SHOSHONI – On Friday and Saturday the Punchers wrestled at Shoshoni, competing in five duals. The Punchers went 2-3 over the weekend.

On Friday we wrestled Rock Springs and the number-one ranked 2A team Shoshoni. The Punchers fell in both of those duals, losing to Rock Springs, 60-12, and Shoshoni, 64-12. 

We knew going in Friday was going to be a tough night for us. I felt we competed well with those two strong teams. It was far better than we competed earlier in the year against Lyman. 

This week showed that we are improving, which is huge coming out of break. I felt we did a nice job on our feet, but we could have been a little more aggressive. We also showed some huge improvements from the bottom position. We did a better job creating escapes and getting back to our feet. That was a goal and something that we really worked on this week in practice.

On Saturday, we started off the day with Greybull.  It was a tight dual that came down to the last couple of matches. We ended up losing, 45-36. 

We had a couple of close matches that we just could not get over the hump on. But there was some great wrestling and we showed some huge improvement in the top position from the night before. We did a lot better job creating forward pressure on our opponents. Our second dual of the day was against Dubois. This was another close dual that the Punchers won, 42-34. It was great to start out the day with these duels where the teams and athletes where very comparable. It really helped to build confidence in our team that led us into the final dual against Rocky Mountain (in Cowley, Wyo.). The Punchers won that dual, 42-29.  

Overall, I really felt the team did a great job of competing and wrestling hard. They have a great attitude and are having a lot of fun this year. It is fun to see them come along and build as a team. The things we will focus on this week again is takedowns and more forward pressure on our opponents once we have taken them down.  

Athletes I was impressed with this week included sophomore Thomas Howard, who had a great week going 4-1. Howard just keeps improving each and every week. 

Freshman Jackie Meador also had a very solid week. He is very quick and does a great job of attacking his opponents on his feet.

Freshman Zach Murphy earned his first two wins of the year. Murphy showed great improvement this week.

I was really Impressed with how well sophomore Wiley Smith wrestled this week. He has gotten more physical in his wrestling and it really showed.

Freshman David Farrington and junior Karson Cline were two others who really stood out to me this weekend. Both fought very hard in their matches and showed vast improvement.