Grizz go head-to-head with the best at Ron Thon

The Rocky Mountain Grizzlies went up against the best of the best at the all-class Ron Thon Memorial Tournament in Riverton Friday and Saturday, and while the Grizz didn’t have any placers, there were some positive results.
In the tough varsity tournament, sophomore standout Triffen Jolley pinned Brennan Baxter of Glenrock in 1:20 at 144 pounds after an opening-round loss, then was eliminated by Blake Edwards of Thunder Basin.
Fellow sophomore Colten Bitton received an opening round bye at 126 pounds, then lost his next two matches against River Osborne of Sheridan and Gabriel Trujillo of Rawlins.
Freshman Sam Loyning dropped his opener to Nathan Fish of Lingle at 120 pounds, and after a second-round bye, fell to Santiago Cruz of Rock Springs.
In the junior varsity tournament, freshman Masen Twomey won four matches and just missed the placing rounds at 215 pounds. Twomey pinned Wyatt Preece of Mountain View in 1:30 and fell to Gene Montoya of Rock Springs, 13-1. Twomey then battled back to win three in a row, pinning teammate Wyatt Houchin in 19 seconds and Wiley Lesser of Glenrock in 1:16, then beat Timothy Schrack of Casper Kelly Walsh 8-3. He battled but dropped his final match to Sergio Lozano of Evanston, 7-4.
Houchin lost his opener, then pinned Gage Gromman of Burns/Pine Bluffs in 3:36 before meeting up with Twomey.
Sophomore Jacoby Wachob went 1-2 at 132 pounds in Riverton, beating Chase Brown of Saratoga 9-5 for his lone win, while freshman Dalan Wambeke was 0-2 at 126 pounds.
The Grizzlies scored 13 team points in the junior varsity tournament, tied with Wheatland, and finished ahead of Burns/Pine Bluffs and Jackson.
The lone Lady Grizzly to wrestle in Riverton was junior Rebecca Herren, who dropped a pair of matches at 130 pounds.
Coach Eddie Whiting was again unable to provide comments about the Rocky Mountain team and their performance by press time.
Up next, the Grizzlies will make the short trip to Greybull Saturday for the Greybull Memorial Tournament, with action beginning at 10 a.m.