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Narrow Loss To No. 4 North Idaho Highlights Apodaca Duals
Sophomore Keithen Cast was named the 2011 recipient of the Apodaca Award, then had to sit and watch as the seventh- ranked Trapper wrestling team competed without him at the 2012 Apodaca Duals in Powell over the weekend.
The Trappers dropped a narrow 25-19 dual to No. 4 North Idaho on Friday night. That result also enabled the Moose Cup, a traveling award contested annually by the two programs, to reside in Coeur d’Alene for another year.
The Trappers stormed back on Saturday, however, to wallop Western Wyoming by a 36-6 final count. The Mustangs’ only points in that dual came from Northwest’s decision to forfeit the 174-pound weight class to enable Cast to continue healing from a knee injury suffered earlier this year.
“It was a good wrestling atmosphere for the kids both Friday and Saturday,” Trapper head coach Jim Zeigler said. “We had three kids who reversed losses they had suffered earlier in the year. Overall, we had several kids who wrestled well and won both of their matches over the weekend.”
Against North Idaho on Friday night, the Trappers entered the dual three points down on the scoreboard in the quest for the Moose Cup. Nathaniel Garcia got the dual off to a positive start for Northwest with a major decision at 149 pounds.
North Idaho recovered the points immediately with a major decision win over Jaksen Cotterell in the following match.
Bernie Dupuy followed with a win by decision at 165 pounds to re-stake the Trappers to a lead that vanished almost immediately when Northwest opted to leave the 174-pound slot open.
North Idaho pulled ahead with a win by fall over Miles Nixon at 184 pounds.
“Miles was wrestling well that match, but then he got caught and pinned,” said Zeigler.
Ben Price scored a decision win at 197 pounds, but North Idaho posted its second win by fall of the dual as Sean Sullivan was caught on his back to make the score 22-10 in North Idaho’s favor.
Northwest halved that lead when North Idaho’s 125-pounder was unable to make weight, leading to a forfeit victory for the Trappers’ Kamron Day. Justin Gardner added a decision win at 133, pulling Northwest to within three points going into the final match of the day.
After falling behind early, Northwest’s Colton Thornton fought back to tie the score in the third period of the 141-pound match. With Thornton in control of his man and a riding time bonus unobtainable, the Trappers made the decision to cut the opponent loose and attempt to win the dual with a takedown.
The strategy backfired as Thornton was unable to score a final takedown, dropping a 5-4 decision and giving North Idaho a narrow 25-19 win.
“There were any number of ways we could have won the dual,” said Zeigler afterward. “If Keithen’s able to go at 174, that’s at least a nine point swing probably 99 percent of the time. If we could have not gotten pinned, that would have swung some points. We had opportunities.”
The highlight of the weekend though was the announcement of Cast as the latest Apodaca Award winner. The award is a symbol of excellence in academics, wrestling, social and civic awareness and leadership given annually in memory of Brooks Apodaca, a member of the 1998 wrestling team killed in an automobile accident in the spring of that year.
Former Apodaca Award winner and NWC assistant wrestling coach Nick DeWitt observed on Friday that Cast “has distinguished himself as a true student athlete at Northwest.” Cast was a 2011 academic All-American to go along with his national runner-up finish at the 2011 national tournament.
Cast has signed a letter of intent to continue his wrestling and academic career at American University in the fall. He hopes to pursue a career in medicine while also continuing his quest to earn an NCAA Division I wrestling title.
The Trapper wrestling program is off this week. The team will compete in the North Central Zone tournament the following week in Chanute, Kan. Those placing high enough at that event will continue on to the NJCAA national championships.