Nordquist first, Palic fifth

By RYAN RICHTER

Staff writer

One year ago, the Warrior wrestling team got into the practice of scheduling tournaments at larger schools in hopes of getting a taste of competition that could help them when postseason rolls around in February.

“I think it helps us,” Warrior coach Tyler McMichael said. “We get to see better competition against bigger schools that have more practice partners, spread them out, and we’re able to learn more things.”

Considering the Warriors were the lone 3-2-1A team competing at Wellington Saturday, Marion put on quite a display, taking 11th out 14 teams from Class 4, 5, and 6A.

“I was happy with it, it wasn’t a bad weekend,” McMichael said. “It gives us some momentum, but we need to work on not giving up so many pins.

“When we’re down numberwise, we can’t afford to give up anymore points than we already are with pins. I like where we’re at in our conditioning, we’re slowly learning more and more on our feet.”

It was Class 3-2-1A’s third-ranked Charlie Nordquist getting the pins Saturday, capturing Marion’s lone championship in the 220-pound class.

Neither Andover’s Michael Myer, nor Circle’s Tylar Cheek lasted a minute with Nordquist, getting pinned in 58 and 52 seconds.

Rose Hill’s Devin McMains was a bit tougher in the semifinals, though, but Nordquist advanced to the title match with a 5-2 decision.

Nordquist secured the gold medal with a 7-5 sudden victory over Wellington’s Kenny Fehrman.

Todd Palic completed the day 3-2 for fifth place, opening with a 4:00 pin on Wichita North’s Carlos Castillo.

Palic then went on to take down Andover’s Ashton Ngo in 5:04, leaving only Winfield’s top-ranked and 2018 runner-up Owen Braungardt in his way of wrestling for a title.

The eventual champion Braungardt sent Palic to the consolation round, pinning the sophomore in 4:37.

Palic’s chances at the consolation final ended at the hands of Wichita West’s Jerome Ragin with a 7-5 sudden victory, setting Palic up with a rematch with Ngo.

Ngo had more luck the first match with Palic taking him down in 2:36 to snag fifth.

Other Warriors competing were Forest Slater (0-2), Will Alleven (0-2), and Luke Lanning (0-2).

On deck for the Warriors Friday is the Marion County Duals with action beginning at 3 p.m. at both Hillsboro and Marion.