Delk leads Trojans at Halstead tourney

Senior Cody Delk led the Hillsboro wrestling team with a second-place finish in his weight division at the Halstead Invitational Friday and Saturday.

Wrestling in the 152-pound class, Delk finished the weekend with a 3-1 record.

?I was very excited for Cody this weekend,? coach Scott O?Hare said. ?I thought he had a nice breakout performance by making the finals at Halstead. After missing all of last season with an injury, things are starting to come together for him again.?

Also placing among the top five in the 23-team tournament were Preston Nelson, who went 3-2 for fifth place at 160 pounds, and Levi Mendoza who placed fifth at 182 with a 2-2 record.

?Levi Mendoza had another nice tournament,? O?Hare said. ?He continues to improve every week.?

Also competing for Hills?boro were Travis King, who went 2-2 at 120; Nathan Simhiser, who went 0-2 at 195; and Matt Reeh, who went 0-2 at 285.

Juniors Jon Carey and Jesse Meier were unable to compete due to injuries.

Some of the Trojans? youngest wrestlers competed Saturday at a junior varsity tournament in Abilene.

O?Hare said the six wrestlers who battled at Halstead competed in almost 45 matches over the weekend.

?It gave them some great competition experience, and it gave us coaches a great opportunity to evaluate the things that each wrestler needs to improve on,? O?Hare said.

?There is no doubt that these young men continue to improve in many areas of wrestling, but it will be necessary for them to pick up the pace over the next month and a half to eliminate the mistakes that continue to cost them in many matches.?

As a team, the Trojans finished in a tie for 12th place with 48 points. Smoky Valley won the tournament for the seventh consecutive year with 229 points.

Coming?The Trojans will wrestle at another challenging tournament Satur?day when they travel to Eureka.

?With this past weekend, we are into a very tough stretch of our schedule,? O?Hare said, including the Hoisington Cardinal Classic Feb. 1.

?They will be challenged mentally and physically,? O?Hare said.

?Their ability to battle when things get tough and persevere through these next two weeks will go a long way toward preparing them for the stretch in Feb?ruary that includes the CKL and regional tournaments.?

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