Dowling goes 7-0, wins G-R’s only title at Powell tournament

Picking up where they left off in February, Gabby Dowling, Loomis Alexander, Curtis Strohschein and Elizabeth Holloway led the charge for the Greybull-Riverside wrestling team at its first tournament of the season.

The Hound Dogs opened at split sites — the boys in Powell, the girls in Cody — and at both venues, competition was fierce as the Wyoming squads were joined by schools from Montana that already had a couple weeks of competition under their belts.

Friday featured pool wrestling in the varsity girls, varsity boys and junior varsity boys divisions, with the top performers advancing to Saturday’s bracketed tournament.  

G-R placed 12th in the varsity boys division thanks to third-place finishes by Loomis Alexander, at 144, and Curtis Strohschein, at heavyweight, and 12th in the girls division on the strength of a first-place finish by Gabby Dowling, at 140, and a fourth-place finish by Ellie Holloway.

Coach Rob Nuttall said he was encouraged by his team’s outing, pointing out that nearly everyone won at least one match.  “We haven’t always been able to say that (coming out of Powell),” he said. “Outside of Bennett (Sanford) and having to pull him (due to injury), all three of our varsity boys (Alexander, Strohschein and Reece Whisenant) made the bracket.  

“That’s a silver lining, considering how tough that tourney is.  We once had a kid not make the bracket (in Powell) who went on to wrestle in the state final.”

Alexander looked “dominant” in going 3-0 in the pools, then won two of three in the tourney, losing only to eventual champ Cale Nedens of Hardin, Mont. 

Strohschein finished the weekend at 5-2, going 3-1 in the pools, 2-1 in the tournament.  Both losses were to the eventual champion, Tye Brown of Laurel, Mont.  When they clashed in the semis, three overtimes were needed to settle it.  Strohschein defeated wrestlers from Sheridan and Natrona County.

Whisenant had a tough go in a loaded 150-pound bracket, going 3-1 in the pools, 0-2 in the tournament. “He wrestled a great tournament,” said Nuttall. “The 150-pound class was an animal.”

Girls division

Dowling and Holloway were the only G-R girls who competed in Powell; the other four are expected to make their season debuts later this week.

Both girls “came out on fire” on Friday with Dowling going 4-0 and Holloway 3-0 — all of them either by pin or technical fall.  

Dowling capped off a 7-0 weekend by pinning Shoshoni’s Brueklyn Truempler in the final.  Truempler had won all her matches to that point.  Making it even more significant, it was the 100th career win for the Greybull High School senior.

Holloway went 2-2 in the bracketed portion. Versus non-Montana grapplers, she split with Danika Crumrine of Lovell and beat Kiley Bridger of Shoshoni.

JV

On the JV side, G-R entered 10 wrestlers in the pool round and five of them qualified for the bracketed portion.   Garrett Wiggins, who went 5-1, placed second at 150.

Zack Kuntz, 4-2, captured third at 190.

Camden Schriner, 4-2, claimed fourth at heavyweight.

Jesse Brown, 3-1, and Ben Mendenhall, 3-1, finished eighth at 144 and 157, respectively.

“We had more kids make the bracket on Saturday than we’ve had in the past, which is really encouraging,” said Nuttall.  “We have more depth and more experience than we’ve had in the past, which certainly helps.”

And while they didn’t qualify for the tournament, each of the other five wrestlers won at least once.  Levi Cochrane went 1-1 at 144D, Carter Peasley went 2-1 at 150B, Daniel Baker went 1-2 at 157A, Nikoa Sorenson went 2-1 at 175C and Corbyn Godfrey went 1-2 at 190B.

Looking ahead

G-R returns to action today (Thursday, Dec. 19) with a 5 p.m. dual in Thermopolis. The Bobcats were among the most impressive teams in Powell, notching the top finish by a Wyoming school and trailing only Laurel and Huntley Project.

On Friday and Saturday, G-R will compete in Worland at the Battle in the Bighorns — a dual tournament that culminates in a best-of-the-best round of singles competition.  While some will ultimately move into difference weight classes, Nuttall said he’s confident he’ll be able to fill every weight class from 132 on up this weekend.