Raider wrestlers compete in tournaments, attend a champ camp

There’s no rest for the wicked wrestlers who stay busy year round, with Raiders attending camps and competing in tournaments near and far.

Six Raider wrestlers went to the Camas Camp of Champions at the Kalispel Tribe’s powwow grounds north of Spokane June 24-28.

The wrestlers camped at the grounds for the week, improving their wrestling at the camp where 65 total wrestlers took part.

Incoming Raider freshman Landon Krohn won the Workout Warrior award, which “goes to someone who was always working really hard, trying to find the best workout partners, fun to be around, never complaining, never dogging it,” explained Steve Hood, who recently retired as head wrestling coach at LR but still loves the sport. “There were lots of people like that, but Landon was someone that the counselors and other coaches noticed was working hard and asking questions.”

At one point, the young athletes were woken up unexpectedly at 2 a.m. to wrestle.

“Part of this is learning how to deal with the unexpected,” Hood said. “Things won’t always be a set routine, and you have to be able to rise to the occasion.”

“I’m sure they will all talk about it for a long time,” Hood said about the 2 a.m. wrestling. “They were pretty happy once they woke up enough to know what was going on.”

Hood said it was the fifth year in a row local wrestlers have gone to the camp, and that there were intensive workouts to rival their hardest practices during the wrestling season.

“It’s a way to improve,” he said. “You get exposed to different techniques and styles.”

Additionally, Raider wrestlers have been competing in tournaments near and far.

Krohn wrestled at the Jason Crawford Tournament at the Spokane Arena in May. He won his bracket there, where 1,100 kids competed. Krohn wrestled with the local Coulee Crushers group to get to that point.

The tournament is the end-of-the-season championship for Washington youth wrestling.

Colton Jackson wrestled in the Washington state championship for Greco-Freestyle wrestling, also in May. He placed third there, before going to Fargo, North Dakota, where he competed for Team Washington in the Wrestling USA National Championships, but did not place.

“That is a huge accomplishment for both Landon and Colton, a couple up-and-coming HS wrestlers,” Nate Krohn, Landon’s father, told The Star in an email about summer wrestling activities.