Hillsboro?s wrestling team placed 11th among the 16 schools competing at the Marion County Winter Duals tournament Thursday.
Co-hosted by Hillsboro and Marion, the 16 schools were first divided into four pools of four teams?two of the pools competed at Hills?boro and two at Marion.
The teams, ranked according to their pool performance, were then united in a championship bracket to determine final placement.
Competing in the Maroon Pool, the Trojans went 1-2, losing to Wellington, 60-18, and Cha?nute, 60-21, before defeating West Elk, 48-16. Hillsboro competed with vacancies in four weight classes.
In the four-team championship bracket to determine ninth place, Hillsboro lost to Riley County, 54-27, then defeated Wabaunsee, 48-23, to claim 11th with an overall record of 2-3 for the day.
Individually, freshman William Spaich went 2-3 at 113 pounds, sophomore Mack Bartel, 1-4 at 120, junior Tris?tan Donaldson, 2-3 at 132; junior Travis King, 5-0 at 138; freshman Kyle Horton 1-4 at 145; sophomore Jaden Priest, 3-2 at 152; sophomore Ian Alumbaugh, 1-4 at 160; freshman Lane Flaming, 2-3 at 170; senior Franklin Jost, 5-0 at 182; and senior Levi Men?doza, 4-1 at 195.
?Travis, Franklin and Levi all wrestled pretty well through the day, with only one loss between the three of them,? coach Scott O?Hare said. ?The lone loss was in Levi?s opening match of the day, where he was in a tight contest with a 3-2 score going into the third period. Levi just got caught in a scramble situation, got out of position, and was pinned late in the match.?
Bartel returned to competition with just a week of practice.
?He wrestled very well on his feet, but struggled in the bottom position,? O?Hare said. ?His 1-4 record for the day is not a great indicator of how he performed overall, as he was leading in three of those matches when he got turned and pinned. These duals definitely showed where he needs the most work.?
O?Hare complimented Priest for his improvement.
?He is starting to look more comfortable and confident,? O?Hare said. ?Tech?nically, he is starting to do some things really well. His biggest problem is with position, balance and body aware?ness. These things will continue to improve with more competition mat time.?
O?Hare said other team members also showed improvement, but many matchups were against opponents with more experience and strength.
?We lost a lot of matches during the tournament to wrestlers that were just physically tougher and more aggressive,? he said ?That is an area where this team needs to step up if they want to rise to another level.?
Coming?Following the holiday break, the Trojans will return to competition Jan. 9 with a tournament at Herington. Matches are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.
