STATE WRESTLING PREVIEW: Post Falls, second last year and still strong, seeks first state title

The Post Falls High wrestling team has been one of the best tournament teams in the state this year.

With championships at the Best of the West tournament in Pasco and the North Idaho Rumble in Coeur d'Alene, as well as a second at the River City Duals in Post Falls and a fifth at the Rollie Lane Invitational in Nampa - could this be the year of the Trojan in the wrestling ranks?

"Definitely," Post Falls coach Pete Reardon said. "The plan is to go in there and bring home first place. I know our guys are going to compete to the top of their ability and put in a good showing. If we can do that - we can definitely get first place."

Post Falls was second in 5A last year.

The state wrestling tournaments in 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A begin today at Holt Arena in Pocatello. Championship matches are scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. PST on Saturday.

5A: Jake Farnsworth (106 pounds), Alius De La Rosa (106), Peter Berger (113), Lucas Bolster (113), Drake Foster (120), T.J. Wolf (126), Tannar Riekena (132), Tyler Mahal (138), Stephen Ost (145), Austin Wilson (160), Seth McLeod (170), Cody Johnson (182), Ryan Failor (195) and Justin Farnsworth (220) advanced for Post Falls, which finished second last year to Lewiston by 13 points.

“We’ve got a ton of confidence in those guys,” Reardon said. “We’re a little short on depth, but our front guys that placed did really well. We had nine guys that won regional titles and wrestled well in the medal rounds. They’re really hungry and excited. We’ve got great confidence in them as a coaching staff and I’m excited for these guys this weekend.”

Lewiston beat Post Falls by 4.5 points for the Region 1 championship last Saturday in Rathdrum.

Foster won a state title last year at 106 pounds. McLeod (145) and Wilson (160) each placed second, Bolster was third at 98 and Riekena was sixth at 138.

“There’s a lot of things that can happen and lots of variables that can either help you win a state title or hurt you,” Reardon said. “Sometimes, you can get help from other schools, but I have all the confidence in them they’ll get the job done. It’s been a lot of the conversations we’ve had this week. We’ve been talking about believing in what we’re capable of. They believe they’re going to go down there and win it — and they definitely have a great chance.”

Anthony Price (98), Dylan Shaffer (106), A.J. Konda (113), Mario Peregrina (113), Scott Larson (120), Jason Sprague (138), Steven Price (145), Sean White (152), Gabe Ross (160), Damion Rawson (170), Hudson Staub (170), Phoenix Duncan (182), Darrian Robinett (195), Tyler Jankay (220), Jake Lunceford (285) and Matt James (285) advanced for Coeur d’Alene, which finished eighth last year after winning back-to-back titles in 2010 and ’11.

Staub was third at 138, James fifth at 220 and Konda was sixth at 113 last year. Larson was fifth last year at 113 in 3A for Timberlake.

Nick Wells (126), who was fifth at 126 at state last year, Mike Carr (132) and Jared Lambert (160), who was sixth at 145, advanced for Lake City.

4A: Tyler Siegford (98), Justin Wright (106), Tyson Hendricks (113), Austin Hoobler (120), Dustin Hannawalt (126), Chad Miller (138), Brandon Yount (145), Jesse Putman (152), Karsen Walker (160) and Killian Estes (170) advanced for Lakeland by way of winning regional titles last Saturday in Rathdrum. Putman was fourth, Yount sixth at 138 last year for the Hawks.

Dan Behmer (106), Austin Pardick (126), Tanner Wright (138), Will Putman (145), Brandon Mailhot (152), Noah Smith (182) and Conor Sheppard (220) finished second to also advance for Lakeland, which finished 14th out of 26 teams last year. Kuna won the team title last year.

3A: Ryan Starr (98), Dailyn Johnson (106), Dillon Grafton (113), Rocco Wingfield (113), Kody Hongslo (132), ValJon Oldfield (132), Brad Erickson (138), Tyler Bardertscher (152), Anthony Reimber (160), Forrest Herring (170) and Drew Johnson advanced for Timberlake, which finished fifth last year.

Herring (160) and Hongslo (120) were second last year, Johnson was sixth at 98.

Weiser won the team championship last year.

2A: St. Maries won the District 1-2 championship last week in Kamiah in its first district tournament since dropping to the 2A level this year.

Logan Dittman (106), Hayden Humphrey (106), Cody Edwards (113), Colton Mitchell (120), Aaron Kolar (132), Isaac Walters (145), Joe Bloomsburg (152) and Brandon Avalos (160) advanced for St. Maries.

Bloomsburg was sixth at 152 in the state 3A tournament last year.

Matthew Speelman (182), Nick Anderson (195) and Billy Schwartz (220) of Kootenai also advanced.

Declo won last year’s 2A tournament.