12 Titan Wrestlers set to Converge on Pocatello for State Tournament
Wrestling practice started on November 13 of 2023. A few months later, all the wrestlers in Idaho put all their skills on the mat at a chance to qualify for the state tournament.
The district tournaments for both the girls and boys Tri-Valley Titan Wrestling teams proved successful as twelve team members punched their ticket to compete in the 2024 Idaho State Wrestling Tournament in Pocatello in Holt Arena this coming weekend.
The 2-day District III Girls tournament in Boise was a grueling effort for the titans. The girls fought their way through the tournament that unlike the boys, includes all schools, regardless of size, in one District III category. This includes schools from Mountain Home to Riggins and from big schools like Boise and Nampa to our very own Tri-Valley Titan wrestlers. The District III allows for 5 state qualifiers in each weight class. Congratulations to Dusty Longtin (120lbs - 2nd Place) and Beth Phillips (145 lbs - 4th Place) who qualified to wrestle at the state event. Other placers at the Girls tournament included: Audry Winkles (114 lbs - 8th Place) and Emma Ford (100lbs - 8th Place).
Congratulations to Titan Girls Head coach Brittany Waggoner who was selected as the 2A/3A District III Girls Head Coach of the Year 2024. This is a huge honor when you look at the number of highly respected wrestling programs in the district. Congrats Coach Waggoner on an award well deserved.
The boys tournament in New Plymouth was also a huge success. At the end of the tournament, the Tri-Valley Titan boys automatically qualified 9 boys. In the 2A District III division, only 2 spots in each weight class qualify for state. One additional Titan received an at large bid, ultimately qualifying 10 boys to go to State next weekend. The Titans were also awarded 2nd as a team in points following District champion New Plymouth.
State qualifiers include: Jace Mink 2nd place @ 113 pounds, Jace Steele 3rd place @ 120 pounds receiving an at-large bid, Jace Waggoner 2nd place @ 138 pounds (2023 state placers), Eli Noah 2nd place @ 152 pounds, Russell Noah 1st place @ 160 pounds (2021 and 2023 state placer), Toby Walker 2nd place @ 160 pounds, Gage Warren place @ 170 pounds, Elias Devries 2nd place @ 170 pounds, Wyatt Moura 2nd place @ 182 pounds and Ben Binder 2nd place @ 195 pounds.
Many of the qualifying titans have attended state before and should be ready to effectively represent TVT. Unlike other Tri-Valley sports, the Wrestling programs will compete in the 2A category. The 2A classification for wrestling includes all schools with less than 319 kids. Head coaches Nathan Noah and Brittnay Waggoner, along with additional coaches; Trevor Smith, Jake Waggoner, Mark Moura and Charley Kindall, all are excited to see what the past few months of hard work in the wrestling room will produce against the rest of the top wrestlers from the state.
The Titans will travel to Pocatello on Thursday morning with matches starting on Friday morning and continuing until late Saturday evening. Best of luck to the 12 Titan Wrestlers. The program has seen a huge increase in both quantity and quality. Special thanks to the coaches who have been unwavering in their pursuit of improvement and mental and physical toughness.
