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earn medals at State
James Jackson and Brandon Poxleitner each earned a state medal at the State Wrestling Tournament held Feb. 27-28 at Pocatello. 
Jackson brought home a 3rd place medal, his second in 3 years of wrestling and Poxleitner brought home a 6th place medal for the second straight year. In the 145 lb. bracket Jackson opened with a pin against Jaime Garcia of New Plymouth in 4:41. In the quarterfinals he faced Paden Allen of Malad and pulled out a 12-8 win. In the semifinals he faced top-seeded Cory Arneson of Challis and lost 7-1. Arneson went on to finish 2nd to Kamiah’s Slade Jacobs. In the consolation semifinals Jackson again faced Garcia and pinned him for a second time, this time in 3:57. In the third place match he again faced Allen and again won by decision, 8-6, to earn a third place medal. Poxleitner wrestled at 135 lbs. In his opening match he faced Tate Whitworth of Challis and won a 10-3 decision. In the quarterfinals he faced the #1 seed, Derek Garrett of Valley, and lost by pin in 5:29. Garrett went on to take 1st place. In the consolation bracket he faced Sean Finley of Marsing and pulled out a 4-3 win. In the consolation quarterfinals he faced Eldon McInelly of New Plymouth and again pulled out a narrow, 2-1, win to clinch a medal. In the consolation semifinals he faced Jake Waters of Wallace and lost 4-6 in overtime. In the 5th-6th place match he faced David Hemmert of Parma and lost 4-9. Just missing a medal was Mitch Jungert at 285 lbs. Jungert opened against #1 seed and eventual winner Sylas Gaskins of New Plymouth and was pinned in 4:08. In the consolation bracket he faced Zack Rarick of Valley and won by pin in 3:45. In the next round he faced Austin Zollinger of Raft River and won that match by pin in 3:38. In the consolation quarterfinals, with a medal on the line, he faced Tye Bare of Kootenai, who had beaten him at District. Bare pulled out a narrow 2-3 win to eliminate Jungert. At 130 lbs. Philip Smakman was out in two matches. He opened against #1 seeded Ty Peck of Aberdeen, who went on to finish 3rd, and lost by pin in just 30 seconds. In the consolation bracket he faced Matt Merritt of Marsing and was eliminated in a 6-10 decision. At 160 lbs. Tyrell Langston opened against Jesse Harrigfield of North Fremont and lost a 10-13 decision. In the consolation bracket he faced Christian Wirth of Hansen and won by pin in 2:21. In the next round he faced Steve Hardy of West Side and lost by pin in 4:33 and was eliminated. At 215 lbs. Chance Ratcliff opened against Seth Gaskins of New Plymouth and lost by pin in 3:48. In the consolation bracket he faced Lucas Pantheri of West Jefferson and won by pin in 1:40. Then he ran up against Addison Amar of Challis and lost by pin in 40 seconds and was eliminated. As a team Prairie finished in 18th place with 37 points, good for 5th among 1-A schools and second among District 1-2 schools.  |
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