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earn trip to State
Members of the Prairie Wrestling Team earned 3 medals with 4 wrestlers qualifying for State during the District Wrestling Meet at Orofino Saturday, Feb. 19. Nick Uhlenkott at 145 lbs. and Shane Poxleitner at 135 lbs. each placed second while Logan Lustig at 215 lbs. placed third to earn medals. Richard Sonnen at 145 lbs. placed fourth to earn a trip to state. Only Tony Duman at 130 lbs. and Kenneth Enneking who missed the tournament to attend a classmate’s funeral, didn’t make it to state. At 130 lbs. Duman fell behind in his match 1-6 before being pinned with 47 seconds left by Brad Cochran of C.V. He then foufht a tough match with Jamie McGreal of Potlatch with the winner earning a state berth. It was 2-2 at the end of the first period and 4-4 late in the second period when McGreal took control. Duman was pinned with just 0.1 seconds left on the clock. At 135 lbs. Poxleitner battled Shane McCarver of Potlatch. Poxleitner scored a takedown but couldn’t do much more in the first period as he led 2-0. Poxleitner started the second period in the down position and was able to score a reversal and with 25 second left in the period recorded the pin to advance to the championship match. In the championship final he faced #1 seeded Jake Will of Wallace. Will took a 2-8 lead after 2 periods and led 2-12 in the third before Poxleitner rallied. A reversal, near fall and penalty point cut the lead to 7-12 but a reversal and near fall the other way put the lead at 7-16. Poxleitner then scored another reversal and near fall to pull within 12-16 but Will then fended off Poxleitner for a 12-21 win. At 145 lbs. Nick Uhlenkott had a first round bye then faced teammate Richard Sonnen, winning by pin in just 26 seconds to advance to the championship match. There he faced Tyler Jackson of Kamiah who had given him a tough match at the Kamiah Tournament. Jackson scored the initial takedown but Uhlenkott scored a reversal to tie the score. Jackson scored an escape for a 2-3 lead at the end of the first period. Uhlenkott started the second period in the up position but Jackson reversed him. Uhlenkott also scored a reverse to cut the lead to 4-5 but a reversal by Jackson led to a pin with just 5 seconds left in the period. Also at 145 lbs. Sonnen earned a trip to state by winning his first match. He faced Ben Prado of Kamiah and scored a takedown. An illegal hold penalty and an escape tied the scored. Sonnen scored another takedown for a 4-2 lead but a reversal and near fall led to a 4-7 deficit. Sonnen scored another reversal to make it 6-7 at the end of the first period. He stated the second period in the down position but executed another reversal on a roll move and mound up scoring the pin with just under a minute to go in the period. He then lost to Uhlenkott which led to the consolation final. There he faced Lee Muench of Grangeville. Sonnen trailed 1-4 at the end of the first period but managed to tie the score at 6 going into the final period. He scored a reversal from the down position and near fall for a 10-6 lead but couldn’t put Muench away. Muench wound up scoring the pin with 56 seconds left in the match leaving Sonnen in fourth place. At 215 lbs. Lustig faced Orofino’s Andrew Martin who controlled the action, pinning Lustig with 1:06 left in the second period. In the match for third place Lustig faced Orofino’s Drew Senefsky. An uneventful first period saw the score still at tied at 0-0. Lustig started the second period in the up position and managed to turn Senefsky and pin him with 1:29 left to earn a third place medal. The team will compete at state this weekend at the Idaho Center at Nampa starting Thursday, Feb. 24 and concluding Saturday, Feb. 26. State Meet is Feb. 26-28 State Wrestling action for Prairie will get underway at 3:30 p.m. (all times are MST) at the Idaho Center in Nampa with first round matches. Winners bracket second round action continues starting at 8:30 p.m. Consolation round action will start at 10:30 a.m. Friday with the next round of the consolation set for 3 p.m. Consolation quarterfinals will be held starting at 6 p.m. with championship semifinals set for a 7:30 starting time. Consolation semifinals are set for 9 a.m. Saturday with the 3rd-4th and 5th-6th place matches set for 11:15 a.m. If you’re still wrestling on Saturday you will receive a state medal as the top six finishers all receive medals. The Championship matches are scheduled to start following a pre-match ceremony which is set for 2:30 p.m. Tentative first round matchups show Shane Poxleitner (28-6 record) facing Drew Christensen of Firth. Nick Uhlenkott is seeded 5th at 28-6 and will face Jake Millward of Grace. Richard Sonnen (2-20) has drawn the #2 seed, Drew Latimer of Challis. Logan Lustig (3-1) will face fourth seeded Ben Pratt of Melba. Brackets and tournament info can be found at idhsaa.org or from either idahowrestling.com or idahosports.com
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