Indians Place 4th at Leoti
The St. Francis Indian wrestling team traveled to Leoti on Saturday to compete in the Leoti Round Robin Wrestling Tournament. The Indians earned a 4th place team finish scoring 101 points. Several Indian wrestlers placed in the top four positions. Seth Hilt placed 4th; Perla Yanez, Aaron White, Tyson Poling placed 3rd; Garin Cooper and Luin Norris placed 2nd; and Tiernan Poling and Shadryon Blanka placed first.
Cimarron won the tournament with 163 team points. Lakin placed second with 125.5 points The remainder of the competing teams finished in the following order: 3rd - Wakeeney 108.5, 4th - St. Francis 101, 5th - Leoti 57.5, 6th - Sublette 43, 7th - Greeley County 29, and 8th - Goodland 23
Individual Results for St. Francis wrestlers are listed below.
Perla Yanez (placed 3rd): lost by fall to Hendrix, Trego Community; lost by a 12-0 major decision to Reimer, Lakin; won by a injury default over Kaup, Goodland. Click here to view Perla's bracket.
Garin Cooper (placed 2nd): won by a 6-5 decision over Ridder, Leoti-Wichita County; won by a 10-2 major decision over Tristan, Lakin; won by a fall over Chapman, Trego Community; lost by a 10-7 decision to Miller, Greeley County. Click here to view Garin's bracket.
Aaron White (placed 3rd): lost by a 15-6 major decision to Lovelady, Lakin; won by a injury default over Vallejo, Goodland; lost by a fall to McPhail, Cimarron. Click here to view Aaron's bracket.
Tiernan Poling (Champion) : won by a fall over Brown, Goodland; won by fall over Rein, Lakin; won by fall over Miller, Greeley County. Click here to view Tiernon's bracket.
Tyson Poling (placed 3rd): lost by a fall to Gardney, Leoti-Wichita County; lost by fall to Perez, Lakin; won by fall over Lowry, Trego Community. Click here to view Tyson's bracket.
Shadyron Blanka (Champion): won by fall over Lyons, Cimarron; won by a 7-2 decision over Micek, Trego Community; won by a 7-2 decision over Griffin, Cimarron. Click here to view Shadryon's bracket.
Luin Norris (placed 2nd): won by fall over Monreal, Sublette; won by fall over Padilla, Lakin; lost by fall to Seabolt, Cimarron. Click here to view Luin's bracket.
Seth Hilt (placed 4th): lost by fall to Dunn, Trego Community; won by fall over Ellis, Cimarron; lost by a 7-5 decision to Macillas, Leoti-Wichita County; lost by fall to Torres, Cimarron. Click here to view Seth's bracket.
Coach’s Awards
Practice Wrestler Luin Norris
Coach’s Award: Tiernan Poling
Most Outstanding Wrestler:The St. Francis wrestling coaching staff has selected Shadyron Blanka as the wrestler of the week. Shadyron continues to improve each week and battled tough to claim the championship at the Leoti Invitational. This is Shadyron’s first tournament championship in his very young high school wrestling career.
Coach Dylan Loyd shared the following comments, "This past Friday we traveled to Leoti to compete in the Leoti Invitational. This was our third year attending this tournament and one that we enjoy competing in. This is a good tournament to start winding down the season on and to help prepare us for the regional tournament. We like to be able to see and compete against some of the Southwest schools that will be at our regional. This was a good test to see where we stand against that competition. I like how us coaches put together this schedule, the past two weeks we have competed on Fridays. I like being able to give these guys a couple of weekends before regionals to kind of unwind a little bit and refresh and rebuild. This upcoming week we will push them pretty hard in the practice room and get them mentally and physically prepared for what’s to come. These guys are starting to figure some things out, this is a young group and to those who have followed them throughout the season I think you can see the improvements that they have made and that’s a testament to them as competitors. Right now, we are preaching to them just to flat out want it more. As the postseason rears its head the guys who has refused to cut corners throughout the season and the guys who flat out want it more will set themselves apart. This is where it gets fun and as a coach I love this part of the season. Still have work to do but, I am looking forward to it.
Individually, Perla Yanez continues to battle and show improvements week to week. She is giving up some strength and size but, I am happy with how she goes out and competes every match. She has shown a lot of fight these past couple of weeks and the key for her is to continue to work hard. It was good to have Garin Cooper back in our line up again. He had battled some pretty serious sickness the past couple of weeks and wasn’t able to compete. In his first couple of matches you could see a little bit of rust but, as the day went on he kept getting better. I would love to see him wrestle his finals match again because I think he wins that match if they see each other again. He’s come a long way and I am excited to watch him finish this season. Aaron White had himself a decent weekend. His biggest thing has been his confidence. He hasn’t had a lot of wrestling experience but, he really has come a long way. In order for him to take that next step in his wrestling he really needs to be disciplined and limit some of his mistakes. A lot of the points he is giving up is because he gets out of position. He works to correct that a lot of these matches come down to 1 move. He works hard in the practice room and that alone will help lead to success. Tiernan Poling had himself another good weekend. Since the first tournament of the year he has really been our most consistent performer. He really has worked hard to correct his weaknesses all while really improving his strengths. It was good to see him get to his shots this weekend. He continues to work those shots and he will be a tough out next weekend. Tyson Poling wrestled well this weekend. His two losses are to good kids but, I think Tyson can go with both of those guys. He has a very unique skillset and is still learning a lot about this sport and the type of wrestler he is. I believe he will get there, but he just needs to keep at it. He’s a very unorthodox wrestler and that creates a lot of fits for his competition. Looking forward to seeing him continue to develop. Shadyron Blanka really wrestled well this weekend. He had to do exactly what we had been waiting for him to do and that is to go out and win hard fought, tough matches. His last two matches he did a great job of getting to his strengths and wrestling smart. He has a lot of ability and I am hoping this is a turning point for him. The last two weeks he has wrestled as well as he has all year. The hope is that his confidence continues to grow and that every time he steps out on the mat he believes he can win. Luin Norris wrestled really well again this weekend. Up to this point he has put together his best season as a St. Francis Indian wrestler. In his finals match he wrestled the best kid in the state at this weight class and battled him tough. He didn’t back down from him and that’s what we want to see from him. He has just got to get to that point where he is confident in himself even in the matches on paper he isn’t “suppose” to win. This kid has come a long way since his freshman season. He has put in the time and now it’s time for him to take that next step. Seth Hilt had a decent weekend. He had a close defeat that I would love for him to have back. This was the first time he has wrestled since Scott City so he was a little rusty and it took him a little bit to get back into mat shape. I believe in Seth and I don’t know if he truly knows how much he has improved this season. His biggest weakness is his confidence. It is getting better but, its still not where it needs to be yet. He puts the time in every day and his improvement is a testament to the work he puts in. He’s stronger and a better technician than he gives himself credit for. Once he starts to believe in himself I believe he can have a lot of success.
Looking ahead to this week we will have one more competition before the regional tournament next weekend. We will send a few kids who have missed some time due to injury, or sickness to Colby this weekend. It is important for those guys to get a couple more matches under their belts. We will push this group this week in the practice room and get them mentally prepared for next weekend. This time of year, is exciting and I look forward to what’s to come. These guys have put the time in and have worked hard. It’s time for them to believe in themselves and set themselves apart."
The Indians will wrestle in the Bill Voss Colby Invitational in Colby on Saturday, February 10.
