Justin, Jared King, Mueller take second
Just when it looks like the Trojan wrestling team is getting back on track, a humbling meet knocks them back down to reality.
Hillsboro can appear like its headed in the right direction one meet, then turn around and go back to square one the next, as was the case Thursday.
Hosting powerhouses such as Hoisington, Smoky Valley, and Marion, the Trojans got a real punch in the gut, dropping all three duals on the “Night of Hillsboro Wrestling, Past, Present, and Future.”
The Trojans seemed to halfway bounce back Saturday, competing at the Remington Invitational.
Although no team scores were available, coach Scott O’Hare O’Hare believes the Trojans finished fourth out of 13 schools.
That’s not a particularly good sign considering that was Hillsboro’s final tuneup before Friday and Saturday’s regional at Marion.
But the quartet of Matt Yoder (135), Bret Mueller (119) and Justin and Jared King (145, 152, respectively) wrestled well.
The fifth-ranked Yoder picked up his second individual championship of the season, marking all but one time during the year he didn’t make the title match. Yoder outlasted his rival from Clearwater, Jerome Youngers, 8-6, for Hillsboro’s only gold medal.
The brother of the all-time wins leader and last year’s fifth-place medalist at state Nick Mueller, sophomore Bret Mueller got his due Saturday.
Douglass’ Davin Zaldivar topped Mueller by a 10-1 major decision, but the experience will benefit Mueller down the stretch.
Saturday marked the second time both Justin and Jared King made the final match. Justin rolled into the title match against Augusta’s Nick Collins. Collins was able to get the best of Justin, winning by pin-fall.
The Orioles’ curse affected Jared, too, as he dropped what O’Hare called one of the most physical matches he’s ever seen to Augusta’s Brandon Swa.
“The second half of this season has been like a roller coaster ride,” O’Hare said. “I am hopeful that we can use the final four practices left this week to fine tune some things prior to the regional tournament and have our best performance of the season.”
Friday’s regional action begins at 2 p.m., and Saturday’s starts at 11 a.m.