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WORLAND - Friday was a good day for the Worland High School and Hot Springs County High School wrestling teams, competing in the Pinnacle Bank Battle in the Big Horns dual tournament the Warriors and Bobcats both went undefeated and clinched their spots in today's Gold Bracket.

WORLAND WARRIORS

The Warriors cruised through their three duals Friday, beating Lander 66-12, Wheatland 59-24 and Newcastle/Upton 70-6 to win Pool A outright. And what WHS wrestling coach Josh Garcia liked the most was how his team improved from Thursday's dual against Riverton by working on their footwork and takedowns.

"Our kids wrestled really well today on their feet. We executed on top once we took kids down and being able to finish was a big part of that. I thought the kids did a really good job of executing those takedowns and transiting into the next move on top," said Garcia.

Of the many Worland standouts from Friday, 138-pound senior Tristen Lungren stood out by going toe-to-toe with Lander's Nathan Redman, a state finalist from last season. Lungren was defeated by Redman in a 9-4 decision but showed plenty of heart during the match.

"It's just about building that momentum for the next guy," said Garcia. "Not to single a kid out but Lungren wrestled a really tough match against Lander's Nathan Redman – he was in the state finals last year – and I think the two matches before his, set the tone for him. That gives those kids some confidence that they wrestled well against a state finalist and it's pretty big in these dual tournaments."

As well as the Warriors wrestled Friday, there were still some things Garcia wants to see his team improve upon during their Gold Bracket duals today.

"I'd like to see us wrestle better on bottom. Adam Bankert had a match there in the last dual and I'd like to see him get out from bottom and not hang out for a period. There were several other things like some holds we got into that we need to work on but some of those we haven't even worked on yet.

"You always take those things back home with you to keep in your back pocket, we'll be talking about them later. Overall, I'm happy with how things went but I never want to be content and that's what we expect from our kids and coaching staff," said Garcia.

The Warriors matchup against the second-place team out of Pool B, the Glenrock Herders in the quarterfinals of the Gold Bracket at 8:30 a.m. at WHS. To prevent any slow start because of the early match time, the Warriors will get a workout in at 6 a.m. to give them a mental edge for tomorrow.

"For us, our mental game is going to be really high. It's not a big secret but we come in at 6 a.m. to get a workout before anyone hits the scale. Our kids really don't like it but it's something that's beneficial for us and gives us a mental edge when we step on the mat," said Garcia.

HOT SPRINGS COUNTY BOBCATS

Winning Pool B the Bobcats, were quite impressive Friday as they improved with each match, as they beat Cody 39-24, Glenrock 42-36 and Shoshoni 66-12.

The 'Cats energy in their first dual against Cody wasn't to the liking of coach Travis McDermott. He challenged his team to ratchet up their energy in their next two duals, and to their credit, they did precisely that.

"It's been like that the last couple of weeks but we've worked on it by getting a good warmup and supporting each other. That gets people fired up, they came out with more fire in the second dual and in the third one they were just rolling," said McDermott.

In the 'Cats tightly contested dual vs. Glenrock, it came down to the 145-pound match between Thermopolis' Jeffery VanAntwerp and Glenrock's Aidan Orozco. VanAntwerp got the pin in the closing seconds of the second round to secure the win for the 'Cats.

Getting those pins as VanAntwerp did wasn't only huge for the 'Cats in terms of winning their duals but also showed that this group learns quickly. Just last weekend in Powell they struggled to finish off matches.

"[Glenrock] pins people in these tournaments and that's where we got to get to. And that's what we did today, we picked up a lot of pins which is where we have to get to get wins in tournaments," said McDermott.

"That's something we were lacking last weekend. We had the opportunity to put some people away and we weren't doing it. We lost some matches because of it and that's what we focused on this week, putting people away when that opportunity comes."

For the Gold Bracket, the 'Cats go against the second-place team out of Pool A, the Wheatland Bulldogs. The competition is going to take a step up in the Gold Bracket and that's why McDermott wants his wrestlers to be the aggressors during today's duals.

"We have to continue being aggressive on our feet," said McDermott. "I still have some that are being a little bit tentative and not sure about their shots, but against quality kids, they're going to have set up quality shots. I think we can get there but we still have to work on it."

The 'Cats and Bulldogs hit that mat at 8:30 a.m. at Worland High School.