Hillsboro wrestlers placed sixth Saturday out of 14 teams at the Herington Invitational.
The Trojans finished with 79.5 team points, to trail Abilene (257), Wamego (172), Chapman (170), Onaga (129) and Wabaunsee (109.5).
?Overall, I was pleased with our performance,? coach Scott O?Hare said. ?This is always a solid tournament, and it provides a good measuring stick to determine where we are at.
?I definitely saw some improvements in some areas that we had struggled with in the early portion of the season, but we also had some areas of weakness get exposed.?
The Trojans were missing three potential point scorers in the lineup: Jon Carey, Austin Morgan and Mack Bartel.
?Although we would have been hard pressed to crack the top three, I do believe we would have been more competitive as a team, as these three wrestlers accounted for 63 points for us at the Hesston tournament,? O?Hare said.
Individually, Tristan Donaldson went 1-2 with a bye victory at 120 pounds.
Travis King went 1-2 at 126 pounds, losing twice by fall after winning his first match by decision (7-6).
At 138 pounds, Ian Alum?baugh went 2-2, scoring wins by technical fall and a bye and losing twice by fall.
Tyson Reimer went 2-2 at 145 pounds, one win came by decision (10-9) and the other by medical forfeit; his loses came by fall and decision (3-2).
At 170 pounds, Jesse Meier won three matches by fall and one by decision; he lost one match by decision (4-3), then lost the third-place match by rule.
Levi Mendoza, wrestling at 182 pounds, went 4-1 to place third in his class. All four wins were by fall; his loss came by decision (4-2).
Nathan Simhiser went 2-2 at 195 pounds. One win came by fall, the other with a bye. His losses came by fall and decision (11-6).
Franklin Jost placed second at 220 pounds with a 2-1 record. He won by fall and by decision (8-4) before losing by fall in the first-place match.
Ryan Stepanek lost both of his matches by fall at 285 pounds.
?As far as individual performances, our three upperclassmen competed very well,? he added. ?I was very happy for Franklin earning his first trip to a championship match on the varsity level. Things are really starting to come together for him and he is really starting to wrestle well.
?I was also very pleased with how Jesse and Levi bounced back from losses earlier in the tournament and closed out the day very strong.?
Coming?The Trojans will have four days before heading to the Halstead two-day tournament Friday and Saturday. Matches start at 4 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday.
