Wrestlers Attend Camps
On June 13th -17th St. Francis hosted a Summer Wrestling Camp. The camp ran in two sessions with K - 6th graders in the mornings and 7th - 12 graders in the evening. The morning sessions worked on basic wrestling fundamentals and learning to enjoy the sport of wrestling under the guidance of Coach Smith and some of the high school wrestlers.
"This was a great camp attended by about 12 boys. We refreshed a lot of wrestling skills they've learned in the past and learned a few new things" said Coach Smith.
The evening sessions for the junior high and high school was run differently with clinicians coming in. On Monday and Tuesday night, Eric Luedke was the instructor. Coach Luedke is a Colby, KS, native that went on to be become a two time National Junior College Champion at Colby Community College and then went to national power Iowa University where he was a two time All-American finishing 8th and 3rd. He continued his wrestling on the world circuit wrestling in many tournaments around the world. Coach Luedke showed techniques he'd picked up throughout his college and international wrestling career.
On Wednesday, Derek Ross, a St. Francis Alumni and former UNK All-American, came in to work with the young men. Coach Ross showed a variety of moves and techniques that are applicable for wrestlers that weigh 100lbs or 250lbs.
"Coach Ross does a awesome job of showing a variety of skills that apply to every wrestler not just little guys or big guys. Being from the program and being around during wrestling season last year he knew what our wrestler skill level is and is teaching us the skills that will help our wrestlers improve on their individual styles."
"Keegan is a young man that I think our kids can relate to. He's a younger guy from the area that had the opportunity to pursue wrestling at the next level and I think we have some young men who would like to do the same. Keegan has been wrestling for a number of years and has a great deal of knowledge of the sport. He's already a great coach and will have success in coaching if he chooses to do so after he graduates."
Friday brought back Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association and Kansas High School Activities Association Hall of Fame member Larry Gabel. During Coach Gabel's tenure at St. Francis High School as the head wrestling coach his teams were known for their cradles and that's what Coach Gabel showed. He taught different ways to get into a variety of cradle situations.
"None of these kids had the opportunity to wrestle for Coach Gabel and most were pretty young when coach left. They have heard about the tradition, but for them to have the chance to work with the man that was so instrumental in the success of the wrestling program here at St. Francis was special. He relates so well with kids it makes teaching the sport so simple because they are drawn to his every word."
On June 18-20th, a group of high school and junior high wrestlers went to the UNK team camp. The camp is set up where teams dual other teams throughout the day with instructional session built in-between. The St. Francis team dueled 8 times on the weekend winning 4. The team defeated Wray Colorado, Pope John/Elgin Nebraska, Sedwick County/Fleming Colorado, and Plainville Kansas in duals. The teams 4 loses were to Fairbury/Lincoln Nebraska, Tonganoxie KS, Plattesmouth Nebraska, and Schyler/Crete Nebraska. Some teams that didn't have enough wrestlers were combined to help add matches to each dual. St. Francis had 10 young men attend. The individual results for our young men were: Zach Gienger 10-2, Thomas Douthit 7-3, Dylan Wolaver 14-1, Austin White 6-6, Logan Lampe 8-5, Clay Cassaw 5-4, Lane Hobrock 3-12, Garrett Brunk 8-5, Lane Hoffman 8-4, and Shakota Blanka 3-7.
"Our kids did a great job this weekend. I was really impressed with our young kids. We had 8th graders and freshman (Cassaw, Hobrock, Brunk, Blanka) going against senior state qualifiers and wrestled them tough, even winning a few of those match-ups. t was good to see Zach and Thomas back on the mat; both missed a lot of last session. Our sophomores are going to help us out next year. Some of them took their lumps last year but Austin, Logan, and Lane all wrestled very well at Kearney. Dylan Wolaver might have had the best weekend out of all of our kids. He beat state placers and qualifiers all weekend."
