RIVERTON – Both the combined Lingle-Fort Laramie/Southeast (LFL/SE) boys’ and girls’ wrestling teams passed the grueling physical test at the annual Ron Thon Memorial Tournament in Riverton with flying colors.

Ron Thon is the largest wrestling competition in Wyoming outside the postseason. Unlike regional and state wrestling tournaments, grapplers are not divided into brackets based on school size in Riverton. Wrestlers at Ron Thon square off against a gauntlet of opponents representing all three classifications in Wyoming – 2A, 3A and 4A.

Seniors Kaleb Brothwell and Josie Houk fought through brackets crowded with talented wrestlers from across the state to triumph over the competition and garner championships.

Brothwell secured the boys’ championship at 138 pounds, with Houk snagging gold in the girls’ 155-pound division.

Houk remains undefeated on the season.

“Kaleb and Josie had excellent tournaments and were able to win specific situations in their big matches that made the difference between winning and losing,” head coach Brandon Gifford said.

Junior Nathan Fish earned silver in the boys’ 120-pound bracket.

Overall, the LFL/SE boys’ varsity team captured 14th place out of 44 teams at Ron Thon, tallying 77.5 points. LFL/SE beat its 2A rival Moorcroft by a half a point. 

Kemmerer was the only other 2A school to break into the top 15, with the Rangers placing 13th at 84 points.

In the girls’ tournament, LFL/SE took 12th place, beating 27 other teams in the field with 67 points. 

“We had a lot of ups and downs this weekend,” Coach Gifford said. “Overall, I felt like out athletes battled hard and fought for every point. That is huge, considering the difficulty of the competition and it will serve us well moving into the postseason. We have been battline through illness this week, so were short some wrestlers as well as some who were not 100 percent. The kids never let that bother them and they just competed.”

The teams look forward to hosting home duals this weekend, Gifford added.

Girls Tournament

Houk opened the tournament with a pin at 1 minute, 11 seconds into the first round of the 155-pound bracket. In the second round, Houk defeated Rock Springs’ Sarah Eddy by fall at 3:07.

Progressing to the quarterfinals, Houk took down Kailey Allen, of Thermopolis, with 17 seconds to spare in the first period.

Houk squared off against Thermopolis’ Alix Sorensen in the semifinals. The opponents grappled into the third period with Houk pinning Sorensen at 4:54.

Finding herself in the first-place match, Houk battled Cheyenne East’s Kaelyn Ronnau through two periods before Houk pinned Ronnau at 4:29. 

Senior Isabella Spears broke into the finals to secure sixth place at 145 pounds. Following two wins in the opening rounds, Spears fell in the quarterfinals.

Refusing to throw in the towel, Spears scrapped her way back through the consolation bracket, pinning both Natrona County’s Kallie Bauer and Haylee Blomberg, of Campbell County.

Boys Tournament

Brothwell defeated Wyatt Heffington, of Powell, in the second opening round to advance to the quarterfinals where he found himself pitted against Cody’s Gabe Grant. 

Brothwell and Grant grappled into the third period, with Brothwell winning by a 12-6 decision. 

In the semifinals, Brothwell and Pinedale’s Jake Hammer wrestled through three close periods. Digging deep, Brothwell prevailed by a 4-3 decision.

Progressing to the first-place match, Brothwell won by injury default against Rock Springs’ Broc Fletcher.

In the 120-pound bracket, Fish defeated Cody’s William Wood by a 3-1 decision in the quarterfinals. 

Advancing to the semifinals, Fish pinned Tristen Tromble, of Natrona County, with 30 seconds remaining in the third period.