Marion, Hillsboro wrestlers struggle at state tourney

Written by Janae Rempel & Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 26 February 2013 12:01

by Janae Rempel

Marion’s Brody Carroll (right) maneuvers Kade Brown of Oberlin-Decatur Com­munity at the Class 3-2-1A state tournament. Carroll dropped a close 4-3 decision to Brown and finished with a 2-2 record at state.

Two of Marion’s five state wrestling contenders earned first-round victories at the 2013 Class 3-2-1A state wrestling tournament in Hays.

“I am very proud of our boys,” coach Chad Adkins said. “The competition was very good, and we wrestled tough, but we just weren’t as sharp as we needed to be.

“We didn’t adjust very well to being snowed in—that is my fault,” he added. “We wrestled flat.”

Leading the way for Marion was Brody Carroll (152 pounds) and Evan Slater (220 pounds), who each earned 2-2 records in their respective weight classes.

Carroll (37-2) opened the tournament by pinning Jacob Stewart of Bennington at 3:30, but then dropped a 4-3 decision to Kade Brown of Oberlin-Decatur Community.

In the consolation bracket, Carroll pinned Trevor Fee of Highland-Doniphan West at 2:23 before losing a 12-4 major decision to eventual third-place finisher Gage Younger of Ellis.

Slater (33-6) opened with a first-round pinning of DJ Serviss of Langdon-Fairfield at 1:29. He then lost a 12-3 major decision to eventual state champion Kane Washington of Hoxie.

In the consolation bracket, Slater pinned Tyler Edelman of Sabetha at 3:07 before dropping a 3-1 decision to eventual third-place finisher Gus Farthing of Burlington.

Beretta Janzen (18-7) went 1-2 at 113 pounds, dropping his first-round match to Ethan Ross of Norton Community 5-1.

In the consolation bracket, Janzen won by major decision, 10-0, over Landon Harmon of Hoisington before dropping a 5-2 decision to Macoy Rains of Oakley.

Eric Regnier (17-23) went 0-2 at 126 pounds. He was pinned in the first round by eventual fifth-place finisher Willy Dieckmann of Effingham-Atchison County Community at 3:00. In the consolation bracket, Regnier was pinned at 1:50 by Brendan Arnold of Lyons.

Adam Janzen (23-9) went 0-2 at 182 pounds. Janzen dropped his first-round matchup against eventual third-place finisher Steven Yergey-Dible of Hoxie by technical fall, 17-2.

In the consolation bracket, Janzen was pinned by AJ Cooper of Cimarron at 4:26.

As a team, Marion finished 40th out of 75 schools with 16 points.

“Brody, Evan and Eric have been a very important part of our program for a long time,” Adkins said. “We will miss them a lot, and I will remember them for the great things they have accomplished.”

Carroll finished his high school career with more than 150 wins, while Slater recorded more than 100.

by Don Ratzlaff

Tanner Jones of Hillsboro gains the advantage over Onaga’s Dalton Blow in the first round of the Class 3-2-1A state tournament. Jones defeated Blow 5-1 and was the only Trojan to win his opening round matchup.

A major snowstorm that forced a late start, combined with a tough field of competitors, made for a tough weekend for Hillsboro wrestlers at that Class 3-2-1A state tournament in Hays Friday and Saturday.

The foursome combined for a 2-8 record for the weekend, including one win by injury forfeit.

“No doubt it was a disappointing and frustrating weekend in Hays,” coach Scott O’Hare said. “I cannot really put a finger on what affected our performance, but the guys simply did not compete up to their potential.

“At times, all of them wrestled well and did some nice things. However, overall, we seemed a little flat and made some critical mistakes. Mistakes at that level are very tough to recover from.”

The Trojan wrestlers to register a win were the two returning state qualifiers, seniors Tanner Jones and Tyrell Thiessen.

Jones, wrestling at 170 pounds, was the only Trojan to win his opening round, defeating Dalton Blow of Onaga 4-1. In the next round he lost 5-1 to Jason Berkgren of Oakley, then lost a 17-5 major decision to Dusty Cook of Cherryvale in his first consolation match to end his high school career.

“Tanner did pick up a solid win in the opening round and wrestled pretty well in the quarterfinals Friday evening, having an opportunity to win as time was running out,” O’Hare said. “However, he was unable to secure the takedown and lost 5-1.

“Even after the loss, going into Saturday, we still felt very confident he could get back into medal contention. He would need to win the next two matches to advance into the medal round and both matches were against opponents he had recently defeated.

“However, in his first match on Saturday, his opponent hit three headlocks in the match, took a commanding lead, and Tanner was never able to recover.”

Jones finished the season with a 31-14 record.

Thiessen led his first-round opponent, Laramie Lumley of Sublette, early in the match before being pinned at the 3:51 mark in the second period.

After being awarded an injury default when Jacob Leuthold of Sabetha was unable to go, Thiessen was pinned by Fritz Berger of Sylvan-Lucas in the next round after leading him by as much as 9-0.

“He was unable to score off bottom in the third period early, and his opponent was eventually able to turn him and earn the fall with less than a minute remaining in the match,” O’Hare said.

Thiessen finished his senior season with a 32-9 record.

Freshman Austin Cross, who won the 145-pound weight class at last week’s regional tournament, went 0-2 at Hays.

“He just didn’t look like the wrestler we had seen develop throughout the season,” O’Hare said. “His bracket at state set up very nicely for him to make a run at a state medal. However, after taking an early lead in his opening match, he got reversed to his back to fall behind 5-2. He just didn’t look like himself from that point on and never recovered.

“Although this was a disappointing finish, Austin has had one of the best seasons ever for a freshman in Hillsboro. He finished with a 33-10 record, placed in every regular-season tournament, and defeated two wrestlers that finished on the medal stand in Hays. He will have an outstanding career for us.”

The fourth Trojan, sophomore Jon Carey, went 0-2 at 120 pounds and finished with an 8-18 season record.

“Although Jon went 0-2 and was eliminated on Friday, I was pleased with his effort,” O’Hare said. “He had really come on late in the season and he wrestled a very solid regional tournament last week.

“I am very proud of him and was very happy to see him qualify for the state in his sophomore season. I think at this point, it will serve as a huge confidence boost. If Jon builds on this experience, he will have a couple really good seasons for us over the next two years.”