Goldsmith claims wrestling medal

This past weekend the Mule Wrestling team took a partial squad to Mark Morris to compete in the annual 3 Rivers Invitational Tournament. The Mules were the only “B” school in attendance while most of the schools were 2A or bigger.

The Mules claimed three individual medals while placing eighth as a team.

Leading the way for the Mules was junior James Goldsmith (160lbs) who finished second overall.

“James had a great day,” said Mule coach John Hannah. “His semi-final match was amazing. He controlled from the start versus a stronger opponent, it was definitely his best match in his high school career.”

Other placers for the Mules were senior Jeff Vik (152lbs) and junior Cameron Elliott (171lbs).

“Jeff looked great most of the day,” said Hannah, “and Cameron did very well competing in his first tournament of his career.”

Other notables were sophomore Kyle Bergquist who didn’t place, but won two matches on the day.

“Kyle did very well, but unfortunately he and Jeff Vik had to face each other near the end of the tournament.” Hannah said. “We hate seeing our guys wrestle each other at tournaments, especially in situations where whoever wins knocks the other guy out.”

“As a coaching staff we were very pleased with our performance,” said Hannah. “We have several things to improve on, but the team did will. We need to focus on finishing stronger, but we showed a grit that we don’t normally see this early.”

The Mules will compete twice next week. They travel to Astoria to compete in a double-dual versus Astoria and Ilwaco at 6 p.m., and then head back to compete at Warrenton in their tournament at 10 a.m.

On December 19, the Mules will host the annual Down River Challenge. This is the wrestling team's biggest fund raiser of the year and they are always willing to accept donations or volunteer help. To volunteer, contact Hannah at the high school.