On Saturday December 12, the Ste. Genevieve Boys Wrestling Team competed in the Union Tournament. The team scored 137.5 points and placed 7th out of 15 schools. The team has been on quite a roll so far this season, and the hard work showed here. The team only entered nine wrestlers, and came home with a gold and two bronze medals.
Head Coach Jared Bonnell was happy with his team’s performance, especially since they were not wrestling at full strength. He said, “We wrestled pretty tough. I was pleased with how we finished our day overall. I was happy to see our kids get matches. I would have liked to have seen how we would have finished with our line-up at full strength, but we have to be ready for the possibility of that never happening.”
Wrestling at the 113 lb. weight class, Bryant Schwent went 1-2 with a pin, and took home the bronze medal. At 126, Dalton McNeal wrestled great, went 4-1 and also won a bronze medal. Justin Schwent wrestled at 138 and lost both matches for a ninth place finish. However, J. Schwent was dealing with some back issues. He said, “I just woke up and my back was full of pain and I just dealt with it getting worse after every match. This week I will for sure work on defense and my stand ups.”
At 145, Nathan Selby placed 7th by going 1-2, with his win coming by pin. Levi Wiegand placed fourth at 152 and went 2-2, with both wins coming from pins. At 160, Kaleb Myracle also placed fourth, going 3-2, pinning two of his opponents. Ethan Ogden placed 8th, going 1-3, earning his win by pin. Elijah Holifield placed 6th, going 2-3, pinning one of his opponents. Holifield said, “I went out there with the intent to win and gave it my best. What I need to work on are the little things in my technique.”
At 285, Ryan Schmelzle, had an outstanding performance, shutting out the competition by pinning all five of his opponents, and bringing home the gold medal. Bonnell commented on the results, “I was really pleased with our team, and with Schmelzle winning the tournament for the second year in a row. Many others just missed the podium, but still had a productive day on the mats.”
Ste. Gen will continue to put in the time it takes to be successful to continue to build upon their winning season. Bonnell said, “Overall I am happy with the hard work I am seeing from our athletes.”
