Wrestlers Finish Strong in Back-to Back Invites Out West
By: Sydney Reeves, a junior at Leigh High School
The Clarkson-Leigh Patriot Wrestling Team is in the midst of their season and in full swing. The weekend of January 7-8, the Patriots hit the road for a whirlwind two tournaments in two days. On Friday, January 7th, the wrestlers made the long drive to Burwell for an invite.
The Patriots were ready to have the chance to wrestle new teams. The Clarkson-Leigh wrestlers had tough competition and three kids missing, but they still wrestled well. There were 18 other teams at this invite. The Patriots finished in 9th place. St. Paul won the tournament.
Sophomore Dylan Higby won his bracket in the 132-weight class. He beat the #7 rated, undefeated, wrestler in the finals match.
Individual Records for the Burwell Tournament:
Morgan Bunner: 2-2; Dylan Higby: 4-0 (1st); James Grotelueschen: 1-2; Jaden Stoklasa: 1-2; Jackson Koehn: 2-2; Cooper Vance: 4-1 (3rd); Dillan Maple: 2-2
The next day on Saturday, January 8th, the Clarkson-Leigh wrestling team had an invite at Amherst. This invite included a total of 20 teams. Overall, the Patriots finished in 6th place. Amherst won the tournament. This was a tough day of wrestling, but the Patriots handled it really well with four people placing.
Jaden Stoklasa beat the #5 rated, undefeated, wrestler for the 3rd place match of his bracket in the 145-weight class.
“Amherst and Burwell were definitely some of the toughest Class C tournaments, and I think we came ready to wrestle,” Stoklasa said. “There is always room to improve and we got better over the course of the weekend.”
Head Coach, Tyler Reeves said, “We wrestled really well in two tough tournaments and had some big wins. We are getting better every practice and every tournament we have.”
Individual Records for the Amherst Tournament:
Morgan Bunner: 4-2 (4th); Bryce Jurgensen: 4-1 (3rd); Isaac Baumert: 1-2; Dylan Higby: 3-2; James Grotelueschen: 0-2; Jaden Stoklasa: 5-1 (3rd); Jacob Koehn: 2-2; Jackson Koehn: 1-2; Cooper Vance: 3-1 (2nd); Dillan Maple: 1-2