Our wrestlers did amazing at state. They each went out there and rose to the occasion. The boys wrestled with heart.”

Coach Cody Grant

 CASPER – When the dust finally settled following three days of hard-fought matches at the 3A boys’ state wrestling championships in Casper on Saturday, March 1, the Torrington High School Blazers stood in fourth place out of 16 schools on the team leaderboard.

Torrington advanced to the No. 4 spot with 137 team points, more than twice the spread the Blazers collected at state the previous year.

Torrington demonstrated marked improvement as a team during the 2024-2025 season. The Blazers captured the 3A East regional title in Wheatland on February 21, beating seven other rivals at the tournament.

Torrington moved up seven positions from 11th place at state in 2024 to fourth place in 2025.

Two titles in 2025 anchored the Blazers’ strong momentum this year. Senior Barrett Eichenberger snagged gold in the 138-pound division while junior Colby Sandusky bagged the title at 150 pounds (see story on page B1).

Barrett and Colby both had a great tournament,” coach Cody Grant said. “At state, everyone is bringing their best. The game plan for Barrett was to wrestle his style and get that first takedown – he wrestled a great match.”

“It was unfortunate for Colby to wrestle teammate in semifinals, but this was one of the better semifinals for 3A and (junior) Ty Albaugh and Colby really wrestled, ultimately with Colby prevailing,” Grant added. “Colby wrestled the same athlete from regionals (in the finals) and one he pinned last year. We knew it would be very tough match. In the second period, Colby was put on his back but ended up getting the pin. I’ve never seen such a hard battle by a wrestler to get off his back and get a pin.”

Junior Brendan Woodard clinched bronze in the 157-pound category after a big comeback in the consolation bracket. 

Senior Tyler Nicolay (120 pounds), Albaugh (150 pounds), senior Kaden Romig (165 pounds), freshman David Ibarra (190 pounds) and senior Moses Lopez (215 pounds) also battled their way back in the blood rounds to bag hardware at state. Nicolay, Albaugh and Ibarra each garnered fifth place in their respective weight classes. Sixth-place finishes included Romig and Lopez.

“Our wrestlers did amazing at state,” Grant remarked. “They each went out there and rose to the occasion. The boys wrestled with heart. The story of state was to never give up and we had some great last-minute wins from behind, including Colby Sandusky, Brendan Woodard and David Ibarra. Our seniors Tyler Nicolay, Moses Lopez and Kaden Romig wrestled really tough. It is great watching them mature as wrestlers over four years. They made it a goal to place at state and get their names up on the wall.”

Battling back

At 157 pounds, Woodard felled Cody Seifert of Powell at 3 minutes, 13 seconds in the quarterfinals.

Woodard fought Cody’s Kannon Grant into the third period of the semifinal match before falling to Grant at 4:43.

Digging deep, Woodard turned the tables in the consolation semifinals on Saturday morning to defeat Colter Tims of Mountain View by technical fall, 24-5, in the third period.

The third-place match pitted Woodard against Cody West of Lander Valley. Woodard triumphed in the third period with a pin at 4:59 to secure bronze.

Battling back in the consolation bracket at 120 pounds, Nicolay pinned both L.J. Hansen of Burns-Pine Bluffs and Worland’s Jacob Jewell in the first periods of the two blood rounds on Friday.

Nicolay went on to make quick work of Douglas’ Greg Vrooman with a pin at 32 seconds in the fifth-place match on Saturday morning.

Advancing to the quarterfinals at 150 pounds, Albaugh took down Cody’s Myles Hensely by fall midway into the first period.

The semifinals found Albaugh stepping onto the mat against teammate Sandusky. In a point-for-point clash that went into three periods, Sandusky ultimately won by a 17-11 decision.

Determined to end the tournament with a win, Albaugh returned to the mats in the fifth-place match to pin Myles Hensley with seven seconds remaining in the first period.

After falling in the quarterfinals for 190 pounds, Ibarra blasted back in the consolation bracket, pinning Pinedale’s Darren Calhoun in the first wrestle-back on Friday. Ibarra went on to beat Lovell’s Taevyn Gruell by technical fall (22-4) in the second period of the subsequent consolation round.

The fifth-place match between Ibarra and Brady Calmes of Glenrock came down to the wire with Ibarra scoring the win by sudden victory (12-9).

Moving up to the quarterfinals at 165 pounds, Romig pinned Mountain View’s Landon Solaas at 1:45 to advance to the semifinals.

In the quarterfinals at 215 pounds, Lopez defeated Levi McCann of Pinedale by pin halfway into the second period to clinch a berth in the semifinals.

Freshman Brandt Eichenberger collected 4.5 team points for the Blazers in the 175-pound bracket for a victory in the opening round and an 8-3 decision win in the consolation bracket.

Fellow freshmen Bo Leever (106 pounds) and Skylen Teague (126 pounds) each tallied three team points for the Blazers.