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earn State medals
The 3 seniors on the Prairie wrestling team each earned a state medal at the State Wrestling Tournament held Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26-27 at Pocatello. Tyrell Langston earned a second place medal, the highest finish for a Prairie wrestler since Seth Dean earned a second place medal his senior year, 1998. Dean won a first place medal the year before. 
Brandon Poxleitner brought home a third place medal and Joe Schumacher a sixth place medal. As a team Prairie scored 70 points, good for 9th place overall and 2nd among 1A schools to Challis. It was one of Prairie’s best finishes ever as a team District champion Wallace placed 15th. 103 lbs.-Tyler Ross was eliminated in two matches. He lost by pin in 1:07 to Weston Burke of Firth in his opening round match then lost by technical fall 0-18 to Trey Reed of North Gem. 112 lbs.-Alex Duman won his first wound match, scoring a pin with just 10 seconds left over Tyson Wilding of Firth. In the second round he lost by pin to Dallin Christensen of Melba in 1:49. In the Consolation bracket he lost a close decision, 10-12, to Trent Harris of Ririe. Also at 112 lbs. Tayler Heitman lost his first round mach to Evan Miller of Parma He was pinned in 1:08. In the consolation bracket he won by pin over Brad Garrett of Valley in 3:27. He then faced Alex Bybee of Glenns Ferry and won by pin in 4:08. He then faced Harris and was pinned in 29 seconds, leaving him one win short of a medal. 125 lbs.-Kade Perrin won his first match, pinning Scott Jaeger of Tri-Valley in 3:02. IN the second round he faced Koltin Kenney of Hansen and lost a narrow decision, 5-6. In the consolation bracket he won by pin in 4:03 over Adon Rivas of North Fremont. In the consolation quarterfinals he lost 2-5 to Spencer Richards of Ririe, one win short of earning a medal.  130
lbs.-Damian McWilliams was out after two matches. He lost his opening march,
a tough 8-9 decision, to John Richards of Melba. In the consolation bracket
he lost another tough decision as Brad Payne of Declo beat him in overtime
6-10.
135 lbs.- Poxleitner made short work of his first match as he won by pin in 56 seconds over Jacob Miller of Declo. In the second round he won by pin over Cooper Clemens of Firth at the 5:21 mark. In the semifinals he faced Tyler Martindale of North Fremont and lost by pin with just 6 seconds left in the match. In the consolation semifinals he won by pin over Scott Jensen of Parma in 3:19. In the third place match he won a narrow 4-3 decision over Randy Plummer of Challis to earn the third place medal. That’s his best finish at State after earning two 6th place medals the past two years. 160 lbs.-Langston took just 39 seconds to win his opening round match as he pinned Brent Osterhout of Declo. In the second round he won a major decision, 10-1, over Colton Montgomery of Firth. In the semifinals he faced Coben Hoch of New Plymouth and pulled out a 6-4 decision to advance to the championship match. There he ran into undefeated defending state champion Jed Ferguson of Parma and lost by pin at the 4:30 mark to take second. It is Langston’s first state medal and a great way to finish his senior season. Also at 160 lbs. Garrett Schmidt didn’t fare as well as he was eliminated after two matches. He was pinned in 2:54 in his opening round match by Cavan Garrish of Challis. In the consolation bracket he lost by pin to Destry Royce of Glenns Ferry in 4:00. At 285 lbs. Schumacher lost his opening round match to Addison Amar of Challis, the #1 seed and eventual state champion. He lost by pin in 3:13. In the consolation bracket he won by pin over Austin Zollinger of Raft River in 2:53. In the next match he proved his district win over Ty Beare of Kootenai wasn’t a fluke by winning a 5-3 decision in overtime. In the consolation quarterfinals he clinched a medal by winning by pin in 4:41 over Riley Crossley of Melba. In the consolation semifinals he lost by pin in 2:04 to Tallen Boyer of Malad. In the fifth place match he lost by pin to Ben Cornia of Firth in 2:27 and received the 6th place medal. Also at 285 lbs. Mitch Jungert lost his opening round match as he was pinning in 51 seconds by D.J. Griffeths of West Side. In the consolation bracket he won by pin in 46 seconds over Eddy Messillas of Glenns Ferry. In the next round he was eliminated by Cornia who won by pin in 4:12.
The three state medalists are shown with the coaching staff. From left are coaches Shane Poxleitner and Dan Altman, Brandon Poxleitner (3rd place), Joe Schumacher (6th place), Tyrell Langston (2nd place) and head coach Steve Lamont who put on a coat and tie for the parade of athletes since he had a wrestler in a championship match. Photo by Cindy Schumacher. |
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