Wrestling: Warriors have 'experience of a lifetime' in Pennsylvania

Making the most of their time in Pennsylvania, the Worland Warriors wrestling team competed at the Coudersport Duals in Coudersport, Penn., on Jan 4.

"What a great opportunity for Worland Warrior Wrestling," said WHS wrestling coach Josh Garcia. I'm super privileged to have this opportunity as a coach. I'm thankful to the school board, our superintendent, athletic director and principal for letting us go this far. It was an experience of a lifetime."

The Warriors did a lot of fundraising over the summer to have the varsity team compete at the seven-team dual tournament in Coudersport.

At the dual tournament, the Warriors went 2-2, losing to Grove City 48-18 in the quarterfinals, then beating Coudersport 48-15 in the consolation round and downing West Mifflin 41-21 in the consolation semifinals to earn a spot in the third-place match.

In the third-place match, the Warriors lost to Hickory 63-3. Bronson Newell scored the team's only three points with a 7-3 decision over Mike Reardon.

Along with taking the mat against new schools and wrestlers, the Worland team also got to face nationally ranked-wrestlers. Warrior 107-pounder Keller Dehmel faced Chase Karenbauer, who is the No. 3-ranked 106-pounder nationally, according to flowwrestling.org.

Facing that quality of wrestlers was a learning experience for the Warriors and their coaches.

"There was a lot of learning and positives that took place over the weekend. We wrestled Grove City first, and they're a powerhouse in Pennsylvania. Their 107-pounder [Chase Karenbauer] is a DI prospect and three of their guys have already signed letters of intent for DI schools.

"Getting our guys to get past that and go out and wrestle was fantastic. They did a nice job and wrestled tough. We got a lot of compliments from other coaches about our kids' toughness and just being grinders," said Garcia. "The level of wrestling that was there was exceptional. It's something the kids will look back on for the rest of their lives. Even for me as a coach, I found myself being a student of the game and seeing how they coach out there."

One thing that the Warriors learned quickly in Pennsylvania was how quickly mistakes could lead to a pin.

"I wanted these kids to experience this and go against top-ranked wrestlers in the country, not the state, but the country. It was good for them to see that you have to move constantly. We talked about it in our room, but experiencing it showed them that they had to keep moving. You take a bad shot; out here you can recover, in Pennsylvania, you were done. That was what I was trying to get out of that level of competition.

"The best part for me was being able to put Worland, Wyoming, on the map. I can't say enough about our kids. There were Facebook posts from the Pennsylvania parents talking about how Worland, Wyoming, traveled out there and had a good showing on the mat. They helped set up and clean up and people were impressed," said Garcia.

While the Warriors had tough matches and wins were tough to come by, each wrestler had a match to be proud of from their weekend in Coudersport.

"Overall, all of our kids battled. Some matches that stood out and they weren't even matches we won. Kade [Garcia] wrestled a seventh-ranked kid. Keller Dehmel had to wrestle a top ranked kid in that nation. Bronson Newell had a great match that he won. Jacob Newell was down in a match and was scrappier than I've ever seen him, and he won. I know I'm leaving some guys out but I'm proud of all of them for stepping out there and giving it all they had," said Garcia.

With the Warriors varsity in Pennsylvania, the Lady Warriors and Warriors JV team kept at it and worked hard in the wrestling room over the holiday break.

"Our girls and JV still had practices over the break. They worked on the basics and finishing shots and set-ups. Then kept working on their conditioning. That's always been one of our mottos. We want to run people out of gas and pick top in the third period and look to pin. Now we're ready to get back to the grind," said Garcia.

The season kicks into gear now for the Worland wrestling team. This week, they're in Douglas for the Shane Shatto Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

The Shane Shatto is one of the tougher regular-season tournaments in Wyoming. It's as competitive as the Ron Thon in Riverton. Going from the Coudersport Duals to the Shane Shatto, the Worland wrestlers can take what they learned in Pennsylvania or the wrestling room and apply it to this weekend.  

"The Douglas tournament is a fantastic tournament. Now that we're back in Wyoming, I want our kids to take what they learned and apply it to the rest of the season. I want to see them recognize when those scoring opportunities arise and go after them. I want them to have a little swag because they got to wrestle the best and now I'm excited to see what they can do," said Garcia.