Indians Wrestle In Atwood Invitational
On Saturday, January 21, the St. Francis High School wrestling team competed in the Buffalo Invitational Wrestling Tournament in Atwood. Three Indian wrestlers, Aaron White, Tiernan Poling, and Kouper McQuigg, each wrestled matched during the competition. Wray, Colorado, won the team championship earning 161 team points. Sedwick County-Fleming placed second with 147. Garden City earned third place with 138. Other team finshes included: 4th - Rawlins County 109, 5th - Hitchcock County 41, 6th - Colby 39, 7th - Wichita County 28, 8th - Goodland 27, 9th - St. Francis 26, 10th - Trego Community 21, 11th - Brewster 13, 12th - Decatur Community 0.
Individual results for the St. Francis athletes are listed below.
106 - Aaron White (3-12) scored 0.00 team points.
Quarterfinal - Cole Rockwell (Wray) 15-3 won by fall over Aaron White (St. Francis) 3-12 (Fall 0:54)
Cons. Round 1 - Albie Perez (Garden City) 4-3 won by decision over Aaron White (St. Francis) 3-12 (Dec 9-6)
126 - Tiernan Poling (11-9) placed 2nd and scored 22.00 team points.
Champ. Round 1 - Tiernan Poling (St. Francis) 11-9 received a bye () (Bye)
Quarterfinal - Tiernan Poling (St. Francis) 11-9 won by fall over Jake Reed (Colby High School) 5-7 (Fall 4:23)
Semifinal - Tiernan Poling (St. Francis) 11-9 won by fall over Jorge Torres (Garden City) 8-5 (Fall 3:16)
1st Place Match - Beau Parker (Sedgwick County-Fleming) 28-5 won by fall over Tiernan Poling (St. Francis) 11-9 (Fall 5:31)
170 - Kouper McQuigg (9-11) scored 5.00 team points.
Champ. Round 1 - Alexavier Rodriguez (Garden City) 18-10 won by fall over Kouper McQuigg (St. Francis) 9-11 (Fall 1:46)
Cons. Round 1 - Kouper McQuigg (St. Francis) 9-11 received a bye () (Bye)
Cons. Round 2 - Kouper McQuigg (St. Francis) 9-11 won by major decision over Ramiro Rodriguez (Garden City) 1-10 (MD 12-0)
Cons. Round 3 - Jonathan Fernandez (Garden City) 6-3 won by decision over Kouper McQuigg (St. Francis) 9-11
Coach Dylan Loyd shared the following information regarding the tournament.
Most Outstanding Wrestler:
The St. Francis coaching staff has selected Tiernan Poling as the most outstanding wrestler of the week. Tiernan pinned his way to the finals of the Buffalo Invitational where he earned the silver medal.
Coach’s Comments:
The St. Francis wrestling team was finally back in action after having last weekend off to a cancellation. It was good to see these guys get back on the mat and see the improvements they have made since the last time they competed. The month of January is a juggernaut for these kids as they get tested by tough competition each week. Right now, we are trying to get guys physically healthy and mentally prepared. We have been shorthanded the past couple of weeks but, we are hoping here this next week we will be getting kids back in the line-up. This was the first year we had taken our full team to the Atwood tournament. It was good for these kids to see some different competition and get their feet wet a little bit.
Individually, Aaron White continues to get better each week. It has been a long season and I know he may not be having the success that he would like to be having but, he truly is getting better. This is really this kids second year of wrestling and he’s come a long way. He’s losing matches mainly because of experience, it is definitely not because of a lack of effort. He is doing things the right way and has really developed from the mental aspect as far studying his film and really breaking things down. I’ve been really happy with him and his progress. Tiernan Poling really had himself a good weekend. He was very dominant leading up to his finals match where he wrestled a kid who just had a little more experience. They had wrestled a month ago in Limon and this kid took it to Tiernan a little bit in that match. This time around the match was pretty close up to the third period and the kid capitalized on one of Tiernan’s mistakes. Tiernan’s biggest deal right now is his confidence, it’s coming along, but he’s just quite there yet. He really is improving every day, he comes in the practice room with a purpose and is taking things personal. It’s going to be fun to see where he is at come end of the year. Kouper McQuigg had a decent weekend. His two losses were to kids I know he can beat, he just made a couple of mental mistakes where he quit wrestling for half a second and it cost some matches. He has an intensity that truly is hard to match. I know he is frustrated with himself after talking with him after the tournament but, his heart is in the right place. He goes about things in the right way, and he really has come a long way. You watch him wrestle and it’s hard to not see how much he has improved.
This upcoming Friday we will be traveling to Ellis to compete in the Tournament Of Champions. This tournament has always been a good one. There is a lot of great wrestling and great wrestlers here from both the MCL and NWKL leagues. Both leagues have a lot of tradition and it’s fun to be a part of that. This tournament will really give us a good idea of where we are at as our regional tournament will be very similar. I look forward to watching these young men compete. We stress everyday about the importance of focusing on the things that you can control and to simply just work hard to get better.
