RSHS wrestling heads to state tournament in Casper

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The 2020 Rock Springs High School State Wrestling team. A Wyo4News photo.

ROCK SPRINGS, WYOMING (Feb. 27, 2020) — Rock Springs High School Wrestling looks to end their season on a high note as they head to Casper for the State Wrestling Tournament taking place Feb. 28-29.

Head coach Brad Profaizer says the season has not gone exactly as planned.

“This season has not gone as well as I had hoped,” Profaizer said. “We have struggled with eligibility, injury, sickness, and discipline issues throughout the year. It has been a rough year for us, in general.”

Although they have remained competitive for the majority of the season, the Tigers lost a number of key contributors early on due to season-ending injuries.

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Profaizer said that, despite a number of struggles this season, there have been a plethora of exciting moments.

“We have had some exciting times this year,” he said. “We took third at the Tournament of Champions in Vernal; I think that is really where we were at our best this season. We made the top-20 at the Rockwell Rumble, so there have been a number of good things about our season.”

Profaizer touched on how the regional tournament went for the team.

“Regionals did not go as well as I had hoped,” Profaizer claimed. “We had a student-athlete that we had to leave at home due to eligibility issues, and that right there is 10,15, even 20 points. We had some bracketing issues as well. The kids did wrestle tough, even though we have had a lot of sicknesses lately. Lots of kids coming off the mat with flu-like symptoms.”

“The timing of all of it has been a real issue for us, both in regionals and this year; but, we can’t stop, we have to battle through it and keep going.”

Despite the adversity the team has faced this season, Profaizer remains optimistic that his team can perform headed into the state tournament.

“There is always a lot of upsets at the state tournament,” Profaizer discussed. “It really is anybody’s game. I have seen number one seeded kids at state not have a good day and get beat out. We are optimistic. With the crew that we have, I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t pull out a top-four finish at the tournament.”

“We have a great group of kids this year. They have worked hard, I want to see them do well.”

Profaizer aimed to clean up some errors and get his team healthier this week before headed into state competition.

“This week we just wanted to taper off into the tournament,” Profaizer said. “We just want to make sure that, injury-wise, everyone is healthy; sickness-wise, everyone is healthy and feeling their best. So right now, practice is just a matter of polishing up little things. We won’t be learning anything new or major; it will just be cleaning up what we already know.”

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Coach Profaizer also briefly touched on how the competition at the tournament is shaping up.

“I think one of our biggest competitors will be our country rival, Green River,” Profaizer claimed. “They have done unbelievably well this year. They have a strong team with some really good kids. Kelly Walsh has a strong team this year, even after losing a few guys this year. Natrona, Cheyenne East, Thunder Basin, and Sheridan would round out what I feel is some of the top teams; including us, for the state.”

“This really could be anybody’s race in the end.”

The first round of the tournament is set to begin at 9 a.m. Feb. 28 in Casper.

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