Three wrestlers make history by joining four-timer club at Idaho high school state championships

NAMPA, Idaho - Alyssa Randles won’t be officially recognized for it.

But unofficially, the Coeur d’Alene senior is the first girls wrestler in Idaho history to win four consecutive state championships with her third-round pin of Mountain View’s Sophie Sarver in the 126-pound girls final.

She won two championships before the Idaho High School Activities Association sponsored an official girl state tournament last season. Randles shared this last one with a long embrace from her father Mike, who also coached his sons Casey Randles and Nolan Randles in state finals. Casey was a three-time state champion.

“I’m excited to be the first, but I’m excited to see a lot of other girls be able to do it too,” Alyssa Randles said. “I’m really thankful.”

Hans Newby taped a second-place medal to his locker room during his ninth-grade year. The 113-pound Grace senior might now finally be able to take down the lone blemish of his high school career.

He became just the eighth Class 2A wrestler and the 36th overall to win four consecutive state titles with his 10-0 major decision win over Ririe’s Ches Lee.

“I looked at it every single day,” said Newby of the runner-up medal he got at a Challis tournament where South Fremont’s Ryker Simmons handed him his only ever loss with a pin. “It definitely kept me motivated throughout the years.

“It’s an incredible feeling. You put in all of the work with all these years of wrestling and to finally achieve my dreams, it’s something else.”

Hunter Hobbs was a freshman when he saw his older brother Sawyer do it.

Now three years later, the South Fremont senior’s name will be right next to his in the record books. He’s the 14th Class 3A wrestler and only the 37th ever to win four state individual titles with his 15-0 technical fall against Fruitland’s Quinn Hood in the 182-pound final.

“This is crazy,” Hobbs said. “A lot’s going through my head right now. My brother is one and I wanted to live up to that and become a four-timer too.”

Hobbs will now join Sawyer at the University of Providence in Montana next season.

NAMPA’S GONZALEZ DENIES HISTORY THIS TIME AROUND

Nikko Gonzalez already had two wrestlers become four-time state champions at his expense. So the Nampa High senior wasn’t about to let a third one do it too. No matter how improbable it seemed.

He did just that by shocking Eagle’s Tanner Frothinger in the Class 5A 138-pound final for his long-awaited first state title with a 7-5 sudden victory win. Frothinger, a University of Nebraska signee and a three-time state champion, had beaten him 7-4 just a week prior at districts.

“I can’t express my feelings right now,” Gonzalez said. “I’m just happy to be a state champion.”

Gonzalez, who lost to Kuna’s Michael Mitchell in 2021 and Bishop Kelly’s Christopher Martino last season, trailed 3-0 midway through the second period. But he caught Frothinger in a head-and-arm for a near pinfall later in the round. It suddenly put him up 5-3.

Frothinger tied it up at 5-5 with a pair of escapes to force a sudden victory overtime where the first person to get a takedown wins. Gonzalez got him in another head-and-arm. But Frothinger fought it this time around. After being locked in a stalemate for around nine seconds, Gonzalez finally rolled him over to his back as the place erupted for the stunning upset.

“He’s been with me his whole life,” Nampa coach Roy Perales said. “I think sometimes Nikko’s toughest match has been Nikko. A lot of time we spend together, it’s not so much on wrestling, but that you can do this. Believe in yourself. And if you believe in yourself, you can do it. And he believed in himself today.”

The Bulldogs had two other state champions. Dedrick Navarro claimed the 120-pound crown with a 3-2 decision over Thunder Ridge’s Talon Eck on a last-second takedown. The Northwestern University signee lost a major decision to Eck earlier in the season and hadn’t won a title since his freshman year after losing in back-to-back finals to now three-time champion Mack Mauger. Carson Exferd became the first three-time state champion in program history with a 7-1 decision over Post Falls’ Tyson Barnhart at 132 pounds.

Nampa finished third as a team with eight other state placers.

SOUTH FREMONT AND MERIDIAN HIGHLIGHT TEAM TITLES

The best wrestling program in the entire state of Idaho belongs to a town that doesn’t even have 4,000 people in it.

South Fremont produced five individual state champions and eight other placers on its way to a fourth straight Class 3A state championship. The Cougars’ 309.5 points were the most among all classifications by 29 points. The next closest was Meridian, which they beat in a dual earlier in the season.

“We’ve all been together since we were five and have stuck together ever since,” Hobbs said. “So that type of bond and experience is just tough to beat.”

Meridian also continued its dynasty with a three-peat at Class 5A. It finished with 280.5 points, 19 better than Post Falls and 39 ahead of Nampa.

The Warriors had five state champions, including Jason Mara (152) and Cade White (160), who both three-peated. White, an Oregon State commit, made amends for last season when he was up 1-0 before tripping on himself and getting caught in a head-and-arm for a surprising pinfall loss.

“I think it was a good learning experience for me,” White said. “I’m not taking anything for granted and I’m always ready to wrestle. I feel like today I was ready to wrestle, and it really showed.”

Mara, who is committed to Stanford, can become the program’s first four-time state champion next season.

Meridian, which ended a 34-year drought in 2021, placed 12 other wrestlers.

“It just shows how hard our program works, day in and day out,” White said. “We’re not here to play games and mess around. Our team’s here and we’re making a statement.”

Minico and Eagle went back-to-back at 4A and girls, respectively. New Plymouth won in 2A.