Trojan wrestlers place at Railer Round Robin
Bachman second, Horton third
Staff writer
The last time the Trojan wrestling team was in action, they’d split a dual November 29 against Halstead and Minneapolis.
December got off to a good start Saturday with the Trojans making a 133-mile trip to Ellis for the Railer Round Robin tournament.
Behind a second-place finish from Jordan Bachman, and Kyle Horton’s third place, four other Trojans secured top-four finishes.
“Overall, I’m pleased with how the guys competed at Ellis,” coach Scott O’Hare said. “This was a very competitive tournament at several weights and our guys got several matches each, allowing them to gain quality match experience.
“I felt like all of them made some nice improvements from our first matches last week.”
That came in handy considering Ellis isn’t far from the location of the Class 3-2-1A state tournament at Hays, the competition was indeed stiff with Garrett Helmer, Bachman, Andre Patton, and Lane Flaming facing ranked opponents.
Out of 12 competing schools, the Trojans’ 90 points was good for eighth place.
After a first-round bye, Bachman edged Trego’s Eli Reling by a 7-5 decision before taking down Cimarron’s Colby Johnson, and Hoisington’s Cole Steinert by pinfall, setting up a showdown with Lincoln’s fourth-ranked 138-pound Chantz Vath.
Vath stayed unbeaten on the year, ending the sophomore Bachman’s day at 4-1 with a 10-4 decision.
Horton stormed out of the gate for the 145-pound class, pinning Cimarron’s Antonio Urrutia in 1:37 before having his title hopes dashed in the next round with a 7-4 loss to Beloit’s Hunter Prochaska.
Horton stayed alive for the consolation semifinals, whipping Stockton’s Deyton Bedore by a 14-4 decision, but tumbled in the championship bracket with a 4-1 loss to Hoisington’s eventual champion Dayne Yott.
Horton finished the day 3-2, downing Ellis’ Mason Gottschalk by an 11-2 major decision for third place.
The 152-pound Tristan Rathbone finished 2-3, taking a pinfall in 1:30 from Cimarron’s Garet Walker in the third-place match.
Patton opened the day with three straight wins until Cimarron’s once-ranked Tate Seabolt canceled his title hopes with a 1:33 pin.
Patton ended the day 3-2, dropping an 11-10 heartbreaker in the 160-pound third-place match to Hoisington’s Dante Urban.
Helmer also secured a fourth-place finish, going 3-2 after opening the day 3-0.
Helmer ran into Council Grove’s third-ranked 132-pounder and eventual champion Billy Sales, who secured a pin in 1:00, before having to forfeit the third-place match to Cimarron’s Alex McPhail.
Rounding out the fourth-place finishers was 170-pound Austin Rempel, who went 2-3 on the day.
Raymond Johnston grabbed a fifth-place finish for the 126-pound class, going 3-2, capping his day with a 12-2 major decision over Ellis’ Michale Pritchett.
Lane Flaming was sixth at 182 pounds with a 2-3 finish, tumbling to Hoisington’s second-ranked Joshua Ball with a 3:18 pin.
Others competing were Paul Glanzer (0-5), Charlie Major (1-4), Eli Dalke (2-3), Conner Morey (2-3), and Zach Dittert (0-4).
“We plan to get in a nice week of practice in preparation for the Marion County Duals on Friday,” O’Hare said. “If they continue to improve at this rate, I believe we can have a good showing at our home tournament, which would be great going into Christmas break.”
Friday’s action begins at 3:00 with wrestling taking place against competition from across the state at both Marion and Hillsboro.
While the boys were competing north, Taryn Norstrom was south at Great Bend, competing in the varsity tournament.
Norstrom stayed hot on the year, going 4-1 on the day for a third-place finish.
Norstrom breezed through her first three opponents all by pinfall in under a minute, setting up a semifinal showdown with McPherson’s Hollie Giddings.
Trailing 4-2 with under 30 seconds left in the match, Norstrom secured a takedown to knot the match at 4-4 about 15 seconds later.
In an attempt to get a pin with time running out, Norstrom surrendered a reversal and ended up on her back with less than five seconds left, allowing Giddings an 8-4 decision.
Norstrom rebounded in the third-place match, pinning McPherson’s Sailor Peterson in 1:40.