Staff writer
Despite several injuries, coach Scott O’Hare said the Hillsboro wrestling team fought hard earning 70 team points and placing seventh out of eight teams at the Hoisington Cardinal Classic last weekend.
“The team score and our finish are not a good indicator of how the guys performed,” he said.
Only eight team members were able to compete after senior Preston Nelson suffered an ankle injury in practice last week. O’Hare hopes junior Jesse Meier will be able to wrestle this weekend after being cleared to practice this week. He tore some ligaments in his elbow in December.
O’Hare hopes Nelson and Meier will be able to wrestle this weekend at the Southeast of Saline tournament.
Several young team members had strong performances in Hoisington, O’Hare said.
Freshmen Tristan Donaldson, 106 lbs.; Travis King, 120 lbs.; Tyson Reimer, 145 lbs.; and Nathan Simhiser, 195 lbs, all wrestled well and continued to improve, O’Hare said.
“King continues to gain great experience on the varsity level every week and is winning a fair share matches,” O’Hare said. “He often makes little mistakes, but has wrestled tough against some quality opponents. Reimer and Simhiser are both showing a lot of promise.”
Sophomore Levi Mendoza, 182 lbs., also continued his upward improvement by winning his first two matches before losing his final match by one point.
Other strong shows included two wins by senior Matt Reeh, 285 lbs., and junior Jon Cary, 126 lbs., who won all his matches and placed first in his weight class.
Senior Cody Delk started strong, O’Hare said, but aggravated a back and rib injury in his third match.
“He showed a lot of physical and mental toughness, wrestling through some pain his last two matches, coming back to finish third,” O’Hare said.
Junior varsity wrestlers competed in Marion this weekend, and had three wrestlers place.
“I was proud of how the guys competed,” O’Hare said.
Franklin Jost, 195 lbs., won his second consecutive JV tournament.
Tyson Reimer, 145 lbs., placed fourth and Mark Reeh, 170 lbs., placed third.
individual results
106 lbs., Tristan Donaldson, fourth place.
120 lbs., Travis King, fourth place.
126 lbs., Jon Carey, first place.
145 lbs., Tyson Reimer, sixth place.
152 lbs., Cody Delk, third place.
182 lbs., Levi Mendoza, second place.
195 lbs., Nathan Simhiser, seventh place.
285 lbs., Matt Reeh, fourth place.