ANOTHER BEAR YEAR?
By Jordan Rodriguez
Defending team champion: : Fruitland Grizzlies
Returning individual champions (last year’s weight class):
Andy Montes, Homedale (98 pounds)
Treyton Nilsson, Snake River (106)
Sammy Eckhart, Fruitland (126)
Blake Ivie, Kellogg (132)
Takoda Bingham, Shelley (138)
Tate Grover, American Falls (182)
Josh Finley, Gooding (220)
Garrett Larson, Fruitland (285)
Notable departures:
Cole McGinnis, Gooding (two-time state champion), Garrett Brogan, Bear Lake (113-pound champ), Cade Cook, Teton (120-pound champ), Cody Bumgarner, Fruitland (152-pound champ), Preston Rhodes, Timberlake (160-pound champ), Nick Fagen, Fruitland (170-pound champ), Chase Fiddler, Fruitland (195-pound champ).
Notable additions:
Emmett (moved down from 4A)
Fruitland looks to build on surprise title.
The Fruitland Grizzlies pulled a stunner at last year’s state tournament, putting nine wrestlers into the championship round to run away with the first team title in program history.
“We’re kind of known as a basketball school,” coach Isaac MacKenzie said. “But we’re a wrestling school this year.”
There will be no Fruitland surprise this year. Six of those state finalists are back in uniform, including defending champions Sammy Eckhart and Garrett Larson. It’s a formidable lineup that gives the Grizzlies more than a puncher’s chance at a championship repeat.
Larson, a Boise State football commit, pulled a huge tournament upset last year, dethroning two-time defending champ Cole McGinnis of Gooding in the 285-pound final. With McGinnis graduated, Larson will be heavily favored to repeat.
Eckhart, who won the 126-pound title as a freshman, also has a solid chance to repeat, while Fruitland’s four runners-up—Kendall Fletcher, Robert Diaz, Triston Zamora and Christion Ketchu—are hungry to win individual titles of their own.
Homedale, led by defending champion Andy Montes, should push Fruitland in District 3 along with Payette and Weiser, which has won four state titles since 2004.
In eastern Idaho, perennial contender Snake River should be right back in the mix after a runner-up showing last season. The Panthers are led by senior Treyton Nilsson, a three-time state champion who is looking to become the ninth 3A wrestler—and third from Snake River—to complete a career four-peat. Teton will lead the District 6 hunt after a third-place showing last year. And Shelley, led by defending 138-pound champ Takoda Bingham, also should contend.
Up north, District 1-2 teams are looking to end a 3A state title drought that stretches back to 1989. Kellogg is likely the top contender, led by senior and two-time state winner Blake Ivie.
“Wrestling is what I love to do, and to be the best at it, it’s just a great feeling,” Ivie said after earning the repeat at 132 pounds last season.
In central Idaho, American Falls looks to bounce back from what was a down year by the Beavers’ lofty standards. Junior Tate Grover is back to defend his 182-pound title as American Falls—a four-time state champion since 2006—seeks improvement on last year’s 11th-place showing.
Gooding should also make some noise in District 4, even without McGinnis. Senior standout Josh Finley returns to defend is 220-pound title for the Senators, who just missed a team trophy last season with a fifth-place finish.
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