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wrestlers qualify for state
The Prairie wrestling team qualified five wrestlers for state at the District Wrestling meet held Feb. 16 at Wallace. Brandon Poxleitner at 135 lbs., James Jackson at 145 lbs. and Jake Wimer at 171 lbs. each earned a second place medal at District while Michael Matson at 160 lbs. and Mitchel Jungert at heavyweight each placed third to earn a trip to state. 
Prairie’s other two wrestlers, Sheldon Klinkefus at 125 lbs. and Chance Ratcliff at 189 lbs. were each in third place matches but lost. The top 3 at each weight class advance to state. At 125 lbs. Klinkefus lost his first round match to Jake Waters of Wallace by pin in the first period. With only 4 wrestlers in the bracket, he then faced Keith Holcomb of Grangeville in the third place match and lost by pin in the first period. At 125 lbs. Poxleitner pinned Justyn Heater of Kamiah 15 seconds into the third period in the semifinals then lost by pin in 29 seconds to Slade Jacobs of Kamiah in the championship match. At 145 lbs. James Jackson had a 1st round bye then won by pin 57 seconds into the third period over Jordan Dailey of Potlatch. In the championship match he faced Luke Lane of Kamiah and lost by pin with 31 seconds left in the first period. At 160 lbs. Matson lost to Zack Irby of Orofino 8-10 in overtime in the semifinals. He then won by pin over Ric Murphy of Deary 1:09 into the second period to place third. At 171 lbs. Wimer won by pin 1:09 into the second over Chris Tweedy of Deary in the semifinals. In the finals he faced Kasey Garland of Orofino and lost by pin 1:30 into the second period to wind up second. At 189 lbs. Ratcliff lost by technical fall, 1-17 to Callan Jackson of Grangeville in the semifinals and lost by pin with 29 seconds left in the first period to Brett Speelman of Kootenai in the third place place. At heavyweight Jungert lost by pin to Brandon Hueth of Orofino 1:33 into the first period in the semifinals then won by pin with 29 seconds left in the second over Brian Cummins of Potlatch in the third place match to earn a trip to state. The state tournament this year is at the Idaho Center at Nampa and starts Thursday, Feb. 21. First round matches start at 3:30 Mountain time. Poxleitner’s first round match will be against Nikolai Frovik of Garden Valley. Poxleitner has a 13-13 record while Frovik is 17-8. Jackson (21-9) will face Kirt Echolt of Ririe who is 10-14. Matson (17-11) will face Skyler Cutler of Challis (7-4). Wimer (17-11) will face Wade Rushton of Firth (25-10). Jungert (3-18) will face Kieran Riley of Parma (20-8). The first loser-out round will start at 8:30 p.m. Thursday evening. Winner’s bracket matches continue at 10:30 a.m. Friday with the second round of loser-out matches set for 3 p.m. Friday. The third round of consolation matches are set for 6 p.m. Friday with the championship semifinals set for 7:30 p.m. Friday. Anybody surviving until Saturday morning’s consolation semifinals is guaranteed a state medal. Those start at 9 a.m. with the 5th-6th and 3rd-4th matches slated to art at 11:15 p.m. Championship finals start with a pre-match ceremony at 2:30 p.m. All times listed are Mountain Standard Time. Full brackets are available at http://www.idhsaa.org and http://www.idahowrestling.com PIRATES WRESTLING SCHEDULE FOR 2007-08 FEBRUARY |
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