• Parry brothers and Thomson finish as runners-up

Battling against 28 other teams at the Richardson Memorial at Box Elder High School, the Braves placed fifth with 126.0 team points. Kimball Parry (120), Tel Parry (138) and Grant Thomson (215) made the finals where they placed second. Kooper Burk advanced to the semifinals before pulling out of the tournament with a medical forfeit. Ty Thompson was Star Valley’s fifth placer as he finished fourth at 150.

“I thought we wrestled pretty well,” replied head coach Eddie Clark. “That’s the toughest I’ve seen that tournament. For example, Tel Parry’s bracket had 13 returning state place winners. That means you had seven guys who won a medal last year who weren’t going to place before we even started. Kimball wrestled a guy who was second in the nation in Fargo this past summer. They added some tough teams and everybody had some good matches.”

Clark emphasized that the competition from the weekend will pay dividends over the next six weeks.

“It was good for us,” he added. “I thought we competed well. It definitely exposed some things we need to work on.”

The Braves will also be at the Madison Invitational this weekend January 10-11. The Braves have a home dual against Rigby (ID) scheduled for January 14.

“This week we will be getting some kids moving around now that we get the growth allowance,” Clark continued. “We’ll be filling up those classes a bit more. “They are working hard and doing all the things we need to do. That’s the mission.”

SVI and Clark encourage the readers to come out to the dual against Rigby on January 14. Junior varsity matches are scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. with varsity to follow.

“It’s their only chance in January to watch at home,” he said. “We don’t get many changes so hopefully people will take advantage and come watch.”