Something about wrestling in the desert suits Bayfield High School senior Colter McMenimen.

He finished second at 145 pounds at the Moon Valley Invitational on Saturday in Phoeniz, Arizona.

McMenimen lost to Wacey Wood of Snowflake, Arizona, by fall 3 minutes, 49 seconds into the match. That came after seven matches of pool play then two elimination matches in a bracket made up of the top two finishers in every pool.

“His finals match, he didn’t wrestle as well as he should have. Not sure why. Part of it, he really only had one match going into the tournament. He wasn’t near as crisp as he should have been,” BHS head coach Todd McMenimen said. “At this point, it’s all still practice. We’re still preparing for February. I’d much rather him lose a match here and learn from it than lose a match in February where it counts.”

Garrett Beebe and Taylor Winch also qualified out of pool play for the Wolverines.

Beebe took eighth at 106 pounds, and Winch finished eighth at 132 pounds.

There were 31 teams at the meet, and BHS initially brought eight wrestlers that competed.

“We didn’t have quite as good a day as (Friday). It’s pretty much a grid of a tournament down there,” Todd McMenimen said. “It’s two long days, a lot of good matches. You gotta be ready all the time.”

The Wolverines will return to the dual format for their next competition. They face Centauri at 6 p.m. Jan. 9 in Bayfield after the holiday break.

“I’m very pleased with the way we wrestled all weekend. We learned a lot this weekend with our young kids in terms of making weight and some valuable lessons that we’ll be able to carry through the rest of the season,” Todd McMenimen said. “It was well worth coming down here.”

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