The George Wild Tournament

The Soda Springs boys wrestling team took a long road trip to the north end of the state last weekend.  The Cardinals competed in the George Wild Tournament which took place at Kellogg High School.  The tournament had twenty-two teams in attendance, the majority of which were from northern Idaho.  There were schools from nearly every classification from 2A up to 6A. The Cardinals as a team finished in a respectable twelfth place.  The tournament was a true double elimination tournament with individual placings only going to fourth place.  With this format and many of the top wrestlers from the top of the state made it very difficult to earn a top four placing.

The Cardinals had ten wrestlers make the trip up north to compete and although most did not place many of them competed well and gained some great experience.  Beau Jensen (120lbs), Simon Krupp (126lbs), Kage Johnson (150lbs), and Taylor Brown (165lbs) each failed to pick up any wins but battled hard in the two matches that they each participated in.  Carson Cook (215lbs) won his first match advancing him to the quarter finals before losing twice and getting eliminated.  JT Cutler (126lbs) and Jace Garbett (144lbs) each finished with a 2-2 record in the tournament though neither one was able to place in the top four.  Troy Krupp (165lbs) won his first match and moved to the quarter finals.  Krupp unfortunately lost that quarter final match sending him to the consolation side of the bracket.  Once there Krupp picked up a pair of wins earning a spot in the consolation semi finals.  Krupp ended up losing that match and just missing out on finishing in the top four.  Kellan Garbett (132lbs) grabbed wins in his first two matches of the tournament.  This put Garbett in the semi finals where he came up short of qualifying for the championship match.  After losing the semi final match Garbett was put in the consolation semi final match.  Garbett had a tough match in that round which he won by decision advancing him to the third place match.  In that match Garbett once again took the bout to the full time but came up just short in a decision finishing in fourth place.  The final Cardinal wrestler that competed was Elijah Dillworth (190lbs).  Dillworth is off to a great start this season and last weekend’s tournament was no different.  Dillworth ran the table at the tournament.  He picked up four straight wins over wrestlers from Lakeland, Post Falls, St. Maries, and Sandpoint.  In the first place match against Sandpoint Dillworth dominated his opponent winning by technical fall. 

The Cardinals earned valuable experience at this tournament that allowed them to see some wrestlers that they would not have otherwise seen this season.