Wrestling Letterwinners Named
Coach Dylan Loyd has released the list of wrestling letter winners for the 2013-2014 season. Thirteen letterwinners are on list along with three managerial letter winners. The letter winners are listed below.
Letter Winners
Seniors: Lane Hoffman and Matt White
Juniors: Shakotah Blanka and Kyler Zweygardt
Sophomores: Clay Cassaw, Garrett Brunk, Phillip White (provisional), Justin Pacheco, and Lane Hobrock
Freshman: Connor McBride (provisional), Ryan Grover, Joel Hill (provisional), and Trinity Weers (provisional)
Managers: Ashlee Orth, Dallas Reed, and McKenzie Taylor
Coach Loyd also shared some season summary information.
Top 5 Wrestlers
Takedowns: Clay Cassaw 43, Justin Pacheco 29, Garrett Brunk 28, Kyler Zweygardt 28, and Lane Hobrock 21.
Nearfalls: Clay Cassaw 28, Garrett Brunk 25, Justin Pacheco 15, Shakotah Blanka 14, and Lane Hobrock 11.
Reversals: Garrett Brunk 14, Clay Cassaw 9, Lane Hoffman 8, Lane Hobrock 8, and Shakotah Blanka 7.
Escapes: Kyler Zweygardt 22, Lane Hobrock 20, Lane Hoffman 15, Garrett Brunk 11, and Clay Cassaw/Matt White 8.
Major Decisions: Clay Cassaw 6, Garrett Brunk 3, and Justin Pacheco/Lane Hoffman 2.
Technical Falls: Clay Cassaw 3, and Garrett Brunk/Justin Pacheco 1.
Falls: Shakotah Blanka 14, Kyler Zweygardt 13, Lane Hobrock 11, Clay Cassaw 9, and Garrett Brunk 8.
Total Points: Clay Cassaw 122, Kyler Zweygardt 105, Shakotah Blanka 99, Garrett Brunk 72, and Lane Hobrock 67.
Complete Stats
Trinity Weers: takedowns 4; escapes 0; reversals 1; nearfalls 7; record 4-2; major decisions 0; technical falls 0; falls 3; team points 21.
Connor McBride: takedowns 5; escapes 4; reversals 2; nearfalls 3; record 8-17; major decisions 1; technical falls 0; falls 3; team points 21.
Clay Cassaw: takedowns 43; escapes 8; reversals 9; nearfalls 28; record 25-9; major decisions 6; technical falls 3; falls 9; team points 122.
Matt White: takedowns 6; escapes 8; reversals 5; nearfalls 10; record 10-8; major decisions 1; technical falls 0; falls 3; team points 37.
Phillip White: takedowns 5; escapes 0; reversals 5; nearfalls 3; record 4-10; major decisions 0; technical falls 0; falls 3; team points 10.
Garrett Brunk: takedowns 28; escapes 11; reversals 14; nearfalls 25; record 18-21; major decisions 3; technical falls 1; falls 8; team points 72.
Justin Pacheco: takedowns 29; escapes 4; reversals 5; nearfalls 15; record 14-24; major decisions 2; technical falls 1; falls 7; team points 61.
Lane Hoffman: takedowns 12; escapes 15; reversals 8; nearfalls 11; record 9-16; major decisions 2; technical falls 0; falls 4; team points 33.
Lane Hobrock: takedowns 21; escapes 20; reversals 8; nearfalls 11; record 15-21; major decisions 0; technical falls 0; falls 10; team points 67.
Ryan Grover: takedowns 9; escapes 5; reversals 2; nearfalls 3; record 8-24; major decisions 0; technical falls 0; falls 2; team points 28.
Kyler Zweygardt: takedowns 28; escapes 22; reversals 4; nearfalls 10; record 25-15; major decisions 1; technical falls 0; falls 13; team points 105.
Shakotah Blanka: takedowns 12; escapes 4; reversals 7; nearfalls 14; record 20-12; major decisions 0; technical falls 0; falls 14; team points 99.
Banquet Awards
Most Improved Wrestler: Kyler Zweygardt
Most Exciting Match of the Year: Garrett Brunk pinning Brody Frieling from Smith Center at Regionals
Key Match Award: Shakotah Blanka beating Schippers from Hoxie in OT to go to state.
Newcomer of the Year: Kyler Zweygardt
Most Inspirational: Ryan Grover
P.R.I.D.E Wrestler of the Year: Clay Cassaw
Final Coach's Comments
The St. Francis wrestling season came to an end last month. The Indians were able to qualify two wrestlers, Clay Cassaw and Shakotah Blanka, to the state tournament. While both wrestlers competed hard, both fell just short of bringing home a state medal. There were two seniors ending their St. Francis wrestling careers: Matt White and Lane Hoffman. Both served as team captains this past season with Hoffman ending his career as a 2x state qualifier. Other wrestlers who competed on the varsity squad throughout the season were: Trinity Weers, Connor McBride, Clay Cassaw, Garrett Brunk, Justin Pacheco, Lane Hobrock, Ryan Grover, Kyler Zweygardt, and Shakotah Blanka. Rounding out the rest of the 2013-2014 Indian wrestling team were Phillip White, and Joel Hill who was hurt the second day of practice and was unfortunately unable to compete all season. Returning to the team next season will be several wrestlers who gained key experience this past season and they include: Trinity Weers, Connor McBride, Clay Cassaw, Phillip White, Garrett Brunk, Justin Pacheco, Lane Hobrock, Ryan Grover, Kyler Zweygardt, Shakotah Blanka, and Joel Hill.
This past season each wrestler was tested every week. We changed up our schedule a bit from what it was in years past, and these guys wrestled tough competition every week. As we went through the year, I felt like we wrestled at our peak at the regional tournament which is what we wanted to see, that was our goal. However, our regional has always been very tough, and we unfortunately were only able to qualify 2 wrestlers to the state tournament, but I felt like we had several who were good enough to go. Going into this offseason we have had several wrestlers continue to develop, many have continued with their wrestling and that is key to propel them to success next season. To be the very best that you can be it’s always a work in progress and I’m glad to see many of them continue to work hard. We are going to miss this senior group, they provided us with some leadership and key experience. Both of them are going to serve our country after graduation and that goes to show what type of men both of them are. But, looking forward we are going to get in a very tough and competitive freshman class and you couple that with the wrestlers we do have returning and I think we have the potential to be very tough in the next few years. I’m proud of these young men and I encourage them all to continue to push each other and to be the best kids that they can be on and off the mat.
