Bret Mueller and Tanner Jones finished second in their respective weight classes to lead Hillsboro wrestlers competing at the Herington Invitational on Saturday.
Mueller went 2-1 at 138 pounds and Jones went 3-1 at 160 to secure the runner-up positions.
?Both Bret and Tanner, our only two upper classmen competing on Saturday, wrestled very well throughout the early rounds,? coach Scott O?Hare said.
?After a first-round bye, Bret dominated his next two matches to cruise into the championship match.
?Tanner dominated in his first and second round matches before earning a very hard-fought 4-0 win over the No. 3 seed in the semifinals,? he said.
Leading precariously at 1-0, Jones scored a 3-point near fall late in the match to secure the victory.
O?Hare said both of wrestlers struggled in their championship matches after a long wait.
?Although they both came out strong, earning the first takedown, neither was able to hold on for the win,? he said.
Also competing, but not placing among the top four for Hillsboro, were: Jon Carey (2-2 at 120 pounds), River Cecil (1-2 at 132), Cody Delk (2-2 at 145), Jesse Meier (0-2 at 152), Cody Craney (1-2 at 170) and Matt Reeh (2-2 at 285).
Reeh, who stepped into the lineup when Tyrell Thiessen could not compete because of illness, was one win away from a top-four finish. Carey also missed the medal round by one win.
?As usual, this was a tough, competitive tournament to kick off the second half of the season,? O?Hare said. ?Although we only got two through to the medal round, overall, I was pleased with how we wrestled and competed.
?Even though none of the others advanced into the medal round, they all wrestled hard and showed dramatic improvements from matches that they wrestled prior to the holiday break.
?Many of the matches that we lost throughout the tournament were due to technical mistakes and troubles with position, balance and recognition of the situation they are in,? he added.
?Much of this will improve simply through experience and additional mat time in competition settings. I can?t fault their effort.?
Coming?Hillsboro?s next competition will be the two-day Halstead Invitational on Friday and Saturday. Matches begin at 4:30 p.m. Friday and at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
