Ron Thon Memorial Invitational Wrestling Tournament

Published on February 4, 2011 by John Gabrielsen of Wyopreps.com  

Riverton hosts their 25th annual wrestling tournament this weekend. It’s the 12th time the event carries the name of their former coach and educator at RHS, the Ron Thon Memorial. This year’s event is bigger then ever. Athletic Director Keith Bauder had 41 teams, all from Wyoming, slated to be represented. Two teams, Sundance and Hulett, however, have opted out due to injuries and illness. Hulett put two in the finals last year.

Named as “Tougher than State”, the event combines all wrestlers from every class for shot at the Best of the Best.     Bauder said the seeding meeting will be Thursday night and hopefully will get wrestling started earlier on Friday. He adds that those weight classes will be hard to seed with state champions, Ron Thon Champions, and great season records for the kids all playing factors in the seeds.

Lingle is sending one representative. Brody Serres is a two time 2A state chamipon for the Doggers. He’ll test the waters in the tournament as the lone Dogger. It brings back memories of Greg Glodt of Upton who dominated the 215 pound class and was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the upper weights.

It’s probably easier to tell which Wyoming teams are NOT coming than the ones who are. 39 teams from the state will attend. All 4A teams are coming. The only 3A not coming are Torrington, Cheyenne South, and Buffalo. Others not attending are Sundance, Hulett,  Southeast, and Burns. South, Sundance and Hulett are slated to return next year and its rumored that Buffalo and Torrington will attend next year as well.

You can WATCH the finals courtesy of MY WYOMING.ORG. Finals should begin around 1:30 or 2 pm according to Bauder.