Bengals are kings and queens of the jungle in home wrestling tourney

The 38th annual Clearwater Classic wrestling tournament reached its dramatic height on Saturday at Lewiston High School when area standouts Joely Slyter of Lewiston and James Greene of Moscow simultaneously took to adjacent mats for the title matches of their respective divisions.

In the end, the host Bengals would come away with the team titles on both the boys and girls sides, while Slyter and Greene added Outstanding Wrestler honors to their individual gold medals.

Pound-for-pound queen

Slyter’s 120-pound girls final against Charlee Noah from Tri-Valley of Cambridge, Idaho, was perhaps the single most anticipated contest of the weekend, and the crowd engagement reflected that fact. It was a rematch of the final in the same division at Boise’s Rollie Lane Tournament two weeks earlier, in which Noah had claimed a decision victory, dealing the Bengal senior her first defeat to a fellow female this season. Although she normally wrestles at 114, Slyter quickly decided she wanted to try her hand again at 120 after learning that Tri-Valley was coming to the Classic.

“She came to my classroom and said, ‘Coach, I want to go to 120 (at the Clearwater Classic) and get her back,’” recalled Lewiston coach Colton Maddy, who teaches freshman science at LHS. “She wants to be not just the state champ, but the pound-for-pound queen this year. In order to do that, she knew she had to go get that one back, so she bumped up a weight to go chase her.”

Both Slyter and Noah blitzed their way to Saturday’s final, winning their semis by opening-minute pins. The title match would see no such quick resolution, with the competitors spending nearly the entirety of the first round on their feet feeling each other out before Noah went for the legs and flirted with a takedown that Slyter averted as time expired.

It was not until about 45 seconds into the second round that the first points were registered when Slyter brought Noah down on her back at the edge of the circle. She piled up a 5-0 lead over the next minute-and-a-half, but Noah turned the tables before the end of the round, flipping Slyter face down and putting her under serious duress. Slyter was clawing at the mat and trying to work her way free of Noah’s hold as a welcome whistle ended the frame with the scoreboard reading 5-2.

After the intense floor action of the second, the combatants found a relative breather by returning to their feet in the third, and Slyter found herself once more in her element. They had gone to the floor again near the center of the mat before the final whistle, but no further points were recorded, and Slyter enjoyed a roar of approval from the home crowd as her hand was raised in victory.

She credited a better mindset for dealing with the pressure as key to reversing the outcome against Noah.

“I decided I’d lost to her before, I’m the underdog here — might as well just go out there and go after it and wrestle my match and score some points,” said Slyter, a 2023 Idaho Class 5A state champion and ‘24 finalist who is 20-1 in matches against other girls this season. “Every period started on our feet, and I was just getting her moving, working my setups and just trying to get my shots on and not just let her control it the way she did at Rollie Lane.”

Maddy praised Slyter for doing “exactly what we talked about” where tactical adjustments were concerned and scoring one of the biggest wins of her distinguished high school career.

“If I had to say one word, that’s just a ‘legacy’ match,” he said. “That’s the stuff legends are made of.”

The Bengal girls, who also enjoyed a first-place finish from Kamryn Lockart at 145, had sat in third place overall through Day 1 of the Classic, with Slyter’s efforts helping to lift them to a team title that came with the Classic’s first-ever girls trophy.

“To win the inaugural girls trophy was amazing,” Maddy said.

Potlatch took second in team scoring with the benefit of individual titles at 152 from Hayley McNeal, 185 from Tierney Prather and 132 from Shelby Prather — the last of whom secured her gold medal with the fastest win in any of the day’s finals, twisting Joelyn Hart of Clarkston’s arms behind her back for a 41-second pin.

Greene extends reign

At the same time Slyter engaged Charlee Noah, Greene was contesting what was in many ways a very similar match — not only facing another Tri-Valley Titan, but one bearing the same surname in junior Eli Noah. Greene and the male Noah went the entire first round without a takedown or a point registered, then action heated up in a back-and-forth second that ended with Greene on top. He continued applying pressure through the third en route to a 7-2 decision.

“I decided to go bottom and challenge myself,” Greene said. “I ended up getting a point, which I think created momentum throughout the rest of the match.”

This was the second consecutive Clearwater Classic title for Greene, who surpassed 100 career match wins earlier in the week and improved to 26-2 on the season with this weekend’s run.

“He had some challenging (opponents) that made him work a little bit and pushed him, and what we like to see is him taking on those challenges and coming out on top,” Moscow coach Zac Carscallen said of Greene.

After individual and team medals and trophies were handed out at the end of the day, Greene was given the Outstanding Wrestler award for the heavier boys divisions, with unattached 144-pounder Colm McLaimtaig gaining the honor for lighter-weight boys.

Bengal, Bear boys excel

Shifting to the two-match-at-a-time format after as many as six were in progress at once in a chaotic gym earlier in the day, the finals had kicked off with a fascinating visual contrast as the 98- and 285-pound boys matches took place on the neighboring mats.

In the all-area 285 showdown between Paul Dixon of Moscow and Parker Bagley of Lewiston, the two spent a few moments jostling back and forth in a neutral position before Dixon brought an abrupt end to things, taking Bagley down on his back in a firm headlock for a pin after just 49 seconds.

“We kind of zigged when we should have zagged, and Paul’s a tough, amazing wrestler,” Maddy said of the match.

Dixon pinned all five of his opponents at this year’s Classic within the first minute, and two within 15 seconds.

“He ended up hitting a little bit of a pancake in the scramble and finished with a bit of a head-and-arm, which is great,” Carscallen said of Dixon’s win.

At 190, Lewiston’s Brice Cuthbert rallied to a critical victory over yet another Tri-Valley foe in Elias DeVries. Cuthbert found himself in trouble nose down and trailing 3-0 at the tail end of the first round, but went on the attack over the next two frames for an 8-4 victory and gold medal.

Maddy described it as a return to form for Cuthbert, who set the school’s single-season takedown record last year and helped the Bengals claim the team trophy with this win.

“I don’t know when the boys won it last, but two years ago we took second and last year third, so to come away with the title this time was awesome,” Maddy said. “We had to come out and execute, and we did, so that was awesome.”

Rolling up the mats

Other area titlists included Orofino’s Hunter Gamble (138) and Reagan Kessinger (126 girls), Clearwater Valley’s Jake Fabbi (150) and Jesse Rice (138 girls), Pullman’s Hafisatu Abess (114 girls) and Prairie of Cottonwood’s Avery Schacher (165 girls).

“We’re getting bigger and better every year,” Maddy said of the tournament as a whole. “You look at those semis and finals matches — those were some tough, tough matches. We’ve got state medalists in the semis hitting each other in some of those weights. That’s what we want to see.”

BOYS

Team scores — 1. Lewiston 213; 2. Kellogg 201; 3. Coeur d’Alene 196.5; 4. Ridgline 156.5; 5. Moscow 154; 6. St. Maries 140; 7. Tri-Valley 126; 8. Pasco 105.5; 9. Newport 102; 10. Clearwater Valley 101.5; 11. Post Falls 97.5; 12. Chelan 91.5; 13. Potlatch 74.5; 14. Clarkston 62.5; 15. Grangeville 61; 16. Pullman 59.5; 17. Davenport 56; 18. Enterprise/Wallowa 49; 19. Elgin 41.5; 20. Orofino 39; 21. Asotin 28; 22. Lapwai 18; 23. Prairie 6; 24. Garfield-Palouse 0.

Individuals

98 — 1. Micah Miller, Coeur d’Alene; 2. Saul Benzinger, Post Falls; 3. Zach Joyner, Ridgeline.

106 — 1. Kevin Watson, Kellogg; 2. Chance Tucker, Coeur d’Alene; 3. Johnny Stovern, Kellogg.

113 — 1. Colton Storey, Kellogg; 2. Brody Lynch, Lewiston; 3. Justus Peregrina, Coeur d’Alene.

120 — 1. Landyn Fincher, Elgin; 2. Bill Avery, Tri-Valley; 3. James Royes, Enterprise/Wallowa.

126 — 1. Sebastian Cisneros, Chelan; 2. Eian Schwecke, Moscow; 3. Ricky Haralson, Kellogg.

132 — 1. Treven Bush, Kellogg; 2. Wyatt Storey, Kellogg; 3. Coen Roberts, Lewiston.

138 — 1. Hunter Gamble, Orofino; 2. Chase Scribner, Kellogg; 3. Dominic Prangley, Coeur d’Alene.

144 — 1. Colm McLaimtaig, unattached; 2. Gunnar Whitlock, Lewiston; 3. Malachi Hoff, Davenport.

150 — 1. Jacob Fabbi, Clearwater Valley; 2. Jace Waggoner, Tri-Valley; 3. Brady Vergobbi, Kellogg.

157 — 1. Zach David, St. Maries; 2. Conner Christensen, Clearwater Valley; 3. William Yearout, Potlatch.

165 — 1. Aiden Yearout, St. Maries; 2. Orrin Farmer, Grangeville; 3. Carson Yearout, Potlatch.

175 — 1. James Greene, Moscow; 2. Eli Noah, Tri-Valley; 3. Wyatt Moura, Tri-Valley.

190 — 1. Brice Cuthbert, Lewiston; 2. Elias DeVries, Tri-Valley; 3. Landon Moore, Post Falls.

215 — 1. Preston Wentling, Ridgeline; 2. Victor Cuellar, Pasco; 3. Kamden Boyer, Pasco.

285 — 1. Paul Dixon, Moscow; 2. Parker Bagley, Lewiston; 3. Roman Tannehill, Newport.

GIRLS

Team scores — 1. Lewiston 106; 2. Potlatch 95.5; 3. Newport 86; 4. Tri-Valley 69; 5. Clarkston 58; 6. Coeur d’Alene 52; T7. Pullman 35; T7. Kellogg 35; T9. Davenport 32; T10. Enterprise/Wallowa 32; 11. Lapwai 31; 12. Orofino 28; T13. Clearwater Valley 27; T13. Priest River 27; 15. Moscow 19.5; 16. Prairie 16; 17. Ridgeline 16; 18. Asotin 11; T19. Colfax 7; T19. St. Maries 7; T21. Elgin 0; T21. Garfield-Palouse 0.

Individuals

100 — 1. Payton Bennett, Newport; 2. Jaiden DeTienne, Coeur d’Alene; 3. Murphee Balich, Coeur d’Alene.

107 — 1. Allysah Bays, Newport; 2. Zoie Lawson, Kellogg; 3. Tilly Morgan, Clarkston.

114 — 1. Hafisatu Abess, Pullman; 2. Zoey Hollenbeck, Coeur d’Alene; 3. Kaylee Eaves, Enterprise/Wallowa.

120 — 1. Joely Slyter, Lewiston; 2. Charlee Noah, Tri-Valley; 3. Audry Winkles, Tri-Valley.

126 — 1. Reagan Kessinger, Orofino; 2. Kali Waggoner, Tri-Valley; 3. Sammie Slyter, Lewiston.

132 — 1. Shelby Prather, Potlatch; 2. Joelyn Hart, Clarkston; 3. Taylor Musser, Lewiston.

138 — 1. Jesse Rice, Clearwater Valley; 2. Kalayah White, Kellogg; 3. Hayden Palmer, Moscow.

145 — 1. Kamryn Lockart, Lewiston; 2. Amaris Kager, Lapwai; 3. Emma Cash, Davenport.

152 — 1. Hayley McNeal, Potlatch; 2. Ciel Sattler, Lapwai; 3. Hailee Argaw, Ridgeline.

165 — 1. Avery Schacher, Prairie; 2. Amelia Berger, Potlatch; 3. Anna Agazzi, Clearwater Valley.

185 — 1. Tierney Prather, Potlatch; 2. Clover Tannehill, Newport; 3. Bria Miller, Lewiston.

235 — 1. Hailey Cook, Priest River; 2. Shanelle Mullaley, Newport; 3. Trinity Burd, Colfax.

Wendt may be contacted at (208) 848-2268, or cwendt@lmtribune.com.