Coach O Hare expected tough duals
Staff writer
The Trojan wrestlers faced tough competition at the Lincoln/Lyons Double Dual last Thursday and a junior varsity tournament in Stafford and the Eureka Invitational Tournament last Saturday.
Scott O'Hare, Hillsboro High School wrestling coach, says he expected tough competition at the Lincoln/Lyons Double Dual.
"I knew coming in that these would be two tough duals," said O'Hare. "Lyons had a very solid squad last year, and they were pretty young. Lincoln has a very strong squad full of experienced upperclassman. They won the Halstead Tournament last weekend, so I knew they would be tough."
According to O'Hare, last week's strong performance in Halstead had the team hyped-up at practice early in the week, but by mid-week, the long tournament had worn them down.
"We had a couple of rough days of practice," said O'Hare, "and it looked like we were still in recovery mode during the duals on Thursday. I won't say that we wrestled poorly, just that we didn't wrestle with the same intensity I had been seeing of late."
O'Hare said that there were some solid performances at the dual.
"Against Lyons, Andrew Bina and Eric Cress both wrestled very close matches against state ranked wrestlers and Ben Schaefer was wrestling a very good match against a returning state placer from Lincoln until he got caught on his back in a scramble position," said O'Hare.
Although the performance wasn't its best this week, O'Hare says the team still looked good technique-wise.
The Stafford Junior Varsity Tournament was another opportunity for the young wrestlers on the squad to gain valuable experience, according to O'Hare.
"Much like the Abilene JV Tournament," said O'Hare, "this is a very competitive meet for our young wrestlers."
O'Hare said that with many large schools at the tournament wrestlers see some different competition.
Jacob Yoder and Grady Stultz both won gold medals at the tournament.
"I really expect these two guys, as well as many others, to contribute for us on the varsity level in the near future," said O'Hare. "Their performance on the junior varsity level will help them develop their skills and build their confidence to prepare for that."
Nine HHS wrestlers competed at the Eureka Invitational Tournament last Saturday putting forth what O'Hare called "a great performance."
"I am very proud of the way the nine guys I took to Eureka performed," said O'Hare.
He said that Eureka has always been a tough tournament, and that HHS finished with all nine wrestlers in the medal round, and seven of the nine in the top five.
The Trojans were actually in third place for much of the tournament according to O'Hare. Unfortunately a one-point victory by a Burlington wrestler put them ahead by two points.
"One thing that I was most pleased about this weekend was that we won seven of the nine matches in the medal round," said O'Hare. "That tells me that our conditioning is getting where it needs to be to be able to finish off the last match of a long day."
O'Hare said Zach Magnuson wrestled a solid tournament, losing in double overtime to place sixth. He was happy with Frankie Martin's effort. Martin placed fifth and earned his first varsity medal. According to O'Hare, Ric Johnson continues to wrestle well with a lot of confidence and intensity. He placed third in his weight class.
O'Hare says Chris Jensen is improving each week despite back pain. Jensen placed fifth in his weight class. Andrew Bina and Ben Schaefer wrestled well against some quality competition, according to O'Hare. Bina placed fifth and Schaefer placed sixth in their weight classes.
Kurtis Shaw placed fifth after wrestling a good tournament. Eric Cress and Matt Brown both competed in the championship finals. Cress placed first in his weight class and Brown placed second in his weight class.
"It was great to put two in the championship finals," said O'Hare.
Next on the Trojan wrestlers' schedule is the MCAA JV Tournament next Saturday in Haven.
DUAL MEET RESULTS
Hillsboro 30, Lincoln 51
103 — Alex Jost won by forfeit; 112 — Zach Magnuson lost 1:36; 119 — Frankie Martin won by forfeit; 125 — Ric Johnson won by forfeit; 130 — Grady Stultz won by forfeit; 135 — Eric Cress won 2:36; 140 — Sean Leihy won 30-12; 145 — Andrew Bina won 30-15; 152 — Matt Brown lost 3:27; 160 — Ben Schaefer lost 2:49; 171 — Daniel Roble lost 1:52; 189 — lost by forfeit; 215 — CJ Shaw lost :36; 275 — Kurtis Shaw lost 1:34.
Hillsboro 36, Lyons 42
103 — Magnuson won by forfeit; 112 — Martin lost :40; 119 — lost by forfeit; 125 — Johnson won by forfeit; 130 — Stultz lost :57; 135 — Cress lost 12-21; 140 — Leihy won by forfeit; 145 — Bina lost 18-24; 152 — Brown lost 4:43; 160 — Schaefer won by forfeit; 171 — Roble lost 2:37; 189 — Zach Luthi won by forfeit; 215 — CJ Shaw lost :46; 275 — Kurtis Shaw won by forfeit.
