MHS wrestlers win Hesston title

Written by Hillsboro Free Press Tuesday, 11 December 2012 14:38

Brayden Putter maneuvers against his first-round opponent, Dalton Purdy of Flint Hills, at the Hesston Invitational on Saturday. Putter pinned Purdy at 3:34 minutes and went on to take fourth place in the 138-pound weight class.

Smaller numbers than last year didn’t keep the Marion wrestling team from claiming first place at the Hesston Invitational Saturday.

Marion accumulated 156 points to outdistance the other 15 schools.

“We won the tournament as a team, so I would say we did about as well as we could have,” coach Chad Adkins said. “Every­body wrestled better this week than they did last week.”

He said the Warriors still have a lot to learn and are working on doing things right consistently and continuing to improve their conditioning.

Leading Marion were experienced wrestlers Beretta Janzen (113 pounds), Brody Carroll (152), John Nordquist (195) and Evan Slater (220), who each took first in their respective weight classes.

Janzen (5-1) went 3-0, pinning Daniel Valadez of Stafford in the first round before winning by fall over Austin Sims of Hesston and Ethan Hertzler of Halstead in the next two rounds.

Remington Putter (2-4) went 1-2 in the 120-pound weight class, pinning Jed Hurnig of Flint Hills before losing by fall to Mason Schweitzer of Hesston in the semifinal and Tyler Cotter of Wichita West in the consolation semifinal.

At 126 pounds Eric Regnier (3-4) went 3-2, pinning Christian Porter of Wichita Independent before losing by technical fall to Trenton Herrman of Stafford in the quarterfinal. Regnier received a bye in the second consolation round, before pinning Chase Navarro of Bluestem and losing by fall to Qualan Camirillo of Wichita West in the next two rounds.

Brayden Putter (5-4) placed fourth in the 138-pound weight class, scoring 13 team points, by pinning Dalton Purdy (Flint Hills) and Austin Fales (Wichita West) in the first two rounds.

He lost by fall to Kasey Biddle (Burden-Central) in the semifinal, won by decision over Tyler Smith (Halstead) in the consolation semifinal and lost by fall to Nathaniel Hargitt (Stafford) in the third-place match.

Luke Steele (1-4) pinned Jonathan Andrews (West Elk), before losing by fall to Dalton Anderson (Hesston) and Gavin Farzi (Chaparral) at 145 pounds.

Carroll (7-0) received a bye in the first round before pinning Trevor Kemp (Flint Hills) and Preston Nelson (Hillsboro), then defeating Lucas McMichael (Burden-Central) by decision to take first place.

Derrick Dvorak (5-3) earned a bye before pinning Kolby Burns (Remington) in the quarterfinal. Dvorak lost by fall to Cody Easterday (Bluestem) in the semifinals and to Christian Graber (Hesston) in the consolation semifinals at 160 pounds.

Zac Lewman (5-4) placed fourth at 170, pinning Justin McElheny (Nickerson) before losing by fall to Tanner Jones (Hillsboro). Lewman earned a bye, pinned Colton Tims (Flint Hills) and Tanner Bonnell (Burden-Central) in the consolation bracket, and lost by fall to Nick Jacobs (West Elk) in the third-place match.

John Nordquist (5-2) took first at 195. He pinned Austin Williams (Garden Plain) and Zac Ghahrmanzadeh (Hillsboro) before pinning Tristin Paulsen (Stafford) in the championship match.

Evan Slater (5-1) took first at 220 pounds, pinning Kaleb Lawrence (West Elk), Zach Nolan (Remington) and Travis Simon (Garden Plain) in the championship bracket.

Dirk Young (2-4) received a bye in the first round at 285 before losing by fall to Jaden Helms (Chaparral). Young received a bye in consolation Round 2, before pinning Chris?Franz (Wichita West) and losing by fall to Daniel Crouch (Burden-Central).

“This year is going to be a journey, and to win a tournament as a team this early was a very good result,” Adkins said. “We just need to keep working hard and getting better technically.”

Coming—The Warriors are scheduled to compete at the Marion County Duals Friday, with matches beginning at 3 p.m.