Wrestler tried to grapple bear to save teammate

A assemblage wrestler from a tiny Wyoming schoolhouse helped his teammate past a grizzly mauling implicit the play by trying to wrestle the monolithic carnivore disconnected his friend, yet drafting a much brutal onslaught to himself.

The men are crediting their bonds arsenic wrestling teammates astatine Northwest College successful Cody, Wyoming, with helping them past the onslaught Saturday nighttime southeast of Yellowstone National Park.

Brady Lowry, of Cedar City, Utah, suffered a breached limb and puncture wounds successful the archetypal onslaught aft they amazed the carnivore portion searching for antlers shed by elk and cervid successful the Shoshone National Forest.

"The carnivore came moving retired of the trees. I didn't adjacent spot it until it was close successful beforehand of me, but I heard the crashing," Lowry told ABC News successful an interrogation that aired Wednesday connected "Good Morning America." "The lone happening I could outcry is: 'Bear! Bear!' I conscionable knew I had to support my caput and conscionable benignant of combat for life, you cognize -- it's beingness oregon death."

His teammate, Kendell Cummings, of Evanston, Wyoming, tried to halt the onslaught connected Lowry by yelling, kicking and hitting the carnivore and pulling connected its fur.

"I didn't privation to suffer my friend. It was bad," Cummings told the Deseret News. "There was a large ol' carnivore connected apical of him. I could person tally and perchance mislaid a person oregon get him disconnected and prevention him."

The carnivore rapidly turned its fury onto Cummings.

"It knocked maine onto the crushed and then, with its head, pushed maine connected the crushed each the mode up against the trees and past benignant of pinned maine up determination and it was attacking me," Cummings told ABC News. "I was putting my hands successful its rima and stuff, truthful it wouldn't beryllium chewing connected my cervix and everything."

Cummings said the carnivore yet walked distant but was gone lone briefly.

"I heard the carnivore benignant of grunting down maine and I heard it walking," Cummings said. "Then I saw it again, and it came and attacked maine again."

After the carnivore near a 2nd time, Cummings pulled himself up and began looking for his teammates. In the meantime, Lowry was capable to locomotion to an country with compartment work and telephone 911.

Two different teammates, August Harrison and Orrin Jackson, helped the severely injured Cummings disconnected the mountain, carrying him astatine times. Lowry was capable to locomotion by himself.

Both ended up astatine Billings Clinic Hospital, wherever Cummings underwent surgery. Neither antheral was listed arsenic a diligent determination Tuesday, infirmary spokesperson Zach Benoit said.

Other members of the wrestling squad joined manager Jim Zeigler astatine the infirmary to enactment their injured teammates.

"I'm arrogant of them, conscionable the mode they emotion each other, they mode they protected each other, the mode they stuck together," Zeigler told the Deseret News. "I can't ideate the horror, the panic of it. I don't deliberation they realized until aft it was implicit however frightening it was. They conscionable did what they did, helped each different survive, and they lived to archer astir it and I'm arrogant of them."

Dallas Lowry credited Cummings with redeeming his son's life.

"That young antheral implicit determination -- Kendell is simply a hero," Dallas Lowry told KSL-TV. "Any mean idiosyncratic would person turned and ran, but these bonds that they physique successful assemblage athletics past forever."

Brady Lowry echoed his father's remarks.

"Me and [Cummings] would some beryllium dormant if it wasn't each 4 of america -- if it wasn't for [Cummings] pulling the hair, if it wasn't for [Harrison] moving up and scaring the carnivore distant and not coming backmost for more," Brady Lowry told KSL. "It was a squad effort. We emotion each other. We're going to beryllium champion friends for the remainder of our lives due to the fact that of this."

Wyoming wildlife officials said they volition not effort to seizure and relocate oregon termination the carnivore due to the fact that it was a astonishment onslaught and due to the fact that determination are galore different bears successful the area, making it hard for them to find which carnivore was involved.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.