The Hillsboro High School wrestling team defeated Bennington, 47-12, and Republic County, 36-23, Saturday in the Southeast of Saline dual tournament. The Trojans lost close duals to Southeast of Saline, 42-30, and Russell, 28-42.

“We were still at a huge disadvantage because we were competing with five open weight classes,” coach Scott O’Hare said. “Although we lost two duals in the tournament, we actually won five out of eight matches against Southeast of Saline and six out of nine matches against Russell.”

Aaron Bina continued a string of dominant performances, winning all four of his matches in the 160-pound weight class throughout the day, three by pin.

Brett Mueller also went undefeated in the 130-pound class with four victories.

Three Trojans also posted tournament records of 3-1. In his first wrestling meet after recovering from a broken arm sustained during football season, Cody Delk went 3-1 in the 135-pound class, his only loss coming in overtime. Justin King went 3-1 in the 145-pound class. Dylan Delk’s only loss in the 171-pound weight class came against the No. 4 ranked wrestler in the state of Kansas.

“With only a few exceptions, we competed pretty well all day,” O’Hare said. “More importantly, we started to make some improvement in areas that have been concerns of late. We have to get much better at mental and physical toughness, as well as trusting our conditioning, so we can pull out wins. We lost two overtime matches and also lost a couple very tight matches late in the third period when the outcome was still in question.”

The Trojans will compete 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the Marion Triple Duals tournament against Marion, Smoky Valley, and Hoisington.