LFLSE’s Fish change schools, keep winning

If the junior wins at No. 3 this weekend, however, it was in a different singlet. Fish, who won gold the past two seasons competing at Lusk, now wrestles for the combined Lingle-Fort Laramie/Southeast team.

Fish got off to a good start for a three-peat Thursday with a first-period pin of Wind River’s Kolton Martinez at 120 pounds at the Wyoming State High School Class 2A Wrestling Championships at the Ford Wyoming Center.

“I love it. It’s a great fit for me,” said Fish after his match. “I’ve lived in the same house in Lusk all my life, so it’s different but I still love it.”

Fish won the East Regional title last week to help Lingle-Fort Laramie/Southeast finish second in the team standings behind Moorcroft.

Fish is a welcome addition to a team that includes two-time state champ Kaleb Brothwell at 144 and regional champs Wyatt Sylvester at 126, Louden Bremer at 150 and Tiegen Thompson at 175.

“Nathan’s transfer to Lingle is exciting for us and for all of our kids,” said head coach Brandon Gifford. “From a wrestling standpoint he fits in with our kids and helps us out a lot. But more importantly, he’s a good guy and he’s a class act on the mat. Anytime you can get a kid like that in your school, it helps your culture.”

Whether he’s wearing the red singlet of Lusk (the Tigers) or the brown and gold of Lingle-Fort Laramie/Southeast (the Dogger-Cyclones?) it makes no difference to Fish, who has one thing on his mind this weekend.

“Winning a state title is winning a state title, it doesn’t matter what school it is,” he explained. “My goal is to wrestle in college and winning state titles will help me get there.”

In addition to improving on the mat, Fish is taking five college courses this year at Lingle to prepare himself for the next level.

For now, though, he’s focused on winning another state title for a new town he loves.

Gifford, who also coaches the Lingle football team, said the feeling is mutual.

“We have a great community and we’re blessed with a great group of kids,” he said. “These kids understand what it takes to be successful and understand the sacrifices it takes to be successful. As a coach, you can’t ask for more than that.”

Antonio Avila of Thunder Basin, Broc Fletcher of Rock Springs and Kale Knezovich of Green River came one step closer to cementing their legacies in Wyoming wrestling annals.

All three seniors stayed in contention to join the Four-Timer’s Club — four individual state titles — with wins in Thursday’s first period. Avila advanced with a second-period pin of Cheyenne East’s Layne Hamilton at 144 in Class 4A, Fletcher also won by pinfall over Cheyenne East’s PJ Briggs at 138 in 4A and Knezovich won by technical fall against Buffalo’s Jaxon Betterton at 157 in 3A.

Avila was in tears the entire time. He won both titles at both the Shane Shatto Memorial and the Ron Thon Memorial and went undefeated on the year. Meanwhile, Fletcher and Knezovich had to deal with injuries that nearly derailed their seasons before state.

“I injured my shoulder a few weeks ago and the doctors want me out for state,” Fletcher admitted, “but I’m going four so I can’t go out. There’s no stopping me.

“I tore my knee, tore my sternum and tore my shoulder. It’s been one injury after another and it’s been rough, but it’s my last year so I just went now.”

Unlike Fletcher, Knezovich doesn’t have a laundry list of injuries. But the shoulder injury he sustained in his first match of the season proved to be a long-term setback. He didn’t wrestle in a tournament until last week’s West Regional and entered state having wrestled just eight matches.

However, there is no way he is not competing at state.

“I have to wrestle this weekend,” he said. “They could cut my arm off and I’d still wrestle. I’ve got to try to be a 2024 state champ.

“Even though I don’t know how to wrestle I run a lot and I just try to keep the dog mentality. And for me everything is competition, whether I’m in the wrestling room or competing on the mat.”

Rawlins entered the 3A state tournament chasing its first team title after winning last weekend’s East Regional by 78 points over runner-up Torrington (226-148). The Outlaws are also trying to prove they can compete with defending state champion Green River and other teams from the West Regional.

“I’ve been emphasizing that all year, Rawlins senior Zachary Covolo said. “I won a state title last year and it’s a good feeling, but my mind is on the team title. I’ve been pushing the team all year. I always try to listen to people’s ears and help them as much as I can.”

Covolo, who competes at 132 this year, is joined by defending state champ Sage Lonn at 165. The Outlaws also have regional champs in Hudson Baker at 106, Jace Griffiths at 113, Adrian Trujillo at 120, Brayden Torstenbo at 144 and Ezra Archuleta at 157.

“Last week was exciting but it was an expectation,” said Covolo. “Now I want to prove that we’re one of the top teams here. We’ve been working hard in the wrestling room all year, so now we just have to go out there and wrestle.”

Baker is doing that as well as anyone this season. The freshman improved to 51-0 on the year with Thursday’s pinfall victory.

“Hudson is a stud,” Covolo said. “He’s like my little brother. I moved to Rawlins about six or seven years ago and Hudson is one of my best friends. I may be four years older than him but we just clicked right away and he’s been my little brother ever since. It’s been incredible to watch him this year.”

• In the 112 first-round girls’ matches there were 86 wins by pinfall, 13 byes, 8 decisions, 2 major decisions, 2 forfeits and one victory by injury default. All eight first-round victories in the 100-, 115- and 140-pound weight classes were by pinfall.

Twenty-six of those victories came in less than a minute, with Cheyenne East’s Ryauna Nepomucceno needing just 16 seconds to pin her opponent at 120.

• Forty schools had at least one girl advance to the quarterfinals. Defending state champ Star Valley led the way with 10, followed by Gillette with seven. Sheridan, Cheyenne East and Cheyenne Central have six quarterfinalists.