Five wrestlers medal, Sandpoint bounces back at North Idaho Rumble

Merely a week removed from a reality check at Battle of the Paddle, Sandpoint wrestling put the Lakeland results behind them and fought with a re-found tenacity at the North Idaho Rumble.

“I see the fire in their eyes and the determination to win,” Sandpoint head coach Jake Stark said afterwards. “They’ve really refocused themselves a little bit after that tough loss to Lakeland, put a new foot forward and they’re really going for it.”

Five of the Bulldogs earned medals for their efforts: Tanner Dickson (113-lb.), Casey Olesen (120-lb.) and Isaiah Fleck (160-lb.) placed third; while Mason Bangeman (138-lb.) and Tag Benefield (195-lb.) placed fifth in their respective divisions.

Both Olesen and Fleck were poised for strong finishes, as they made it through Friday’s action unscathed. But Fleck lost the rematch against Lakeland’s Colton Boettcher albeit this time in three rounds, and Olesen was the victim of a questionable call that turned the tide in favor of Post Falls’s Lane Reardon.

After Olesen dug his way out of a 4-2 hole to tie the match in the second round, Reardon was awarded two points for a take-down that flirted dangerously with being out of bounds during the round’s closing seconds.

“In my opinion, that kind of changed the outcome of the match,” Stark said. “[Reardon] got the momentum and Casey was like, ‘He didn’t have me yet.’ It’s a tough one to swallow; Casey and [Reardon] are 1-1, but I don’t think they’re going to see each other again.”

With momentum swung fully in Reardon’s favor, Olesen fell 9-5 in the third round, preventing a rematch with Lakeland’s Chandler Axtell for the North Idaho Rumble’s 120-lb. title. Yet this didn’t deter Olesen, who took out his frustrations on Kellogg’s Ethan Guy and Lake City’s Devin Sorrelle;.

“Casey bounced back strong and showed what type of kid he is by winning in the third and fourth-place matches,” Stark said. “You can really tell how much work he’s put in over the last couple weeks by how much his game has gone up.”

Resiliency seemed to be a common theme for the Bulldogs elsewhere on the mat. Senior Mason Bangeman battled into the medal rounds with two victories in the consolation bracket, yet fell 2-1 in the consolation semifinals. He followed it up by pinning his opponent in 1:19 in the fifth-place match. Tanner Dickson’s fight through the consolation bracket culminated by pinning Coeur d’Alene’s Dom Jessos — the same wrestler who sent Dickson to the consolation bracket — in under a minute for the third-place medal.

The Bulldogs have a dual meet at Lake City on Friday at 3 p.m.

Saturday results

(Sandpoint wrestlers in bold)

98: Birkhimer d. Singh (Post Falls), Dec.4-3

98: Stepro (Kellogg) d, Birkhimer, Fall 1:05

113: Dickson d. Huber (Post Falls), Dec. 7-2

113: Dickson d. Smith (Post Falls), Dec. 7-5

113: Dickson d. Jessos (Coeur d’Alene), Fall 0:59

120: Reardon (Post Falls) d. Olesen, Dec. 9-5

120: Olesen d. Guy (Kellogg), MD 13-5

120: Olesen d. Sorrelle (Lake City), Fall 1:29

126: Weig d. Lyden-Nelson (West Valley), Fall 4:19

126: Phillips (Caldwell) d. Weig, Fall 1:08

138: Bangeman d. O’Hanlon (Timberlake), Dec. 12-8

138: Bangeman d. Suko (Lakeland), SV-1, 4-2

138: Naccarato (Bonners Ferry) d. Bangeman, Dec. 2-1

145: Strickler (Lake City) d. Nelson, Dec. 10-4

160: Boettcher (Lakeland) d. I. Fleck, Dec. 10-4

160: I. Fleck d. Stepro (Kellogg), Dec. 5-2

160: I. Fleck d. Hodges (Mountain Home), Fall 0:58

170: McNelley d. Johnson (Lakeland), Forfeit

170: Brown (Potlatch) d. McNelley, Fall 1:24

182: Oles (Lakeland) d. Suhr, Fall 2:08

195: Benefield d. Nickerson (Moscow), Fall 2:17

195: Benefield d. Hudson (Kellogg), Tech. Fall 23-5, 1:57

195: Clark (Lake City) d. Benefield, Fall 1:30

195: Benefield d. Berger (Lakeland), Fall 3:24

285: Marsh (Moscow) d. Twineham, Fall 2:29