The Cooper D. Lish Memorial Tournament

The Cooper D. Lish Memorial Tournament is an annual wrestling tournament that takes place at Marsh Valley High School.  This year we had several local wrestlers in attendance and many of them left their mark on the tournament earning high placings in their weight class.  From Caribou County the Grace boys and girls team, the North Gem boys team, and the Soda Springs girls team all attended the tournament.  Every one of our local teams in attendance had wrestlers competing at both the varsity and JV level.  The tournament itself is one of the largest in our corner of the state.  In just the boys varsity division there were twenty-seven teams in attendance so to be able to finish in the top five in your weight at any level is an impressive achievement.  Each weight class had its own bracket.  Some of the brackets were set up like any traditional bracket while some others began with pools to determine seeding in the final bracket.  It all just depended on what level you were wrestling at and how many participants were in your weight class.

Grace and Soda Springs both had girls wrestle in the tournament.  In the JV bracket Grace’s Adeline Clark (100-105lbs) went a perfect 7-0 in the tournament and claimed first place.  Soda Springs Addika Oliver (110-120lbs) finished in fifth place.   Laryah Dillworth (135lbs) and Mialexys Gonzales (135lbs), both from Soda Springs, competed in the same bracket with Gonzales finishing in fifth place and Dillworth claiming the top of the podium with a perfect 7-0 record.  Kaylin Richards (125-130lbs) from Soda Springs and Kallie Hulse (125-130lbs) from Grace both competed in the same weight class.  Richards was able to bring home fifth and Hulse fought her way back to claim third.  Brooklyn Dodge (140lbs) was the only girl from Soda Springs to compete at the varsity level in the tournament where the competition is fierce.  Dodge was able to pick up wins over girls from Kemmerer and Twin Falls but fell to a tough opponent from Malad.  In the end Dodge was able to clinch third place with a dominant performance over a girl from Rich.  Grace had four girls compete at the varsity level with all four being able to finish in the top four of their respective weight classes.  Skyla Cloud (145lbs) finished with a record of 4-3 and placed fourth.  Holland Ball (135lbs) went 3-2 in matches finishing in third place.  Hayden Ball (115 lbs) made it to the first place match but just came up short finishing in second place.  Finally Bella Eddins (125lbs) dominated her bracket going a perfect 5-0 and brought home first place.

In the boys tournament North Gem had four wrestlers compete.  At the JV level Landon Hayes (132lbs) and Leroy Lore (165lbs) each failed to pick up any wins but battled hard through the two day tournament.  Also in JV Jaxyn Welker (144lbs) earned wins over wrestlers from Century and Rich finishing in sixth place.  The lone Cowboy to compete at the varsity level was Haydn Frandsen (175lbs).  Frandsen finished with a record of 4-3 having to medically forfeit his final two matches putting him finishing in fourth place.  For Grace Jackson Junker (165lbs) was able to pick up three wins but finished in sixth place in the JV tournament.  Also competing in the JV tournament for Grace was Douglas Robbins (157lbs).  Robbins performed very well finishing with a 6-2 record in second place.  The Grizzlies also had three wrestlers compete at the varsity level.  Mack Jorgensen (215lbs) went 3-4 and finished in fifth place.  Jayden Lunt (126lbs) went 5-2 in a tough bracket finishing in fourth place overall.  Finally Carter Kimball (138lbs) rolled through his bracket dominating each competitor going a perfect 7-0 finishing on the top of the podium.