McLaimtaig takes third at Tri State

Breaks several school records

COEUR D’ALENE - Tournaments were tough for the Spartans this week, but senior Colm McLaimtaig grappled his way to third place at 144 pounds at the Tri State Tournament in Coeur d’Alene last Friday and Saturday. McLaimtaig ended up getting seeded second after going undefeated the first day of the tournament, sending him to the semifinals. He wrestled three seeded Jason Bonnett from Mt. Spokane, but McLaimtaig got caught at the end and lost by fall.

“It was a real close match that could have went either way,” Priest River Junior/ Senior High wrestling coach Quinton Holbrook says. “Colm wrestled back beating a tough kid from Mead then mopping up the Lewiston kid for a thirdplace finish.” After falling in the semifinals, McLaimtaig picked up two wins in the consolation bracket to clinch third, winning by an 11-8 sudden victory over Evan Urann of Mead and pinning Gunnar Whitlock of Lewiston in 2 minutes and 18 seconds.

McLaimtaig also broke some school records while he was at it, passing 2018 Priest River High graduate Noah Jamison to become the third all-time wrestler in school history with 137 career wins. He needs five more to tie his brother Caeden McLaimtaig for second and seven more to pass James Hegge.

Holbrook says that the Tri-State Tournament is always challenging, with the best from every team creating a 64-man bracket.

“This is one of the toughest tournaments in the Northwest,” Holbrook says.

He adds that half the team went to Tri-State and the other half to the Girls/ Junior Varsity tournament in Lakeland.

Spartan Ezrah Vollendorff, 100-pounds, lost both her matches, but not for lack of trying.

“She wrestled hard showed improvement,” Holbrook says.

Petra Fernandez, 126-pounds, went 2-2, barely losing to a strong girl from Bonners Ferry.

“For only her second tournament Petra did great,” Holbrook says.

Boys’ JV had a rough day at Lakeland, with Jack Zalewski, Liam Pettit, Billy Rapier, Orion Grime, and Darian Ratzlaff all went 0-2. Freshman Rapier had a close loss of 8-9 in his first round but was pinned in the next. Gunner Eversole went 2-2 and had a close loss to go to the next day but was also pinned.

Priest River hosted Sandpoint Tuesday after the newspaper deadline. The Spartans will travel to Kellogg for the George Wild Tournament Friday-Saturday, Dec. 20-21.

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