Tanager wrestling team places 5th at Invitational match by Jim Prosser The Tanager wrestlers competed at Brandon Valley on Saturday, Jan. 5 in an eight team invitational.
The only VHS wrestler to achieve a 3-0 record at the meet was Ray O�Connor at HWT.
Team Scores:
Brandon Valley 189.0
SF Roosevelt 172.0
SF Lincoln 148.0
Canton 126.0
Vermillion 84.0
SF O�Gorman 64.5
Arlington 58.0
Huron 54.0
Vermillion Place Winners:
103 � Kyle Hubert fourth place, 4 � 9 Dec loss to Felix Homan of SFR.
112 � Craig Powell fourth place, 2 � 9 Dec loss to Eric Bannwarth SFOG.
125 � Andy Hayner third place, 6 � 3 Dec win over Sam Nelson Canton.
171 � Kellen Cusick third place, Pin (1:53) over Russ Heddleston SFL.
215 � Brad Simons second place, Pin (1:07) loss to Keith Munro SFL.
HWT � Ray O�Connor first place, Pin (3:48) over Brock Scott BV.
�Our wrestlers displayed a stunning performance on Saturday in Brandon Valley. To place 5th in the team scores with only 8 of the 14 weigh tclasses filled was excellent. Six of our eight wrestlers placed at the tournament,� said coach Casey O�Connor.
O�Connor offered this analysis of Vermillion�s wrestlers:
? 103 � Kyle Hubert wrestled very physical with few mental mistakes. This was a great tournament for our eighth-grader.
? 112 � Craig Powell began the Tournament by beating the number 2 seed, Chris Strand of BV. Craig placed 4th in the 112-pound weight class.
? 119 � JJ LaMie stepped up from JV to wrestle varsity this weekend for us and had a solid performance. LaMie lost in the Quarter-Finals, but displayed great promise for Vermillion�s future wrestling program.
? 125 � Andy Hayner dropped down to 125 from 130 for us this weekend. Andy won by a 6 � 3 decision over Sam Nelson of Canton in the Finals. Andy displayed continual movement on the mat and eliminated all mental mistakes in this match.
? 171 � Kellen Cusick had an impressive day by pinning three of his opponents. In the finals, Kellen pinned, Russ Heddleston (SFL) in 1:53 (and losing a 1 � 0 to Justin Tuntland (Can).
? 189 � Taylor Birgen is progressing very well for us. He displays great dedication for the program and team. Taylor lost in the Semi-Finals to Patrick Kranzler of SFR.
? 215 � Brad Simons had a great performance for us by placing 2nd in the 215-pound weight class. In the Semi-Finals, Brad had a major decision over Cody Black (BV) with a 14 � 6 score. In the finals, he fell short by losing to Keith Munro of SFL.
? HWT � Ray O�Connor had another impressive performance by pinning his way through the Tournament. In the Finals, Ray stacked his opponent, Brock Scott (BV) for the pin in 3:48.
�Over all I am very pleased with the performance we displayed in Brandon Valley. I knew coming in that our wrestlers could perform very well if we remained focused and we did. I thought placing fifth as a team with only eight weight classes filled was an impressive feat. Placing six of our eighth wrestlers was a confidence boost for the team. Throughout the year we have been on the losing side of many close matches, but we were able to eliminate those mistakes on Saturday and the results show for themselves. Saturday was a great day for the Vermillion wrestling team.� said coach O�Connor.
Loading ...
