The Torrington Trailblazers have only three returning state placers on this year’s roster, but that is not stopping them from looking to make waves in this year’s postseason.
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TORRINGTON – The Torrington Trailblazers have only three returning state placers on this year’s roster, but that is not stopping them from looking to make waves in this year’s postseason.
Tristen Kingsley, Austin Fox and Jacob Wamboldt are the three returning state placers. As a freshman two years ago, Kingsley picked up a fifth-place finish at the state tournament at 106 pounds, while Fox secured a fifth-place spot last year at the state tournament at 126 pounds. Both Kingsley and Fox have been in and out of the WyoWrestling rankings this winter and due to recent injuries, they find themselves out of the top-seven in their weight class.
Senior heavyweight Wamboldt currently sits fifth in the most recent rankings at 285 pounds. Two years ago, the senior finished sixth as a heavyweight at the state tournament, before taking last season off. He missed the beginning of this winter after recovering from a football injury, but he has returned with a shot to place again.
Although the Blazers have only three returning state placers, they are not void of experience. The majority of this year’s roster is juniors, who had a lot of mat experience as sophomores as well. Torrington touts 11 juniors this year, including nine who took the mats at the state tournament last winter as sophomores.
Four of those now juniors are ranked by WyoWrestling. Casey Britton sits fourth at 152, while Jacob Polkowske occupies the fifth spot at 145. Josh Kingsley ranks sixth at 170 and Quentin Meyer is seventh at 120. Joining the four juniors, Wamboldt, Chase Dominguez (sixth at 160) and Nycholas Melchor (seventh at 106) round out the seven ranked wrestlers for Torrington.
Melchor has splashed onto the scene this year as a freshman. He has been ranked as high as third this winter by WyoWrestling at 106 pounds. Melchor is one of three freshmen who have stepped up for Torrington. Cody Pierce (138) and Gabe Mitchell (170) are two additional freshmen who have worked their way into the varsity lineups at different points in the season, so that extra experience could pay dividends in the postseason.
At the regional tournament last year, Torrington took the sixth spot as a team with 119 points. Ten wrestlers on this year’s squad placed in the top-eight in their weight class last winter at the regional tournament in Wheatland. With only a few top names heading into this year’s regional tournament, the Blazers will have to rely on wrestling by committee to improve their team score from last season.
