STATE HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING TOURNAMENTS: So far, so good

POCATELLO - They're fighting and sticking together.

Oh yeah, and the Post Falls Trojan wrestling team is leading the pack with 108 points in the state 5A tournament at Holt Arena on Friday.

Jordan Grimm (98 pounds), Matt McLeod (106), Brayden Huber (113), Casey Benton (120), Drake Foster (126), TJ Wolf (132), Alius De La Rosa (138), Seth McLeod (182) and Justin Farnsworth (285) advanced to today's semifinal round for the Trojans, which finished third in last year's tournament, and second the previous two years.

"We feel like it was a good day for us," Post Falls coach Pete Reardon said. "We had some ups and downs, which we expected. Not all 19 of our qualifiers are going to finish first, but we're weathering the storm and fighting through it."

5A newbie Bonneville of Idaho Falls is second with 100 points and also has nine in the semifinals.

Lucas Bolster (138), Steven Zettel (145) and Brad Noessen (195) are still fighting through the consolation bracket for Post Falls, which has 12 wrestlers still in the hunt to place. Bonneville has no one beginning the day in the consolation round.

"We've got a little bit of an upper hand on them," said Reardon of Bonneville. "But there's still work to do. That group that made it to the semifinals had to gut some out. You'd like to win them all by a bunch, but it's a really good indicator when they're winning the close ones. The kids are coming through for each other, but it's not over yet. There's still a lot of fighting left to do."

Kaleb Maciosek advanced to the 106-pound semis for Coeur d'Alene, which is 13th, with five others still in the consolation bracket.

"Kaleb wrestled really well in his first match, then got down 4-1 in his second one," Coeur d'Alene coach Jeff Moffat said. "But he found a way to come back and win. It was a good win for him."

Lake City senior Zion Dixon advanced to the 285-pound semis with a 3-2 overtime win against Daniel Rodriguez from Columbia of Nampa.

"It was a really gritty win," Lake City coach Corey Owen said. "Zion got penalized in the second overtime, and it could have cost him the match, but he kept his head in it."

Lake City is 15th, with four still in the consolation bracket.

4A: Jared Walker (170), Tuekota Tate-Vandever (152), Killian Estes (195) and Conor Shepherd (220) advanced to the semifinals for Lakeland, which is fifth after the first day with 101 points.

Lakeland has six wrestlers still in contention for placing in the consolation bracket.

Caldwell leads with 141.5 points, followed by Kuna in second with 115.

3A: Tyler Badertscher of Timberlake advanced to the semifinals at 152, and is joined by teammate Brock Herbert at 160. The Tigers are in ninth place.

Blake Ivie - wrestling for his third straight 3A title - won both his matches at 138 by pin for Kellogg, which is eighth. He is joined in the semifinals by teammate Dylan Huber at 152.

Both Kellogg and Timberlake have four wrestlers still in the consolation bracket.

Snake River leads with 125.5 points, followed by Fruitland with 108.

2A: Josh Richmond (152), Isaac Walters (160) and Nathan Masterson (182) advanced to the semifinals for St. Maries, which is fifth with 68.5 points.

Ririe leads with 88 points, followed by New Plymouth with 77.5.