Cheyenne East successfully defended its own prestigious opening-weekend tournament on Saturday, winning the Charlie Lake Invitational with 188 points. The Thunderbirds were led in small part by four individual champions.
Amos Solano (126 pounds), Noah Gallegos (132), Blaise Ronnau (170) and Bradley Whitright (182) all went undefeated throughout Saturday’s tournament-style competition to earn gold. Solano, Ronnau and Whitright all have perfect records to start the season, when combining results from Friday’s dual portion of the competition.
Solano, a senior, clinched his final victory with a pin in under a minute. He started aggressive and Douglas sophomore Rylan Wehr couldn’t match the output. Gallegos, a senior, took a lead over Kam Hanel of Thompson Valley and held on for a 4-3 win, giving the East senior both a medal and a confidence boost to start the season. Ronnau, a junior, scored a convincing 9-2 win over Brady Robb of Sidney, Nebraska, in the championship match. That result cemented Ronnau as a legitimate title contender — if it was still up for debate. Whitright, another junior, hung on for a tight 4-3 decision victory in the championship match. That also boosts his resume going towards a possible state championship match.
People are also reading…
East also notched multiple placers that finished shy of gold. Junior Jackson Hesford finished third at 160 pounds to lead that group. Junior Kane Mihalek finished fourth, as did senior David Stice, senior Lucas Mizel and senior Jason Hoskins, although Hoskins didn’t wrestle in the third-place match due to forfeit.
The only other in-state champion was Douglas senior Cody Pinkerton at 220 pounds. Pinkerton is now 10-0 on the young season, going undefeated through both portions of the Charlie Lake competition, finishing with a pinfall victory over Rhiley Grubbs of Torrington. Freshman Lane Ewing also wrestled for gold for the Bearcats. Wheatland senior Seth Dewitt (160) was the last remaining Wyomingite to wrestle in a championship match.
Paced by Pinkerton and two other championship match participants, Douglas finished third in the team standings. The Bearcats were the only other Wyoming program to finish among the top 10. Last year’s runner-up by a comfortable margin, defending Class 4A champion Kelly Walsh, finished 19th.