Indians Compete in Limon Badger Invitational
On Saturday, December 8. the St. Francis High School Wrestling team competed in the Badger Invitational Wrestling Tournament in Limon, Colorado. The Indians placed 16th as a team scoring 37 points. Four Indians placed in the top four places in their respective weight divisions. Those placing included Garin Cooper 4th at 120 pounds, Tiernan Poling 2nd at 132, Shadryon Blanka 4th at 170, and Luin Norris 3rd at 220.
Fowler won the tournament scoring 161.5 team points. Burlington placed 2nd with 86 points, and Rye earned 3rd with 82. The remainder of the teams placed in the following order: 4th-Peyton 79.0, 5th-Rawlins County 78.0, 6th-Swink 76.0, 7th-Yuma 75.0, 8th-Akron 71.0, 9th (tie)-County Line 69.0, 9th (tie)-Sedgwick County-Fleming 69.0, 11th-Lyons 58.5, 12th-Crowley County 57.0, 13th-Merino 51.0, 14th-Holly 42.0, 15th-Kiowa 37.5, 16th-St. Francis 37.0, 17th-Cheyenne Wells 32.0, 18th-Wiggins 25.0, 19th-Calhan 24.0, 20th-Limon 18.0, 21st (tie)-Byers 14.0, 21st (tie)-Stratton 14.0, 23rd-Simla 9.5, and 24th-Miami-Yoder 5.0.
Limon Badger Invitational Results for St. Francis wrestlers:
106 - Perla Yanez (1-6) place scored 3.00 team points. Click here to view bracket.
Champ. Round 1 - Iley Tuttle (Peyton) 4-5 won by fall over Perla Yanez 1-6 (Fall 1:31)
Cons. Round 1 - Perla Yanez 1-6 won by fall over Federico Guzman (Rye) 0-4 (Fall 3:30)
Cons. Round 2 - Kellen Kappel (Limon) 6-3 won by fall over Perla Yanez 1-6 (Fall 0:27)
120 - Aaron White (0-4) scored 0.00 team points. Click here to view bracket.
Champ. Round 1 - Christopher Gamboa (Burlington) 6-1 won by fall over Aaron White 0-4 (Fall 1:45)
Cons. Round 1 - Eddie Hanson (Rawlins County) 2-4 won by fall over Aaron White 0-4 (Fall 3:33)
120 - Garin Cooper (5-3) placed 4th. Click here to view bracket.
Champ. Round 1 - Garin Cooper 5-3 won by fall over Colton Whiting (County Line) 1-4 (Fall 1:46)
Quarterfinal - Austin Crum (Holly) 6-2 won by fall over Garin Cooper 5-3 (Fall 2:34)
Cons. Round 2 - Garin Cooper 5-3 won by fall over Eddie Hanson (Rawlins County) 2-4 (Fall 0:52)
Cons. Round 3 - Garin Cooper 5-3 won by major decision over Ricardo Vidales (Kiowa) 5-4 (MD 9-1)
Cons. Semi - Garin Cooper 5-3 won by fall over Cutler Hampton (Fowler) 2-4 (Fall 2:03)
3rd Place Match - Austin Crum (Holly) 6-2 won by rule over Garin Cooper 5-3 (RULE)
132 - Tiernan Poling (4-3) placed 2nd and scored 22.00 team points. Click here to view bracket.
Champ. Round 1 - Tiernan Poling 4-3 won by fall over Seth Bergsma (Calhan) 0-2 (Fall 1:45)
Quarterfinal - Tiernan Poling 4-3 won by fall over Colton Murray (Peyton) 10-2 (Fall 2:50)
Semifinal - Tiernan Poling 4-3 won by fall over Seth Dorrenbacher (Akron) 7-3 (Fall 6:45)
1st Place Match - Adam Nolte (Swink) 8-0 won by tech fall over Tiernan Poling 4-3 (TF-1.5 0:00 (16-0))
145 - Tyson Poling (0-4) scored 0.00 team points. Click here to view bracket.
Champ. Round 1 - Cody Jacobsen (Burlington) 7-1 won by fall over Tyson Poling 0-4 (Fall 2:10)
Cons. Round 1 - Tyson Poling 0-4 received a bye Christian Ptolemy (Swink) 2-4 (Bye)
Cons. Round 2 - Jaden Harris (Crowley County) 7-2 won by fall over Tyson Poling 0-4 (Fall 4:00)
170 - Shadyron Blanka (3-4) scored 11.00 team points. Click here to view bracket.
Champ. Round 1 - Shadyron Blanka 3-4 received a bye () (Bye)
Quarterfinal - Derrick Poss (Akron) 10-2 won by fall over Shadyron Blanka 3-4 (Fall 1:04)
Cons. Round 2 - Shadyron Blanka 3-4 received a bye () (Bye)
Cons. Round 3 - Shadyron Blanka 3-4 won by fall over Joseph Muniz (Merino) 2-4 (Fall 1:22)
Cons. Semi - Shadyron Blanka 3-4 won by fall over Thomas Goeritz (Fowler) 5-4 (Fall 4:59)
3rd Place Match - Derrick Poss (Akron) 10-2 won by fall over Shadyron Blanka 3-4 (Fall 2:18)
170 - Cody Baxter (3-3) Click here to view bracket.
Champ. Round 1 - Cody Baxter 3-3 received a bye () (Bye)
Quarterfinal - Thomas Goeritz (Fowler) 5-4 won by fall over Cody Baxter 3-3 (Fall 3:44)
Cons. Round 2 - Manny Tena (Yuma) 2-4 won by forfeit over Cody Baxter 3-3 (For.)
220 - Luin Norris (6-3) placed 3rd. Click here to view bracket.
Quarterfinal - Luin Norris 6-3 won by fall over Jasper Smith (Fowler) 1-2 (Fall 0:50)
Semifinal - Brayden Dillingham (Calhan) 3-0 won by fall over Luin Norris 6-3 (Fall 0:54)
Cons. Semi - Luin Norris (St. Francis) 6-3 won by fall over Seth Hilt 1-4 (Fall 0:32)
3rd Place Match - Luin Norris 6-3 won by fall over Wryle Swim (Byers) 4-3 (Fall 1:14)
220 - Seth Hilt (1-4) scored 1.00 team points. Click here to view bracket.
Quarterfinal - Wryle Swim (Byers) 4-3 won by fall over Seth Hilt 1-4 (Fall 1:14)
Cons. Round 1 - Seth Hilt 1-4 won by decision over Chris Carneal (Miami-Yoder) 3-4 (Dec 10-6)
Cons. Semi - Luin Norris 6-3 won by fall over Seth Hilt (St. Francis) 1-4 (Fall 0:32)
The Indians will compete in the Wray Invitational Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, December 16th. Wrestling begins at 10:15 a.m C.T.
Coach Dylan Loyd submitted the following comments:
Coach’s Awards:
Most Exciting Match - Tiernan Poling pinning Dorrenbacher of Akron in overtime to make the finals
Coach’s Award - Garin Cooper and Shadyron Blanka
Practice Wrestler - Trayton Doyle
Key Match Award - Shadyron Blanka pinning Goeritz of Fowler guaranteeing his first high school varsity medal.
Most Outstanding Wrestler: The St. Francis coaching staff has selected Garin Cooper, Tiernan Poling, Shadyron Blanka, and Luin Norris as Co-Wrestlers of the week. All four of these young men wrestled very well over the weekend and continue to do what it takes to get better each and every day.
Coach’s Comments:
"This was the fourth year now that we have traveled to Limon to compete in the Limon Badger Invitational. It always makes for a long day, but I like this tournament because of the different competition that we get to see. We have our schedule set up to where at the beginning of the season here we like to wrestle against different schools that we won’t see as we go through the year. This tournament has a lot of teams and every bracket typically is a full 16-man bracket. Our kids have the opportunity to get a lot of matches, and at the beginning of the year that is crucial. Our focus has always been on getting our core technique shown early here and slowly building to get to where we need to be as we get closer to regionals. Each week we talk to the kids about seeing improvement from week to week. This week, we had several kids make their way onto the podium by showing a lot of grit and tenacity to win some hard-fought matches. There have been a lot of improvements that have been made from last week to this week, and that’s always encouraging. That is definitely something that we can build on. The effort is there, their willingness to compete is there, and I am excited to see where we go from here. One thing I really enjoyed seeing from a coaching perspective is the fact that this group has fun. It was fun to watch them interact amongst one another and watch them encourage each other. We talk an awful lot about love in our practice room and that is the foundation behind all good teams. This group has a genuine love for one another and I am grateful to be a part of it.
Individually, Perla Yanez has been a joy. She broke down a barrier here and is the first female wrestler St. Francis wrestling has ever had. She really did a good job this weekend and I’m very proud of her. She was able to pick up a very crucial pin in a pretty contested match. She’s really starting to develop her own style and has really come a long way since last season. Aaron White had two tough matches and just continues to battle. His last match was definitely one he was in position to win and just made a couple of mistakes that put him in some bad positions. Very important for him to learn from those mistakes and really be disciplined on correcting them in the practice room. Garin Cooper really had another good day. In his first two weeks of high school wrestling he has been able to bring home two medals. He has improved by leaps and bounds and it all comes down to his willingness to just work hard. He listens extremely well, is very coachable, and you couple those things with his work ethic and you have yourself a pretty good combination of attributes you need to be successful. Tiernan Poling did a really good job this weekend of battling. He dominated his way to his semi-final match and was able to beat a pretty dang tough kid to make the finals. He really has come along way in the past year. His confidence really is starting to show but, I still don’t know if he quite knows how good he is. I truly believe he can wrestle with anyone, and I look forward to continuing to watch him grow. Tyson Poling had another weekend where I would have loved to of seen him have a different draw. You look at the results and see him go 0-2 but, it really doesn’t tell the whole story. Both kids he lost to were really tough kids. Had he been put in another place on the bracket he would have had 2-3 wins this weekend. What I love about Tyson though is he never gets down on himself. He just has a great attitude, and he really is getting better. Cody Baxter didn’t have the day I know he would have liked to have had. He really just didn’t wrestle very well, but it’s crucial for him to learn from this. Cody is a very talented young man with a very unique skillset. I still don’t know if he truly knows how good he is but, its crucial for him to have that confidence in himself. Shadyron Blanka had a really good day and he wrestled very well. My hope for him after the success he had this weekend is that it opened his eyes up a bit. I’ve always felt like he has the ability to compete with the upperclassmen in this weight class. He has a lot of experience and that goes a long way in this sport. Confidence is huge for him and after this weekend he should be feeling pretty good about where he’s at and where he can potentially go. Seth Hilt had a tough day. He had a tough draw, and just made a couple of minor mistakes that he will fix. Seth is a good kid, he’s a hard worker, and he just needs to get a little more self-confidence. In the match he won, you could see him wrestle with more of a purpose and with confidence. He just needs to get to the point mentally where every time he steps out on the mat he’s just going to battle and fight in every single position. We know he will keep working hard and give you his very best every day and that’s all we ask. Luin Norris really has come a long way, and he really has started to believe in himself. He was the best kid in this weight class this weekend, and I would have loved to have seen him come home with a championship. In his semi-final match, he made a costly mistake that put him right on his back and anytime your competing on a higher weight class it makes it very difficult to fight off your back. Thankfully, he responded well and was able to end his tournament with two falls.
This week we will travel to Wray to compete in the Bob Smith Invitational. We have gone to this tournament for years and it is always a good one to end our “pre-season” on. This will be our last time to compete before the Christmas break so, it will be very important for us to clean up some mistakes and go into break with some momentum. We need to continue to focus on getting better every day and continue to work hard to build up our conditioning, both physical and mental. With it being close to home we hope to have a lot of fan support up in Wray."