. “Despite taking last year off and being unseeded, Owen definitely delivered a wake up call in a grind of a match, before falling 6-3.”

Much like Kent Leiss and the basketball team, the deep playoff football run has affected a handful of wrestlers as well, as they continue to play catch up.

“Some of our bigger guys Andrew, Tyler, Zach and Justin are still working to get their wrestling legs under them, transitioning from football conditioning to wrestling conditioning is well underway,” described Randles. “Nonetheless, all wrestled with a lot of aggression.”

Sandpoint is at Priest River tonight.