Rodriguez wins title, three Blazers place

Erick Starkey
Posted 3/1/17

Senior Trey Rodriguez took first at 120 pounds at the state tournament and was one of three Blazers to finish in the top-six in their weight class in Casper over the weekend.

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Rodriguez wins title, three Blazers place

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CASPER – Senior Trey Rodriguez took first at 120 pounds at the state tournament and was one of three Blazers to finish in the top-six in their weight class in Casper over the weekend.
In the 120-pound championship match, Rodriguez got off to a hot start against Hagen Lamoreaux (Lyman), recording a takedown and near fall in the first period. With a 5-0 lead after the first, Rodriguez and Lamoreaux both recorded reversals in the second period, giving the Blazer a 7-2 lead with 2 minutes separating him from a state title.
Lamoreaux racked up six points in the third period, while Rodriguez added five points to his total to capture the championship, 12-8.
Rodriguez’s road to the championship started with a pin in the second period over Mountain View’s Caiden Lawerence. Rodriguez won his quarterfinal and semi-final matches by decision, beating Justyn Corbett (Riverton) 15-7 and Greyson Hicks (Star Valley) 9-3.
“It’s a fitting ending to a real solid career for Trey,” coach Doyle Meyer said. “For him to make it to the semi-finals and get past it and win was really awesome to see.”
Lane Johnson, Torrington’s other senior, took fourth place in the heavyweight division. He started the weekend with two wins, recording two pins in under 1:30 total. In the semi-finals, Johnson was pinned in the second period, falling to the consolation semi-finals, where he beat Wheatland’s Cody Cagle by a 1-0 decision. The Blazer fell in the third-place match, getting pinned in the second period by Nate Kern (Worland).

“Those top-five boys in heavyweight in there were so close it kind of came to who was on and who wasn’t on quite as much,” Meyer said.
Like Rodriguez, Austin Fox finished the 2016-17 campaign with a win, finishing fifth at 132 pounds. He lost his opening match by a 6-1 decision, but then went on to win three-straight matches in the wrestle-backs. Two of his wins came by pin and the third was by a 6-0 decision.
In the consolation semi-finals, Fox lost by a 7-2 decision against Cody’s Jon Sanchez. Fox took on Douglas’ Christian Coffman in the fifth-place match and went the distance. Fox picked up the win by decision, 5-3.
“At state, he really got some good stuff going,” Meyer said. “It definitely gives him confidence that he can hang with really anyone in the state. For him to step up and do what he did was a testament to him.”
Outside of Rodriguez, Johnson and Fox, Torrington had three wrestlers reach the third round of the consolation bracket. Tristan Kingsley (126), Jacob Polkowske (138) and Brandon Bennick (220) both went 2-2 in Casper. They all won their first and third matches and lost their second and fourth. Bennick’s two wins both came by pin and Polkowske recorded one pin and one win via decision, 8-5. Kingsley went the distance in both his wins, winning by decision 9-6 and 7-3.
“Seeing Tristan, Jacob and Brandon get to one match away from placing is great for what is to come for the Torrington program,” Meyer said.
Quentin Meyer (120) and Chase Dominguez (160) both started the weekend with wins, before suffering two losses to end their chances at placing. Casey Britton (145), Josh Kingsley (160), Ryan Walson (170), Alejandro Chavarria (170) and Jakob Brott (195) all went 1-2 at the state tournament. They all suffered an opening loss, before picking up one win in the wrestle-backs. Nathan Davis (152) was also in action for the Blazers, but was unable to snag a win.
“We had 14 wrestlers and 13 made it to the second day and that was great,” Meyer said. “The program starts at the Torrington Wrestling Club and Torrington Middle School and onto high school. Our success starts when these kids are young. When we get them to high school, we can step them up to the next level and that’s been going on for years.”
As a team in 3A, Torrington finished 10th, racking up 81 team points.
“We are a little disappointed with the team placing, but looking back we improved greatly and really wrestled well,” Meyer said.