Sandpoint senior Casey Olesen placed fifth in the 4A 120-lb. championship and six of Sandpoint’s nine wrestlers avoided a two-out sweep during the 4A Idaho State Wrestling Tournament last weekend.

As a team, the Bulldogs placed 23rd of the 27 4A teams that participated.

Yet Bulldogs’ state squad was predominantly comprised of either underclassmen, or wrestlers without prior state meet experience. So naturally, the Bulldogs looked to senior captain Olesen to lead the way.

Sparked by prior two-and-out state experiences and a self-induced rigorous offseason, Olesen placed for the first time at the state meet in his career.

Olesen’s path to state wasn’t easy: Losses to state runner-up Gabriel Taboa (Jerome) and Sam Hyde (Emmett) culminated to a fifth-place run, but he pinned two opponents in under three minutes and gutted out two wins by scores of 12-7 and 2-0 en route to a consolation semifinal appearance.

He was one of three Sandpoint wrestlers to not be pinned (the others were juniors Brady Nelson and Malachi Fleck).

Sandpoint’s 138-lb. tandem of Mason Bangeman and Malachi Fleck — coincidentally, both of the 138-lb. finalists in the 4A District meet — had the deepest state runs aside from Olesen.

Fleck, a junior, was sent to the consolation bracket early after a 16-6 loss to state runner-up Angel Rios of Columbia. But his next three matches were determined by two points or fewer: Fleck eked out 9-8 and 9-7 wins against wrestlers from 4A powers Minico and Kuna before bowing out with a 6-5 loss to eventual sixth-place finisher Daniel Andrade of Blackfoot.

Bangeman, meanwhile, rolled through the consolation bracket with a pin in 1:56, then a 9-3 win by decision before bowing out against eventual fourth-place finisher Braxton Sorenson of Bonneville.

Jordan Birkhimer finished 0-2 in the 98-lb. bracket, but the freshman will have three more chances to get to state.

Next season, Birkhimer will look to build on his first high school season, which culminated to a 15-27 record and a 4A Division 1 championship.

Fellow underclassman Tag Benefield fared slightly better in his first state wrestling experience. The sophomore finished 1-2 in the 195-lb. bracket, including a 50-second pin in his first round of consolation action.

Senior Parker Coon (145 lb.) and freshman Blake Sherrill (132 lb.) went two-and-out at state, while junior Brady Nelson (145 lb.) and sophomore Tanner Dickson (113 lb.) finished 1-2.

Of Sandpoint’s nine wrestlers that participated at state, six will return next season.

4A Idaho State Wrestling Tournament

Sandpoint wrestlers in bold

98 — Shewmaker (Jerome) d. Birkhimer, Fall 3:19

98 — Gilboy (Kuna) d. Birkhimer, Fall 0:54

113 — Rivera (Kuna) d. Dickson, Fall 2:52

113 — Dickson d. Kidwell (Lakeland), Fall 2:23

113 — Choate (Columbia) md. Dickson, 9-0

120 — Olesen d. Freeman (Caldwell), Fall 1:34

120 — Taboa (Jerome) d. Olesen, Dec. 12-7

120 — Olesen d. Paulson (Skyline), Fall 2:48

120 — Olesen d. Andersen (Century), Dec. 2-0

120 — Hyde (Emmet) d. Olesen, Dec. 7-1

120 — Olesen d. Allred (Minico) by forfeit

132 — Roggio (Kuna) d. Sherrill, Fall 0:53

132 — Greenwald d. Sherrill, Fall 0:32

138 — Kallmeyer (Kuna) d. Bangeman, Fall 3:33

138 — Bangeman d. Hernandez (Minico), Fall 1:56

138 — Bangeman d. Keller (Preston), Dec. 9-3

138 — Sorenson (Bonneville) d. Bangeman, Fall 2:10

138 — Rios (Columbia) md. Fleck, 16-6

138 — Fleck d. Greco (Minico), Dec. 9-8

138 — Fleck d. Kallmeyer (Kuna), Dec. 9-7

138 — Andrade (Blackfoot) d. Fleck, Dec. 6-5

145 — Banks (Bonneville) d. Coon, Fall 5:08

145 — Martinez (Columbia) d. Coon, Dec. 9-2

145 — Blevins (Nampa) md. Nelson, 11-3

145 — Nelson d. McChesney (Bishop Kelly), Dec. 8-3

145 — Banks (Bonneville) d. Nelson, 10-7

195 — Ramirez (Minico) d. Benefield, Fall 3:36

195 — Benefield d. Hicks (Century), Fall 0:50

195 — Brandon (Kuna) d. Benefield, Fall 4:28