Jr. High Wrestlers Compete in NWKL Tourney
On Monday, February 18, the junior high wrestling team competed in the Northwest Kansas League Junior High Wrestling Tournament in Hoxie. Six young Indians won medals at the tournament and two were crowned champions. The Indians placed 4th in the team standings.
Winning medals for placing in the top four positions were Dawson Rose - 4th at 85 pounds, Dodge Fromholtz - 3rd at 85 pounds, Aiden Fernandez - 4th at 120 pounds, and Cris Espino - 4th at 132 pounds. Winning first place were Connor Wachsman at 152 and Colton Raile at 215.
Only five of the eight NWKL teams competed in the tournament. (Dighton, Quinter, and Wallace County do not have wrestling.) Rawlins County won the Northwest Kansas League championship with 127.5 points. Hoxie was a very close second with 123. Wichita County (76 points) finished 3rd, St. Francis (26 points) 4th, and Decatur Community (8 points) 5th.
Individual results for the St. Francis wrestlers are listed below.
85 - Dawson Rose (1-3) placed 4th and scored 4.0 team points.
Click here to view the 85 pound bracket for Dawson, Seth, and Dodge.
Round 1 - Dodge Fromholtz (St. Francis) 2-2 won by tech fall over Dawson Rose (St. Francis) 1-3 (TF-1.5 0:00 (16-1))
Round 2 - Tate Weimer (Hoxie) 4-0 won by fall over Dawson Rose (St. Francis) 1-3 (Fall 3:02)
Round 3 - Ashton Rickford (Atwood) 8-8 won by major decision over Dawson Rose (St. Francis) 1-3 (MD 8-0)
Round 4 - Dawson Rose (St. Francis) 1-3 won by decision over Seth Tumbelson (St. Francis) 0-4 (Dec 6-4)
85 - Seth Tumbelson (0-4) placed 5th.
Round 1 - Ashton Rickford (Atwood) 8-8 won by major decision over Seth Tumbelson (St. Francis) 0-4 (MD 13-0)
Round 2 - Dodge Fromholtz (St. Francis) 2-2 won by fall over Seth Tumbelson (St. Francis) 0-4 (Fall 2:16)
Round 4 - Dawson Rose (St. Francis) 1-3 won by decision over Seth Tumbelson (St. Francis) 0-4 (Dec 6-4)
Round 5 - Tate Weimer (Hoxie) 4-0 won by fall over Seth Tumbelson (St. Francis) 0-4 (Fall 0:27)
85 - Dodge Fromholtz (2-2) placed 3rd.
Round 1 - Dodge Fromholtz (St. Francis) 2-2 won by tech fall over Dawson Rose (St. Francis) 1-3 (TF-1.5 0:00 (16-1))
Round 2 - Dodge Fromholtz (St. Francis) 2-2 won by fall over Seth Tumbelson (St. Francis) 0-4 (Fall 2:16)
Round 3 - Tate Weimer (Hoxie) 4-0 won by fall over Dodge Fromholtz (St. Francis) 2-2 (Fall 2:00)
Round 5 - Ashton Rickford (Atwood) 8-8 won by decision over Dodge Fromholtz (St. Francis) 2-2 (Dec 5-4)
120 - Aiden Fernandez (1-4) placed 4th and scored 6.0 team points.
Click here to view the pound 120 bracket for Aiden.
Round 1 - Jayden Reed (Atwood) 16-2 won by tech fall over Aiden Fernandez (St. Francis) 1-4 (TF-1.5 0:00 (15-0))
Round 2 - Romeo Terriquez (Leoti) 5-8 won by major decision over Aiden Fernandez (St. Francis) 1-4 (MD 12-1)
Round 3 - Aiden Fernandez (St. Francis) 1-4 won by fall over Jasive Hernandez (Leoti) 6-5 (Fall 0:59)
Round 4 - Christian Marchant (Leoti) 6-7 won by major decision over Aiden Fernandez (St. Francis) 1-4 (MD 14-0)
Round 5 - Henry Holle (Atwood) 9-8 won by fall over Aiden Fernandez (St. Francis) 1-4 (Fall 3:30)
132 - Cris Espino (0-3) placed 4th and scored 4.0 team points.
Click here to view the pound 132 bracket for Cris.
Round 1 - Ryan Shaw (Hoxie) 3-0 won by fall over Cris Espino (St. Francis) 0-3 (Fall 0:41)
Round 2 - Kenneth Micek (Atwood) 13-5 won by fall over Cris Espino (St. Francis) 0-3 (Fall 1:58)
Round 3 - Trevor Biermann (Leoti) 2-3 won by major decision over Cris Espino (St. Francis) 0-3 (MD 14-4)
152 - Connor Waschman (2-0) placed 1st and scored 6.0 team points.
Click here to view the pound 152 bracket for Connor.
Round 1 - Connor Waschman (St. Francis) 2-0 won by fall over Pete Crouse (Atwood) 7-10 (Fall 2:25)
Round 2 - Connor Waschman (St. Francis) 2-0 won by fall over Pete Crouse (Atwood) 7-10 (Fall 2:15)
215 - Colton Raile (2-0) placed 1st and scored 6.0 team points.
Click here to view the pound 215 bracket for Colton.
Round 1 - Colton Raile (St. Francis) 2-0 won by fall over Gavin Sellers (Oberlin) 3-13 (Fall 1:20)
Round 2 - Colton Raile (St. Francis) 2-0 won by fall over Gavin Sellers (Oberlin) 3-13 (Fall 0:39)
The season is now complete for the junior high wrestlers.
Coach Dylan Loyd shared the following comments, "This past week the 2019 St. Francis Junior High wrestling team capped off our season at the NWKL League Tournament in Hoxie. This group had a good season and one that they should be proud of. The junior high wrestling season is very short and it’s hard to see a whole lot of improvement in that short amount of time. However, this group really did improve each time they stepped out on the mat. This group was very young and green and all these kids are 7th graders. Many of them had never really wrestled before which right now hurts but, in the long run this group can really improve rapidly just due to them being so green. I was happy to see them wrestle as well as they have all season at the league tournament. It’s always good to see them compete their best late in the season.
Individually, both Dawson Rose and Seth Tumbelson had a great season. Both of these young men gave up at least 10 pounds to everyone they wrestled this season. When you only weight 73-75 pounds wrestling against kids that weight 85-90 pounds is a big difference. I was proud of these two with how they competed. Neither of them ever complained and showed how tough they are by battling every time out. They both work hard and have a good skillset. I believe both of these two will end up being very successful before their careers are over. Look forward to having them back next season. Dodge Fromholtz really came on late this season and started to figure somethings out. He has a pretty good natural feel to him and really started putting things together. He was able to beat some kids who had beat him earlier in the year and was competitive against kids who have quite a bit more experience than him. I look forward to watching him develop and seeing what he can do next season. Aiden Fernandez had a good season and really did improve from the beginning of the season to the end. He has a pretty good attitude and really shows the willingness to work hard to get better. He lost matches this year mainly due to lack of experience but, you only get that experience with time. I like his attitude though and once he develops some more confidence that will come he’ll win his fair share of matches. Cris Espino wrestled quite a slew of pretty tough competitors throughout this season. He got better as the season went on but, his biggest deal is his confidence. He gets pretty down on himself when things don’t go his way and that’s tough, but that shows that he’s a competitor who wants to win. He got better as the season went on and he does some pretty good things. Once he figures out his strengths and knows what positions he feels comfortable in and gets to them he will do well. Connor Waschman really finished the season well. As the season went on he got a lot better and I believe that all started after he placed at the Junior Panther Classic in Phillipsburg. He has a lot of ability and just kept getting better as he got more and more confidence. He’s got a good skillset and will only keep getting better. I look forward to seeing him next year and am excited to see how much more he will improve throughout this upcoming
year. Colton Raile had a tough season. He missed a couple of competitions due to illness and that stunk because I would have loved to see him get more matches. He had a great season though and kept getting better every time he stepped out on the mat. He has a great work ethic and shows that he wants to be the best. Great competitor that does things the right way. He will
be a fun one to watch as he continues to grow."
