COEUR d'ALENE - After waiting two years to get back on the wrestling mat at the Tri-State Invitational, Coeur d'Alene High senior Garrett DeMers had to wait even longer.

DeMers defeated Carmen Krichbaum of Bonners Ferry 17-1 in the quarterfinals Friday on the first day of the two-day event at North Idaho College.

"He was a lot stronger than I thought," DeMers said following his technical fall win. "So I just teched him instead."

DeMers, who is the top seed at 195 pounds, opened with a bye. His highest previous finish at Tri-State was eighth as a sophomore. He missed last year's event after a knee injury forced him to miss the first part of the season.

"It was terrible," DeMers said. "Sitting around all day, I couldn't wait to get out there.

"Nothing I did today will matter until I win tomorrow," he added. "I need to get back in there and take the gold."

"Garrett trains hard," Coeur d'Alene coach Jeff Moffat said. "It's been a short season, but he shows up ready to wrestle. When he does that - he'll be tough to beat."

A.J. Konda lost to Michael Nguyen in a quarterfinal match for the Vikings.

“We improved a lot from Wednesday night,” Moffat said. “I was real happy. The guys are starting to buy in and get the message we’re sending them. We’ve only got 10 guys, but I’m really happy with the way it’s going.”

Post Falls is fourth heading into the semifinals with 110.5 points. Mead leads with 120.5, followed by Lake Stevens (Wash.) with 118 and Tahoma (Covington, Wash.), with 113.5. Coeur d’Alene is in 17th.

“It was really an up and down round for us,” Post Falls coach Pete Reardon said. “We got five guys through to the semifinals, but we dropped a couple as well. If you want to do well in this tournament, you’ve got to wrestle well through the front as well as the back.”

Austin Wilson (160), Cody Johnson (182), Drake Foster (106), James Ost (145) and Tyler Booth (152) advanced to today’s semifinal round.

“Cody just had an awesome day, as did all of our guys that got through the quarters,” Reardon said. “Drake did an excellent job and Austin was just dominant.”

Cole Jesienouski, the top seed at 170 pounds, was upset in the quarterfinals.

Action resumes today at 9 a.m. with consolation rounds. Semifinals are scheduled to begin at 12:15 p.m., with finals tentatively set for 5.

The tournament will be webcast on www.idahowrestlingnews.com.

TEAM SCORES

1, Mead 120.5. 2, Lake Stevens (Wash.) 118. 3, Tahoma (Covington, Wash.) 113.5. 4, Post Falls 110.5. 5, Lewiston 109.5. 6, Orting (Wash.) 76.5. 7, Chandler (Ariz.) 74.5. 9, Deer Park 71.5. 10, Central Valley 70. 11, East Valley 69.5. 12, Kelso (Wash.) 67.5. 13, Hermiston (Ore.) 63. 14, University 62. 15 (tie), Moses Lake, Todd Beamer (Federal Way, Wash.) 59. 17, Coeur d’Alene 56.5. 18, Sentinel (Missoula) 51. 19, Graham-Kapowsin (Graham, Wash.) 50. 20, North Central 46. 21, Evergreen (Vancouver, Wash.) 45. 22, Mt. Spokane 41. 23, Libby 40. 24, Bonney Lake (Wash.) 39.5. 25, Riverside 38. 26, Chiawana (Pasco) 36.5. 27 (tie), Colville, Flathead (Kalispell) 33. 29, Polson (Mont.) 32. 30, Lakeland 31. Edmonds-Woodway (Wash.) 30. 32, Cheney 29.5. 33 (tie), Ingelmoor (Kenmore, Wash.), Lake City, New Plymouth 28. 36, Reardan 26. 37, McCall 25.5 38, Lakeside 25. 39, Bonners Ferry 24. 40 (tie), Auburn (Wash.), Sedro-Woolley (Wash.) 23. 42 (tie), Jenkins (Chewelah), Kamiakin (Kennewick) 22. 44, Freeman 20. 45, Potlatch 19. 46, Tonasket (Wash.) 18. 47, Bishop Blanchet (Seattle), 17. 48 (tie), Kellogg, La Grande (Ore.), Vashon Island (Wash.) 15. 51, Camas (Wash.) 12. 52, Timberlake 11. 53, Sandpoint 10. 54, Mary Walker (Springdale, Wash.) 8. 55, Lake Washington (Kirkland, Wash.) 6.5 56 (tie), Ferris, Gonzaga Prep, Mt. Baker (Deming, Wash.) 6. 59, Republic (Wash.) 4.5. 60 (tie), Bothell (Wash.), Moscow 0.

SEMIFINAL PAIRINGS

106 — Casey Cobb, Kuna, vs. Drake Foster, Post Falls; Tyler Workman, Kamiakin, vs. Tristan Moran, Chandler.

113 — Josh Newberg, Kuna, vs. Michael Nguyen, Evergreen; Jake Konzal, Deer Park, vs. Tre Uson, Todd Beamer.

120 — Steve Hopkins, Tahoma, vs. John Kenyon, Lewiston; Matthew Nguyen, Evergeen, vs. Michael Cook, Kuna.

126 — Drew Templeman, Orting, vs. Eric Soler, Lakeside; Josh Carlton, Lewiston, vs. Raymond Evans, New Plymouth.

132 — Tyler Berger, Hermiston, vs. Kit Major, Riverside; Blaine Invernon, Bonners Ferry, vs. Joey Palmer, Tahoma.

138 — Joey Delgado, Hermiston, vs. Ryan Gabel, University; Ryan Klemp, Lewiston, vs. Shannon Maris, Orting.

145 — Jeremy Golden, Mead, vs. Lupe Delgado, Hermiston; James Ost, Post Falls vs. Kyle Leir, Libby.

152 — Tyler McLean, Mead, vs. Mitchell Bocook, North Central; Nico Moreno, Moses Lake, vs. Tyler Booth, Post Falls.

160 — Dylan Miller, Deer Park, vs. Austin Wilson, Post Falls; Chandler Rogers, Mead, vs. Larry Francis, Flathead.

170 — Diego Alvarado, Chandler, vs. Jake Lueders, Bonney Lake; Sam Voigtlander, Mead, vs. Chandler Knight, Colville.

182 — Jordan Rogers, Mead, vs. Cody Johnson, Post Falls; Ryan Olliges, Lakeside, vs. Niko Knezovich, Reardan.

195 — Garrett DeMers, Coeur d’Alene, vs. Josh Koukal, Inglemoor; Matt Hopkins, Tahoma, vs. Peter Johnson, Bishop Blanchet.

220 — Ryan Rigney, Lewiston, vs. Shawn Reed, Lakeside; Derrick Bender, Riverside, vs. James Voltz, Mead.

285 — Brandon Johnson, Lakeside, vs. Dan Schoultz, Central Valley; Avery Smetana, Flathead, vs. Kyle Cosby, University.