STATE HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING: Post Falls heavy favorite to repeat in 5A

Post Falls, which advanced 17 wrestlers from the 5A Region 1 tournament, is the heavy favorite to repeat as state champion when the state tournament opens today at Holt Arena in Pocatello.

Tyler Wolf (138 pounds) and Alius De La Rosa (145) will look to repeat as state champions for the Trojans, who beat Bonneville of Idaho Falls by 66 points for the first title in program history last year.

Wrestling begins today at 8:30 a.m. PST at Holt Arena. Semifinals will be Saturday at 7:30 a.m., with championship finals starting at 2:30 p.m.

Live scoring can be found at www.trackwrestling.com.

5A: De La Rosa can become Post Falls’ first four-time state champion with a title.

Freshman Ridge Lovett is 36-0 and is the top-ranked wrestler at 98 pounds according to TheIdahoWrestler.com. Matt McLeod (120) and Wolf are also the top-ranked at their respective weight classes.

McLeod was runner-up at 106 and Braydon Huber (second at 113) also returns for Post Falls.

Coeur d’Alene qualified 12 to state and is the 10th-ranked team in TheIdahoWrestler 5A poll.

Kaleb Maciosek (fifth at 106), Dylan Lockwood (fourth at 132) and Vince Rey (sixth at 182) return for the Vikings.

Lake City will send five to state, with no returning placers.

4A: Sam Edelblute (98), Will Edelblute (106) and Jared Walker (170) are the top-ranked wrestlers in their weight classes for Lakeland, which is ranked third according to TheIdahoWrestler.com.

Sophomore Larry Johnson, who won a state title at 113 last year, and is ranked second at 120. Lakeland qualified 19 wrestlers for state.

Lakeland finished fourth in last year’s tournament. Caldwell is the defending champion.

3A: Timberlake will send 13 wrestlers to state, with no returning placers. Snake River is the defending champion.

2A: St. Maries, which finished fifth last year, returns Hayden Humphrey, who was second at 132 last year.

Humphrey — the lone senior out of nine qualifiers — is the second-ranked wrestler at 132 according to TheIdahoWrestler.com.

Nate Masterson, who won a state title at 170 last year, opted to play basketball this year.

Ririe is the defending champion.