Bears send four to semis on Day 1 of Clearwater Classic

In what has been a strong year for Moscow wrestling, the Bears sent four boys to the semifinals — and one of them almost chose not to wrestle this year.

Senior Paul Dixon was leaning toward powerlifting rather than wrestling this year, but it was ultimately his relationships with his coaches and teammates that persuaded him to return for one more season.

“It’s awesome being with this team,” Dixon said. “I would have totally missed out on this. It’s a blast to have a family like this. Glad I came back.”

After Day 1 of the 38th annual Clearwater Classic Wrestling tournament, the host Lewiston High School Bengal boys sat in first place in the boys bracket with 128 points and the Newport girls sat atop the girls standings with 70 points.

Kellogg (117), Coeur d’Alene (115), Ridgeline (112.5) rounded out the top four for the boys with Moscow (93 points) sitting in fifth place with four Bears bound for the semifinals.

Area teams Potlatch (58), Lewiston (42.5) and Clarkston (37) rounded out the top four for the girls.

Clearwater Classic semifinal action resumes at 9 a.m. today at Lewiston High School.

Bear boys send four to semifinals

Dixon has been nothing short of dominant in the 285-pound class.

He spent less than a minute on the mat in each of his three wins on Friday and won his first two rounds over Lewiston and Clarkston opponents in 11 and 14 seconds, respectively.

His quarterfinal win over a Coeur d’Alene foe took a little bit longer but was done in 53 seconds.

Sophomore Eian Schwecke is on a similarly efficient trajectory for the Bears. He got two of his wins in under 70 seconds to make it to the semifinals.

“I’ve just been put in a lot of work in the off season,” Schwecke said. “So it was kind of expected. I’ve been really expecting to do good this year with how much work I’ve been putting in.”

Moscow senior James Greene, who got his 100th varsity win on Wednesday, swept his Day 1 competition at the Clearwater Classic.

“It’s fun to come to these tournaments and see different styles of wrestling,” Greene said. “Types of wrestlers that you’re going to face, that you know, every match gets you better.”

Greene should know about getting better every match as he is the reigning Clearwater Classic overall winner.

It’s a title he believes he is quite capable of defending.

Also for Moscow, Aidan Prakash advanced to the semifinals for the first time in his career.

“When you get to that second day, everyone’s tired, everyone’s sore, you know, everyone’s a little beat up, but at the end of the day, really, no one really cares,” Moscow coach Zac Carscallen said. “You know, what kind of excuses do you got? You just have to go out there and be locked in and compete. And I think our guys are going in with that attitude, so I really think they’re gonna have a good day tomorrow.”

Lapwai’s wrestling rise

“Get him on his back!” Lapwai fans yelled as Zach Eneas went toe to toe with Moscow’s Keith Gulbrandsen

Within a matter of seconds Eneas did just as the crowd wanted and won the match by way of fall.

The win clinched him a spot in the semifinals, one year after he was two and out at Lewiston’s Clearwater Classic.

Three years after reviving a program that was dormant for over three decades, Lapwai coach Chris Katus has several wrestlers bound for a medal and two in the semifinals of the Clearwater Classic.

After an upset of the 165 class’ No. 2 seed, Eneas will face Grangeville’s Orrin Farmer, a wrestler he has already lost to three times.

However, Katus said that Eneas has grown in just a year’s time into a capable wrestler because of the work he put into the offseason to bulk up and participate in several wrestling activities over the offseason.

Eneas said he feels more confident wrestling than he did last year.

“I just am beginning to be more confident with wrestling. I used to give up on shots and now I’m just re-shooting,” Eneas said. “I knew that he posed some threat to me, but I pose the same threat to him that everyone else does, so I went in there and wrestled like myself at practice, worked hard, (leaned on) extra conditioning, and came out with the win.”

Amaris Kager will also wrestle on Day 2 for Lapwai.

Kager has battled illness and injury over her career but still put together a 2-1 showing on Day 1 of the Clearwater Classic.

After a first-round bye, she won via fall in 43 seconds over a Pullman opponent and then beat a Davenport opponent in 4 minutes and 23 seconds.

She lost her Round 4 match to Lewiston’s Kamryn Lockart to place sixth in the girls 145 class.

“I’ve wanted to quit before, but I stayed because it’s home,” Kager said. “It’s just really nice to have a team in Lapwai.”

Katus and his staff are responsible for Lapwai’s wrestling comeback.

“We’re a basketball community, so recruitment is a little tough, but I’m actually really excited,” Katus said.

Katus runs the middle school wrestling program as well and has seen participation blossom in recent years.

“We’ve got 26 little Wildcat wrestlers coming through middle school right now,” Katus said.

Hometown dominance

In Year 3 of Lewiston coach Colton Maddy’s tenure, the Bengal wrestling program has continued to grow, sending seven boys to the semifinals of the hometown Clearwater Classic and two girls and counting.

Joely Slyter (120) and Sammie Slyter (126) advanced to the semifinals and will face opponents from St. Maries and Tri-Valley respectively today.

“Joe (Slyter) is just mauling her way through the bracket right now as we expect,” Maddy said.

The Bengal boys are headlined by Gunner Whitlock in the 144 class with a quarterfinal tech fall over Max Hain.

At 190, Brice Cuthbert won a quarterfinal via fall over a Prairie opponent, a match that was immediately preceded by Brice watching his brother, Tate Cuthbert compete and also advance to the semis after a major decision over a Coeur d’ Alene opponent.

Brice Cuthbert said that he wants to see wrestling grow in Lewiston. In his eyes, it’s a sport that is not as big as it could be, but he has seen it grow in his four-year high school career, largely because of Maddy’s coaching.

“Once Colton got in there, he kind of helped me get better,” Brice Cuthbert said. “And eventually I got my state medal last year. So I don’t think I could have done it without him.”

Boys team scores — 1.Lewiston 128.0, 2. Kellogg 117.0, 3. Cœur d’Alene 115.04, 4. Ridgeline 112.5, 5. Moscow 93.0, 6. St. Maries 81.0, 7. Pasco 76.0, 8. Newport 73.5, 9. Tri-Valley 70.5, 10. Post Falls 69.5, 11. Clearwater Valley 59.5, 12. Chelan 56.0, 13. Priest River 53.0, 14. Potlatch 49.0, 15. Clarkston 46.5, 16. Grangeville 43.5, 17. Enterprise/Wallowa 43.0, 17. Pullman 43.0, 19. Davenport 35.0, 20. Colfax 31.0, 21. Asotin 28.0, 22. Elgin 23.5, 23 Orofino 22.0, 24. Lapwai 18.0, 25 Prairie 6.0, 26. Garfield-Palouse 0.0.

Girls team scores — 1. Newport 70.0, 2. Potlatch 58.0, 3. Lewiston 42.5, 4. Clarkston 37.0, 5. Cœur d’Alene 31.0, 5. Kellogg 31.0, 5. Tri-Valley 31.0, 8. Clearwater Valley 27.0, 9. Davenport 22.5, 10. Priest River 21.0, 11. Lapwai, 20.0, 12. Prairie 18.0, 12. Pullman 18.0, 14. Ridgeline (Girls) 16.0, 15. Enterprise / Wallowa 15.0, 16. Moscow 12.5, 17. Orofino 9.0, 18. Colfax 7.0, 18. St. Maries 7.0, 20. Asotin 5.0, 21. Elgin 0.0, 21. Garfield-Palouse 0.0, 21. Grangeville 0.0

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.