Junior Wrestlers Compete
On January 25, the St. Francis Junior High wrestling team traveled to Oberlin for their first competition date. The young wrestlers competed with wrestlers from Decatur Community, Smith Center, Phillipsburg, and Rawlins County.
Individual results for St. Francis wrestlers:
Vladimir Chinik: won by a 10-0 major decision over Lohoefener, Oberlin; lost by fall to Paz, Rawlins County; won by fall over Billinger, Smith Center.
Preston Witzel: won by fall over Morland, Oberlin; won by 12-1 major decision over Lohoefener, Oberlin; won by fall over Chvatal, Rawlins County
Eli Mills: won by fall over Reyes, Oberlin; lost by fall to Moon, Phillipsburg; won by fall over Koelsch, Smith Center
Caleb Todd: won by fall over Farr, Oberlin; lost by a 13-1 major decision to Reyes, Oberlin; lost by fall to Withington, Rawlins County
Javier Yanez: lost by fall to Ford, Phillipsburg; lost by 18-2 technical fall to Kendall, Phillipsburg; lost by fall to Miller, Phillipsburg
Shannon Rethke: lost by fall to Peter, Oberlin; lost by fall to Withington, Rawlins County; won by fall over Diederich, Oberlin
Coach Dylan Loyd submitted the following comments, "After roughly 3 and a half weeks of practice time the St. Francis junior high wrestling team finally had their first competition. I know talking with the kids they were ready to be able to go out and compete against someone else other than against one another. This is a very young and green group so they still have a lot to learn but, I was excited to see the amount of fight that they had. We still have a lot of our technique that we still need to show so, a lot of the mistakes that were made was mainly due to the fact that we just hadn’t shown it yet. However, it’s always encouraging to see kids who may not have a lot of experience have a sense of “feel” and mat awareness; knowing where they’re at, and when to hip in, etc. The goal as we move forward is to always improve and hopefully come end of the season these kids will be beating some of these kids who have previously defeated them. Individually, Vladimir Chinik really has improved from a year ago. He was very aggressive which was a good change from last season. He really works hard and it was fun to watch him compete. Preston Witzel had a very dominating day. He is very physical and dictates the pace and tempo of the match from the whistle. It was good to see him compete hard. Eli Mills is another one who really has improved from a year ago. He was able to pick up two big wins and was able to gain some confidence. Caleb Todd battled hard and did some good things. He does a good job of attacking but, still lacks some confidence that I hope ot see him gain throughout the season. Javier Yanez did a good job of just stepping out of his comfort zone. He has never wrestled in a live match before and he really did some good things. Shannon Rethke battled tough and from his first match to his third match you could already see him improve. He is a tough matchup because of his length and the leverage that brings. He will be a lot of fun to watch once he gains some more experience. Looking ahead to this week the team will travel to Norton. It’s always fun to compete against some different competition and see teams these kids haven’t seen yet in any sport this season. Going up against the MCL teams is a lot fun and it’s always good to be tested. Being tested is crucial to making the gains needed to get better. It will be a lot fun for sure."
The junior high wrestling team will compete in Norton on Thursday, February 1.
