Trojan grapplers win, Warriors 9th
Staff writer
Hillsboro
Hillsboro won Thursday’s double dual at Minneapolis 34-33 on tie-breaking criteria.
William Andreas, Jaxon Chrislip, Aidan Simmons, Sutton Redger, Dallas Whorton, Aaron Hein, Jackson Kleiber, and Logan Rogers all secured victories for the day.
Rachel Schafer and Brooklyn Wilson won girls matches., Schafer scoring her first pin of the season in 40 seconds.
“The opening duals against Halstead and Minneapolis on Thursday give us a feel for how the team is able to transfer stuff we work on in practice over to competition,” coach Scott O’Hare said. “Along with our focus on wrestling fundamentals and techniques over these first few weeks of preparation, we have spent a lot of time talking about attitude, effort, and aggressiveness.”
On Saturday, the girls team earned some experience at the Doug Kretzer Classic tournament in McPherson, competing against 16 other teams, several from Classes 5A and 6A.
Schafer won in the 145-pound bracket with a perfect 6-0 record, defeating Brookelyn Adams from Southeast of Saline in the championship round.
“She is really becoming a great leader for our young girls team,” O’Hare said.
Hillsboro will be back on the road Friday in Ellis.
Marion
Marion took ninth place Friday at a Burlington duals tournament, ending with a record of 1-4.
“Friday was a little rough for the Warrior wrestlers,” coach Tyler McMichael said. “It was a combination of inexperience, lack of conditioning, and wrestling teams from larger schools. All of these things were expected for our first tournament, and all of these things can be fixed throughout the next few weeks,” McMichael said.
Brian Nguyen and Gavin Regier stood out as leaders. Nguyen has been with the team for three years, and Regier had returned to the ream this season.
“The key for us moving forward is to learn from our mistakes and get better each week,” McMichael said. “We will continue to add more techniques for our newer wrestlers, and the more matches they wrestle, the better off they will be.”
Marion will be on the road Saturday at Wellington.