HHS 1-4 at state tournament

StateWRHHSThiessenBerger60

StateWRHHSThiessenBerger60

Hillsboro?s two participants at the Class 3-2-1A state wrest?ling tournament this weekend in Hays managed one victory in five matches.

Tyrell Thiessen, competing in the 285-pound weight class, won his first match in the consolation bracket with a 4-2 decision over Fritz Berger of Sylvan.

In his opening match, Thiessen was pinned by Cody Cooper of Rossville at the 4:46 mark.

?Tyrell was leading this match the entire time,? coach Scott O?Hare said. ?He simply gave up a late takedown to his back.?

The Trojan junior was then pinned in the second round of consolation by Kyler Besher of Southeast of Saline. The two wrestlers entered the third and final period tied in points.

?Tyrell earned a 2-point near-fall to take the lead, but he gave up a reversal, tying the score again,? O?Hare said. ?Late in the match, Besher successfully turned Tyrell to earned the fall.?

O?Hare said Thiessen entered his first state tournament with some disadvantages.

?Tyrell?s level of experience caught up with him a little this weekend, along with his lack of conditioning,? he said. ?After being away from wrestling since middle school, he was already behind from a technical standpoint.

?Then, being sick a majority of January, his level of conditioning became a issue. He made some nice progress, and I believe that another year of experience will allow him to really step up next year.?

Tanner Jones, meanwhile, finished his tournament experience after two matches at 160 pounds.

The junior lost a 9-3 decision to Matt Schneider of Phillipsburg in the opening round, then lost 3-0 to Kaleb Gillis of Herington.

Jones was trailing against Schneider by only one point late in the match.

?In a desperate effort to score late, Tanner was caught and taken straight to his back for the more lopsided final score,? O?Hare said.

Jones came out a little flat against Gillis, falling behind 2-0 with the initial takedown.

?He was never able to recover as Gillis just remained in good position and fought off any attacks that we attempted,? O?Hare said.

?Probably the one thing holding Tanner back was lack of experienced practice partners near his weight,? O?Hare added.

?Although Bret (Mueller) gave him a great technical partner to drill with, the 20-pound difference didn?t give him everything he needed when it came to live wrestling.?

Thiessen finished the season with a 15-7 record while Jones was 31-15.

?I really believed going in that both of these two had legitimate chances of bringing home medals, so I am definitely disappointed in the outcome,? O?Hare said.

?I do believe these guys gave a good effort, but I question whether they were adequately prepared for this tournament, and I take the blame for that.

?I think that the opportunity for both of them to get there this year will be huge for them next year as seniors, as they both now know what to expect and how to adequately prepare for this tournament.?

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