JH Wrestlers Compete in Junior Panther Classic
On Saturday, February 9, the junior high wrestling team traveled to Phillipsburg to compete in the Junior Panther Classic Wrestling Tournament. Though the young Indians only won 5 of the 19 matches wrestled, they competed hard and showed improvement. Winning matches at the tournament were Dodge Fromholtz, Dawson Rose, and Connor Wachsman. The Indians scored 13 points to place 16th as a team.
Hoxie won the team championship with 194 team points. Rawlins County placed second with 142. Republic County was a close third with 140. The other competing teams finished in the following order: 4th - Smith Center 130, 5th - Norton 128, 6th - Phillipsburg 118, 7th - Beloit 95, 8th - Plainville 67, 9th - Hill City 66, 10th - Oakley 59, 11th - Decatur Community 44, 12th - Trego Community 31, 13th - Osborne 27, 14th (tie) - Russell 22, 14th (tie) - Stockton 22, and 16th - St. Francis 13.
Below is a complete listing of results for St. Francis wrestlers.
85 - Seth Tumbelson (1-7)
Champ. Round 1 - Seth Tumbelson 1-7 received a bye () (Bye)
Quarterfinal - Patrick Driggs (PHILLIPSBURG) 13-4 won by fall over Seth Tumbelson 1-7 (Fall 0:28)
Cons. Round 2 - Seth Tumbelson 1-7 received a bye () (Bye)
Cons. Round 3 - Reid Fort (SMITH CENTER) 5-6 won by fall over Seth Tumbelson 1-7 (Fall 1:46)
85 - Dodge Fromholtz (3-10) scored 4.0 team points.
Champ. Round 1 - Dodge Fromholtz 3-10 won by fall over Hayden Hilbrink (STOCKTON) 2-13 (Fall 0:40)
Quarterfinal - Cohen Kaiser (PLAINVILLE) 9-3 won by fall over Dodge Fromholtz 3-10 (Fall 1:21)
Cons. Round 2 - Reid Fort (SMITH CENTER) 5-6 won by decision over Dodge Fromholtz 3-10 (Dec 8-2)
85 - Dawson Rose (5-6)
Champ. Round 1 - Dawson Rose 5-6 received a bye () (Bye)
Quarterfinal - Tate Weimer (HOXIE) 11-1 won by fall over Dawson Rose 5-6 (Fall 1:23)
Cons. Round 2 - Dawson Rose 5-6 won by decision over Hayden Hilbrink (STOCKTON) 2-13 (Dec 8-7)
Cons. Round 3 - Dawson Rose 5-6 won by decision over Ashton Rickford (RAWLINS COUNTY) 3-6 (Dec 6-5)
Cons. Semi - Patrick Driggs (PHILLIPSBURG) 13-4 won by fall over Dawson Rose 5-6 (Fall 0:27)
120 - Aiden Fernandez (1-10) scored 0.0 team points.
Champ. Round 1 - Gunner Wilson (TREGO) 6-4 won by major decision over Aiden Fernandez 1-10 (MD 11-2)
Cons. Round 1 - Aiden Fernandez 1-10 received a bye () (Bye)
Cons. Round 2 - Tarek Koelsch (SMITH CENTER) 8-6 won by fall over Aiden Fernandez 1-10 (Fall 0:23)
132 - Cris Espino (2-9) scored 0.0 team points.
Champ. Round 1 - Will Schmidt (OAKLEY) 10-3 won by fall over Cris Espino 2-9 (Fall 0:19)
Cons. Round 1 - Cris Espino 2-9 received a bye () (Bye)
Cons. Round 2 - Kenneth Micek (RAWLINS COUNTY) 10-4 won by fall over Cris Espino 2-9 (Fall 0:35)
138 - Jordan Smull (0-7) scored 0.0 team points.
Champ. Round 1 - Jordan Smull 0-7 received a bye () (Bye)
Quarterfinal - Trenton Long (HILL CITY) 13-5 won by fall over Jordan Smull 0-7 (Fall 1:20)
Cons. Round 2 - Jordan Smull 0-7 received a bye () (Bye)
Cons. Round 3 - Caden Galvan (NORTON) 5-8 won by fall over Jordan Smull 0-7 (Fall 1:06)
152 - Connor Waschman (5-8) placed 4th and scored 9.0 team points.
Quarterfinal - Connor Waschman 5-8 won by fall over Zavier Chavez Hays (PLAINVILLE) 1-10 (Fall 0:48)
Semifinal - Joshua Popp (RAWLINS COUNTY) 10-1 won by fall over Connor Waschman 5-8 (Fall 1:41)
Cons. Semi - Connor Waschman 5-8 won by decision over Brett Smith (NORTON) 2-8 (Dec 4-3)
3rd Place Match - Brian Baxter (REPUBLIC COUNTY) 9-2 won by fall over Connor Waschman (Fall 2:45)
Coach Dylan Loyd shared the following comments on the week, "The junior high wrestling continues to roll on and crazy to believe we have one week left this season. This past week we were scheduled to compete in Atwood on Thursday however, due to weather and widespread sickness the meet was postponed until Monday, which in turn was canceled due to weather. Luckily, for us we still had the opportunity to compete in Phillipsburg at the Junior Panther Classic. This tournament has always proven to be very tough and this year was no different. They added a couple more teams this year so in total there was 16 teams competing. Mainly we compete against schools from the Mid-Continent League, which is always tough, but there were teams from other leagues there. As a whole, it wasn’t out best day. For the majority of these kids this was the first time they had ever competed in a tournament format. If its not something you have experienced before it can be overwhelming your first time out. A lot goes into wrestling a tournament. Knowing how to read a bracket, when to start warming up, having to wrestle your way through the front side of a bracket, or the backside, etc. Lot of variables go into wrestling at a tournament. This group is still very green and the biggest two differences that is separating this group from their competitors is 1) experience and 2) maturity. In order to overcome those two things, it just takes time. From the beginning of the season to now this group has shown improvements. Looking to end this season on a good note and hope to finish strong.
Individually, Seth Tumbelson had a pretty good showing. He gives up between 10-16lbs every time he wrestles so, he’s definitely been battle tested. He does a lot of good things; just wish we could get him some matchup’s against kids his size. Dawson Rose wrestled really tough this weekend. He was one match away from placing in his weight and he’s in the same boat as Seth. He gives up quite a bit of size to his opponents but, he does such a good job of battling. Every time he steps out on the mat, he wrestles hard. Dodge Fromholtz continues to get better each week. He has such a natural feel to him but, he just makes a couple of mistakes that just comes down to lack of mat time. The more time he spends on a wrestling mat the better he will be. Aiden Fernandez does a good job of listening. He is very coachable and it shows just from the improvements he has made in the past couple of weeks. It may not show on his record because a loss is a loss but, he has been in a lot of his matches. Just made a couple of mistakes that made the difference between winning and losing, but he keeps getting better. Cris Espino had a tough weekend. He just has been wrestling against kids who have more experience and with experience comes a sense of mat awareness. Cris is a pretty tough nosed kid; he does a lot of things that you like to see. He just needs to get a little more confident and believe in himself. Jordan Smull ran into a couple of horses this weekend. Every one of his losses are against good kids and that’s how it should be. I tell you though one thing about Jordan is you know you are going to get his very best every time he steps out on the mat, and as a coach that is all I will ever ask of an athlete. Connor Waschman I felt really turned a corner this weekend. He was able to place in a decent bracket and wrestled tough. He battled in every position the difference between him and the kids he’s losing is 100% mental. Connor has a pretty good skill set and the body type to be a very successful wrestler."
The junior high wrestlers will wrestle in St. Francis on Thursday, February 14.