Grant Union High School freshman Reuben Harvey, at right, is a quick learner. He started the sport of wrestling at Imbler by losing two matches, and winning one.

IMBLER The athletes of the Grant Union High School wrestling team took four first-place finishes and won a high percentage of their matches at the Imbler Round Robin Tournament on Thursday, Dec. 30.

 We dominated, said coach Dave Naibert, happy that in the 16 total matches by his six athletes, the Grant Union athletes won all but three.

 Teams at the wrestling competition came from small schools like Grant Union. Bringing perhaps the largest delegation was Heppner High School.

 In the match, Prospector senior Levi Gagnon went 3-0 and placed first in the 112-pound division.

 Senior Zach Stegman also wrestled for first place in the 215-pound division, winning his two matches.

 Freshman Caleb Batease went 2-0, also placing first at 215 pounds.

 His brother, sophomore Jacob Batease, wrestled at 285 pounds. He took first, winning his three matches to also gain first place.

 Senior Alex Kygar went 2-1 at 140 pounds, pinning two opponents. Kygar earned second place.

 In his wrestling debut, freshman Reuben Harvey went 1-2 and earned a third-place honor.

 Reuben had never even seen a wrestling match before, said Naibert, who is pleased with how well the athlete is catching on to the sport.

 The GU wrestlers travel to the Jo-Hi Cosgrove Wrestling Tournament in Joseph, set to begin at 2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 7, and continuing at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 8.

 Naibert said he expects freshman Kyle Carpenter to be ready to wrestle in the meet.

 Were right in there, the coach said, looking confidently at the season. We dont need 14 kids to do well at state; we can have three or four of our wrestlers and do really good.