Both Enterprise and Joseph/Wallowa wrestling suffered a spate of injuries and flu victims that rendered both squads nearly memberless for a time. Pomeroy’s Dec. 27-28 Christmas tournament showed both squads are well on the way to recovery.

The Eagles brought six wrestlers to the meet, scoring 74 points and a sixth place finish among the 17 teams attending.

Lute Ramsden scored a silver medal at 126 pounds after finishing off two of three opponents while Kennisen Knifong placed fourth at 145 pounds. Knifong wrestled five matches at the tournament.

The upper brackets saw Jonah Staigle taking the gold after besting all-comers at 220 pounds. None of his matches lasted more than a minute, with the last one taking 36 seconds for the victory.

“They all did good and they all wrestled hard,” Kiesecker said. “They all did as well as I expected them to do.”

The Outlaws brought five wrestlers and scored 51.5 points for an eighth-place finish. Trace Evans, wrestling at 138 pounds, not only walked away with the gold, but also won the Outstanding Wrestler Award for the 106 pounds to 145 pounds group.

Freshman Cody Fent reentered action after an injury hiatus and took third in the 132 pounds bracket with a 3-1 tournament performance with all his wins coming by fall.

“He wrestled real well,” Coach Court Fent said.

“I was real pleased with the kids up there,” Coach Fent said. He also noted that senior Drew Widener in the heavyweight division won a match in which the wrestler moved like clockwork. He also said that Nevin Goldsmith at 170 pounds won one of three matches in his first appearance this year due to injury.

Both the Eagles and Outlaws next appear at the Jo-Hi tournament at Joseph on Jan. 3-4.

“I think 17 teams are on the docket, but we’ll see who shows,” Kiesecker said. “It’ll be good.”