Cowboys roll over Jackrabbits

Richard Anderson photos

Wyoming redshirt freshman Chase Smith works over Nick Flynn of South Dakota State Friday night in the UniWyo Sports Complex. At bottom left, first-year head coach Mark Branch shouts out some instructions.

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By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

The Wyoming wrestling team has gotten to know first-year head coach Mark Branch very well in their short time together.

After easily disposing of South Dakota State, 38-7 Friday night in their Western Wrestling Conference opener at the UniWyo Sports Complex, the Cowboys knew better than getting ahead of themselves.

Yes, it was a good match to return home to, but by no means was a great night or effort.

At least in their coach’s eyes.

“He always has something for us to work on; he is never satisfied with our performance,” Wyoming redshirt freshman 184-pounder Joe LeBlanc said. “Even out here, he is going to give us a list of stuff we have to change, even with the score 38-7. But that is what makes us better, just that attitude.”

The young Cowboys are better, 8-2 in duals this season. On cue, Branch was just so-so in evaluating his team’s performance over South Dakota State (0-2, 7-7-1)

“As a team, it was inconsistent,” Branch said. “Some guys came out and they looked fired up, they looked glad to be back home and they came out at the whistle firing away,” Branch said. “But it was inconsistent. When you look at the team, there were a lot of the good and bad areas. There were some areas where I was a little distressed at. We have to correct that problem.”

Wyoming won seven of the nine matches wrestled with two falls, two technical falls and one major decision. Even in victory, the Cowboys know they can get better.

“Coach Branch is really good to look at what we need to improve on, which is always good because we can always get better,” Wyoming senior 157-pounder Eric Coxbill said. “Everybody is coming in and working hard and we’re improving.”

Coxbill earned his coach’s praise with how he came out, with a takedown in seven seconds en route to a pin of SDSU’s Marc Wermersen in 1 minute, 51 seconds.

“I was so excited, we haven’t wrestled at home forever. The family was here, my buddies. I felt good. I just came out and exploded,” said Coxbill, a Wright native.

The Cowboys hadn’t wrestled at home since the Stanford dual and Cowboy Open on Nov. 14-15.

“We definitely had a long road trip and we got a lot more,” Coxbill said. “It’s fun to come home.”

Coxbill is getting more comfortable at 157 pounds, moving down from 165. He is now 17-10 on the season.

“I made the cut down to 157 and the more that I make it, it seems the better I wrestle at it,” Coxbill said. “I got my feet going and got a fast takedown and there it went.”

LeBlanc, ranked seventh in the country, is now 31-5. He was also excited to be at home, earning a quick pin as well, sticking the Jackrabbits’ Zack Blindert in 1:38.

“It was a good match. It was my first match in front of the home crowd, so that was fun,” LeBlanc said.

Also earning dominating wins were redshirt freshman Michael Martinez (28-7), a 17-1 technical fall over Alan Marvin; junior Alex Rieder (24-12), a 19-0 technical fall over Westin Ginther and redshirt freshman Chase Smith (21-15), a 10-1 major decision over Nick Flynn.

Also for the Cowboys, sophomore 141-pounder Cole Dallaserra (16-10) was a 9-2 winner over Dustin Walraven and redshirt freshman Shane Onufer (32-8) gained an 8-5 decision over Scott Elliott. Junior Cory VomBauer earned a forfeit win at 133 pounds for Wyoming.

“Our team has just developed so much since the beginning of the season,” LeBlanc said. “We have gotten better. Coach Branch goes back every week and looks at what we did wrong and we correct our mistakes.”

With the season down to eight more duals and the WWC and NCAA championships in a little over a month, Coxbill said they are progressing in the right direction.

“The conditioning is getting better and everybody is pushing hard at a seven-minute pace,“ Coxbill said. “We’re just getting better and better, day after day."

Branch agrees to a certain extent. He said he believes his team turned the corner after the Christmas break and came back energized and started seeing the progress that they have made. More progress, however, is needed.

“Individually, they felt like were improving and they felt like they were better wrestlers,” he said. “What is scary, when you come out and a few of them were flat, you don’t want to step back at this point of the year. We’re at the point of the year when we need to start climbing and gaining and keep building our confidence. We got a long ways to go.”

The Cowboys will return to action Saturday night in another WWC dual, as they host North Dakota State at 7 p.m.
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COWBOYS 38, JACKRABBITS 7
133 -- Cory Vombauer (UW) wins by forfeit -- 6-0
141 -- Cole Dallaserra (UW) dec. Dustin Walraven 9-2 -- 9-0
149 -- Chase Smith (UW) maj. dec. Nick Flynn 10-1 -- 13-0
157 -- Eric Coxbill (UW) pinned Marc Wermersen 1:51 -- 19-0
165 -- Alex Rieder (UW) tech. fall Weston Ginther 19-0 -- 24-0
174 -- Shane Onfur (UW) dec. Scott Elliott 8-5 -- 27-0
184 -- Joe LeBlanc (UW) pinned Zack Blindert 1:38 -- 33-0
197 -- Tyler Sorenson (SDSU) maj. Dec. Mikel Hoopes 10-2 -- 33-4
Hwt. -- Jason Stripling (SDSU) dec. Jacob Scharbrough 3-0 -- 33-7
125 -- Michael Martinez (UW) tech. fall Alan Marvin 17-1 -- 38-7.