Raiders, Cougars open season in Panguitch

by David Boyle
Sports Editor

Whitehorse and Monument Valley boys and girls wrestling teams competed at the 2024 Panguitch Invitational to open their season, with the girls competing on December 6 and the boys wrestling on December 6 and 7.
The Lady Raiders and Cougars finished 18th and 19th out of 28 teams at the tournament.
Shandiin Roberts led Whitehorse in fifth place with a record of 3-2 on the weekend. Katie Whitehair finished seventh, going 2-3 on the weekend.
Rayauna Lee finished eighth with a 2-3 record. Teammates Haileigh Roberts and Megan Collins both finished in eighth place with a 1-4 record on the weekend.
The top finisher for the Monument Valley girls team was Nizhoni Sloan who finished in sixth place, going 2-3 at the tournament.
Summer Atene and Aiyana Parker both earned ninth-place finishes with three wins and two losses.
Nay`Myia Morgan finished in tenth place with a 2-3 record, while Alisha Sloan and Keturah Whitehorse gained valuable mat time as well.
The boys tournament featured round-robin matches with wrestlers assigned to a bracket based on pool performance.
The top finisher for the Raiders was Hunter Tsinigine who finished in ninth place in the 150 lb class. Tsinigine went 6-2 in the tournament including five straight wins to round out the tournament.
Teammate Lance Tsinigine finished in 12th place, going 4-5 on the weekend. Kyle Todechene, Tyshaun Begay, and Riley Benallie all earned a win over the weekend as well.
Sanford Begay, Dante and Eliyeontay Silas also earned valuable mat time at the tournament, as did the Monument Valley Cougars’ Talon Brooks and Kye Amy.