Wrestlers 9th At Western Kansas Tournament Of Champions
On Friday, January 25, the St. Francis Indian wrestling team traveled to Norton to compete in the Western Kansas Tournament of Champions. The Indians placed 9th in the competition scoring 76 team points.
St. Francis had several individuals place in the tournament. Gavin Cooper and Shadryon Blanka each earned championships in their weight classes. Tiernan Poling placed second, and Seth Hilt fourth. Others placing in the top eight positions were Perla Yanez 6th, Shannon Rethke 8th, and Gregor Burr 8th.
Smith Center won the tournament with 148 team points. Plainville was a close second at 145. Norton earned third place with 142.5 points. The remainder of the competing schools finished in the following order: 4th - Phillipsburg 119, 5th - Hill City 112, 6th - Leoti-Wichita County 97, 7th - Oakley 80.5, 8th - Ellis 76.5, 9th - St. Francis 76, 10th - Wakeeney-Trego Community 72, 11th - Stockton 28, and 12th - Thomas More Prep-Marion 19.
Individual results for the Indian wrestlers are listed below.
106 - Perla Yanez (3-16) placed 6th and scored 3.0 team points.
Click here to view Perla's bracket.
Round 1 - Easton Burton (Ellis) 16-9 won by tech fall over Perla Yanez 3-16 (TF-1.5 4:00 (15-0))
Round 2 - Logan Normandin (Plainville High School) 15-10 won by fall over Perla Yanez 3-16 (Fall 0:37)
Round 3 - Perla Yanez 3-16 received a bye
5th Place Match - Carter Underhill (Hill City) 7-16 won by fall over Perla Yanez 3-16 (Fall 0:44)
120 - Garin Cooper (20-4) placed 1st and scored 18.0 team points.
Click here to view Garin's bracket.
Round 1 - Garin Cooper 20-4 received a bye
Round 2 - Garin Cooper 20-4 won by fall over Dawson Arnold (WaKeeney-Trego Community High School) 3-21 (Fall 0:45)
Round 3 - Garin Cooper 20-4 won by decision over Aidan Hockman (Hill City) 10-10 (Dec 2-0)
1st Place Match - Garin Cooper 20-4 won by decision over Aaron Lenker (Phillipsburg) 16-2 (Dec 5-2)
126 - Aaron White (9-13) scored 0.0 team points.
Click here to view Aaron's bracket.
Round 1 - Jacob Sisson (Phillipsburg) 23-5 won by fall over Aaron White 9-13 (Fall 1:44)
Round 3 - Jacob Pfeifer (Thomas More Prep-Marian) 3-12 won by fall over Aaron White 9-13 (Fall 1:28)
Round 4 - Camdyn Unterseher (Norton) 18-6 won by major decision over Aaron White 9-13 (MD 10-0)
Round 5 - Joe Stocker (Smith Center) 15-13 won by fall over Aaron White 9-13 (Fall 1:48)
132 - Tiernan Poling (23-4) placed 2nd and scored 18.0 team points.
Click here to view Tiernan's bracket.
Round 1 - Tiernan Poling 23-4 won by fall over George Crawford (Ellis) 10-17 (Fall 0:56)
Round 2 - Tiernan Poling 23-4 won by decision over Nathan Hrabe (Smith Center) 9-8 (Dec 11-6)
Round 4 - Tiernan Poling 23-4 won by fall over Jace Lang (Thomas More Prep-Marian) 3-14 (Fall 1:04)
Round 5 - Tiernan Poling 23-4 won by fall over Tristen Porter (Leoti-Wichita County) 15-10 (Fall 2:30)/vimages/shared/vnews/stories/5c506dd2553ce/182 Bracket.pdf
1st Place Match - Austin Niblock (Phillipsburg) 21-8 won by decision over Tiernan Poling 23-4 (Dec 9-7)
138 - Shannon Rethke (10-10) placed 8th and scored 1.0 team points.
Click here to view Shannon's bracket.
Round 1 - Coben Hawkins (Leoti-Wichita County) 4-11 won by fall over Shannon Rethke 10-10 (Fall 3:12)
Round 2 - Shannon Rethke 10-10 won by decision over Matthew Hess (Thomas More Prep-Marian) 0-9 (Dec 8-1)
Round 3 - Gabe Kerns (Plainville High School) 15-14 won by fall over Shannon Rethke 10-10 (Fall 1:15)
Round 5 - Jaden Atwood (Smith Center) 27-7 won by fall over Shannon Rethke 10-10 (Fall 0:16)
7th Place Match - Dylan Goss (Norton) 8-13 won by fall over Shannon Rethke 10-10 (Fall 3:17)
182 - Shadyron Blanka (18-6) placed 1st and scored 22.0 team points.
Click here to view Shadryon's bracket.
Round 1 - Shadyron Blanka 18-6 received a bye
Round 2 - Shadyron Blanka 18-6 won by fall over Rylan Basart 11-13 (Fall 3:24)
Round 4 - Shadyron Blanka 18-6 won by fall over Jairen Ashbaugh (Hill City) 0-19 (Fall 0:34)
Round 5 - Shadyron Blanka 18-6 won by fall over Brell Spiess (Smith Center) 20-14 (Fall 2:31)
1st Place Match - Shadyron Blanka 18-6 won by decision over Gavin Sproul (Norton) 14-12 (Dec 6-4)
195 - Gregor Burr (5-13) placed 8th and scored 3.0 team points.
Click here to view Gregor's bracket.
Round 1 - Treylan Gross (Phillipsburg) 16-6 won by fall over Gregor Burr 5-13 (Fall 1:40)
Round 3 - Gregor Burr 5-13 won by fall over Colton Haresnape (Smith Center) 5-22 (Fall 3:19)
Round 4 - Judson Wiltfong (Norton) 20-8 won by fall over Gregor Burr 5-13 (Fall 0:37)
Round 5 - Christian Koch (Oakley) 3-6 won by fall over Gregor Burr 5-13 (Fall 2:38)
7th Place Match - Cody Presley (Hill City) 4-16 won by fall over Gregor Burr 5-13 (Fall 1:18)
220 - Seth Hilt (18-9) placed 4th and scored 11.0 team points.
Click here to view Seth's bracket.
Round 1 - Seth Hilt 18-9 won by fall over Juan Mancillas (Leoti-Wichita County) 6-15 (Fall 2:31)
Round 2 - Seth Hilt 18-9 won by fall over Brock Buresh (Phillipsburg) 9-19 (Fall 1:53)
Round 3 - Dillon Dunn (WaKeeney-Trego Community High School) 23-5 won by fall over Seth Hilt 18-9 (Fall 0:57)
3rd Place Match - William Penrod (Hill City) 17-10 won by decision over Seth Hilt 18-9 (Dec 4-1)
Coach Dylan Loyd shared the following awards and comments for the week.
Coaches Award’s: Practice Wrestler: Tiernan Poling
Coach’s Award: Shadyron Blanka
Key Match Award: Garin Cooper defeating Aaron Lenker of Phillipsburg in the finals
Most Outstanding Wrestlers: Garin Cooper and Shadyron Blanka- both were champions at the Tournament of Champions Coach’s
"This past Friday we were able to travel to Norton and compete in the always tough Western Kansas Tournament of Champions. They started this tournament a few years back and is one that always has state/regional implications involved. This year was no different as our regional tournament will look fairly similar to this one here in a couple of weeks. It’s always good to be able to see this quality of competition at this point of the season. It may not always look great in the win column but, competing against some of the best kids around is what these guys need to do in order to get better. The MCL schools have always been just very physically dominant and there were a lot of impressive teams and individuals at this tournament. Right now, at this point of the season guys are starting to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. The season is getting to that point where the guys who believe in themselves and have the mental toughness to withstand the grind of the season stand above everyone else. We have some kids that are getting close to that point and keep making improvements every week. At this point in the season everyone on this team has been tested. We have a pretty good feel of where we are at and, know that there is still work to do. These next couple of weeks will be two of the most important weeks of our season. It will be pivotal for us to have good practices here to help us get to where we need to be. The goal is to keep getting better every single day and just keep focusing on things that we can control; that will be paramount to attaining goals.
Coaches comments:
"Individually, Perla Yanez had a tough day. She battled in a pretty tough weight class and just really needs to work hard. There are a lot of good wrestlers in this weight and it will only get tougher from here on out. Garin Cooper really is starting to turn a corner and has come into his own. He has had a great season up to this point and just needs to keep his nose to the grindstone and keep working to get better. He has come a long ways on his feet and is beginning to open up more. This is a very tough kid and he makes you earn every point and that’s an important trait. I like where he is at and I know the work he puts into it will pay off. Aaron White continues to battle. He still is giving up crucial points by getting out of position and its very important for him to really work on correcting that. Anytime you start getting tired the first thing to go is your positioning. If you maintain solid position its hard to give up points. He just needs to keep working hard and being disciplined. Tiernan Poling didn’t have the finals performance I know he wish he could have had. He lost a match that he was winning, he just forced a bad shot and ended up on his back to lose the match. These are the type of matches that need to happen now and not in a couple of weeks. I know this will keep Tiernan hungry and something he can learn from moving forward. We bumped Shannon Rethke up a weight this weekend to get him some more matches. Every time this kid steps out on a mat he keeps getting better and that’s what we want to see. He was giving up some horse power but, I think he competed well. For just being a freshman, he has come a long way. Shadyron Blanka really had an important weekend for himself. He did himself a lot of favors in a pretty deep weight class. He is one that has always had the talent just was lacking in confidence. Each week you see him start believing in himself more and more. That’s what will win you big matches this time of year. Just having that ability to believe in yourself and know your strengths. He is making gains and I look for him to keep getting better. Gregor Burr had a good weekend and just keeps getting better. It’s always fun to sit back and see how much kids improve from the beginning of the season to the end. He has never wrestled before this season and its amazing to see how far he has come. He really has a great attitude and a work ethic and I’m encouraged with what I am seeing from Gregor. He does things the right way and that’s what I like to see. Seth Hilt keeps getting better and has come a long ways. I think he was the better wrestler in his 3rd/4th place match but, the funny thing is that the best wrestler doesn’t always win the match. I think a big thing for Seth will be to find some sort of offensive attack on his feet. That is one thing he has been missing up to this point. He’s got really good positioning just needs to find a go-to move on his feet. I think that will help him leaps and bounds, but he continues to get better. This week we will travel to Leoti on Friday to compete in the Leoti Invitational. This will be our fourth year of competing in this tournament. Right now, the most important thing for us is to get some confidence and get healthy. We have had a pretty tough run of tournaments here in the month of January. We need to really figure some things out and really work on correcting these mistakes we continue to make. The end of the season is near and this is the time of year where things get fun. Everybody is nursing some sort of injury, but the guys who believe are the ones who always separate themselves. We have to start believing and when we do the opportunity to do big things will be there."
Click the photos to see more photos! Photos shared by Shawna Blanka.
