On Wednesday, December 30, the Festus Tigers Boys Varsity Wrestling squad took to the mats of Hillsboro High School to compete in the Don Fuhrmann Duals Tournament. They faced Hillsboro, Mehlville, Sikeston, and Pacific. The Tigers wrestled hard, but did not come away with the result they wanted, going 1-3 on the day.
The first dual was against perennial powerhouse, and host school, Hillsboro. Festus was defeated 75-3, with the only win coming from Luke Shaver who earned a 2-0 decision in the 195 lb. weight class. Coach Nahlik expects Shaver to continue to win, and said, “Luke will do well this postseason. We look for him to be back on the medal stand at state.”
Next, Festus was able to bounce back against Mehlville, winning the dual 60-12. Neal Kausler and Shaver each picked up victories by pin.
Against Sikeston, the Tigers were defeated 60-24. Andrew Nahlik, Jordan Banks and Shaver all earned wins by pin. Banks knows the team needs to be more offensively minded. He said, “We really just need to work on getting out of the bottom position, and also be more aggressive.”
Nahlik anticipated this being a rough tournament for the team, and mentioned, “I figured we’d take some lumps being such a young and inexperienced team and we did. However, our coaches watched our matches and went over with us individually what we need to improve on for next time.”
Lastly, in the dual against Pacific, Festus was bested 45-27. Banks won a decision 6-4, while Shaver and Connor Holt each pinned their opponent. This was Holt’s first pin of the season, and he commented, “It was very exciting. Our team is very young and new to the sport, including myself. We put a lot of effort in making each other better and our goal is to progressively get better everyday.”
The team is back in action on Thursday, January 7, against Windsor.
