No. 2 Warriors prepping for 3A East regionals

WORLAND - At long last, the postseason is here for the No. 2-ranked Worland Warrior wrestlers. All the season's hard work will be for these final two weeks of the 2017-18 season. The 3A State tournament is the ultimate prize but first, the Warriors will need to lock-in on the 3A East regional tournament, to which they are hosting this Friday and Saturday at Worland High School.

Last week the Warriors went 2-0 during the Bobcat Invitational dual but had their senior night match vs. Buffalo canceled due to weather conditions. With the cancellation, WHS wrestling coach Josh Garcia opted to give his wrestlers an extended weekend rather than bring them in for practice.

And senior night has been moved to Thursday between the Worland girls and boys varsity basketball games vs. Buffalo at 5:30 and 7 p.m.

"I thought about practicing but when the roads are that bad I didn't want to bring kids in. If something were to happen and this late in the season the last thing I wanted was some to get hurt or injured. We gave them a three-day weekend and came back into practice ready to go for regionals," said Garcia.

Joining Worland in the battle for the 3A East championship will be Buffalo, Douglas, Hot Springs County, Newcastle, Rawlins, Torrington and Wheatland.

If the Warriors are to contend for a 3A East championship not only will the varsity wrestlers need to perform but also the JV wrestlers who are now wrestling at the varsity level.

"For those young kids that have been wrestling JV all year, it's time for them to step up. We need those kids to step up and knock off some of those point-getters or block guys out. We've done that in the past and it has been a selling ticket for our JV guys. We've had guys that were backups who went on to make the finals. We have high expectations for those guys even if they aren't our No. 1 guy, they're a huge asset to our team and can help us along the way," said Garcia.

The Warriors have been ranked No. 2, according to wyowrestling.com, behind Star Valley for a good portion of the season and while the recognition is a testament to their hard work this season. Now that the postseason has begun, Garcia and his staff do not want their wrestlers to focus on those rankings, because this is the time of year top-seeded wrestlers can be beaten and top-ranked teams toppled.

"That's how we approach it as a staff. We tell them all the time it's the team that shows up and works the hardest is going to walk away with that trophy. We try not to pay attention to the rankings because you need to show up and take it one match at a time. Ranked kids get beat all the time. We're ranked pretty high but we still have to go out there a prove it," said WHS wrestling coach Josh Garcia.

The 3A East regional tournament will begin at 4 p.m., Friday, at Worland High School. Look in Friday's edition of the Northern Wyoming Daily News for a preview of all eight teams competing in the tournament.