Staff writer
After two duals, the Marion High School wrestling team was relegated Friday to the consolation pool of the Marion County Winter Duals Tournament.
The Warriors lost 33-30 to Leon Bluestem in their first dual. Although Bluestem started the match with a Trent Navarro pin over Eric Regnier, the key wrestlers for Marion performed to expectations. Randy Regnier pinned Jacob Rickman in the first round of his 125-pound battle. Brody Carroll pinned Brendan Turner in a cradle in the first round at 130. Andy Shipman pinned Nick Hampton in the first round at 135.
The Lions showed life when senior Denver Ridgway defeated Cole Lewman, 5-3. Ridgway scored 3 points in the match on a near pin in the third round. Derrick Dvorak won a hard-fought match, pinning Cody Easterday in the third round at 145. Colten Johnson pinned Skylar Morgan in the second round at 152. Galen Funk pinned Trey Farthing in the second round at 160.
At that point, the Warriors were up 30-9, but the Lions scored 6 points on senior Justin Oliver’s pin of Zach Lewman, and another 6 points on Augie Schmidt’s pin of Andrew Kjellin.
Suddenly, the Lions were in striking distance, down 30-21. In the 215-pound match, Dirk Young was pinned early in the first round by senior Jacob Martin. A heavyweight open victory gave the Lions the 33-30 victory.
Next up was Chaparral who matched up almost perfectly with the Warriors. Chaparral scored 12 points with Michelle Madsen and Dwight Seipel without Warrior opposition at 103 and 112. Even though he was up 4-2 early on, Eric Regnier was pinned by Torry Hamill after the wrestlers battled, trading turns with their backs on the mat.
Chaparral was up 18-0 when Randy Regnier and Carroll scored 12 points in open slots. In another come-from-behind victory, senior Zach Duwe pinned Shipman in the third round of the 135-pound match. Shipman was up 4-3 after two rounds. Shipman escaped after Duwe had the Marion grappler face down on the mat.
With the score knotted at 5 and the two wrestlers fighting to get a pin on the floor, Duwe was able to hold Shipman’s shoulders down to score 6 points for his team. After the loss, Shipman laid flat on his back on the mat for several seconds in exhaustion and surprise.
With Chaparral up 24-12, Cole Lewman and Derrick Dvorak scored 12 points without opponents. After nearly pinning Pedro Arellano in the first round, Johnson escaped from the bottom position and pinned Arellano in the second round, putting the Warriors up 30-24.
Funk received an open victory to put the Warriors up 36-24. As in the first dual with Bluestem, the heavier weights were the weakness for Marion.
Senior Evan Overton pinned freshman Zach Lewman in the first round of the 171-pound match.
In the most important match of the dual, Kjellin lost 9-8 to senior Jordan Deitrich. Kjellin scored 3 points on a near pin in the second round, but Deitrich earned two escapes and a takedown to hold the lead 6-4 going into the third round. Kjellin nearly pinned Dietrich again in the third round and took the lead 8-6. However, Dietrich escaped from under Kjellin and reversed the two wrestlers’ position, scoring 3 points. He held on to win, 9-8.
The Warriors were up 36-33 but Young was quickly pinned by Sione Siale at 215. An open win at heavyweight gave the Roadrunners the victory, 45-36.
In the consolation pool in Hillsboro, Marion lost 45-33 to Republic County, but went on to defeat Wabaunsee, 65-6, and Hillsboro, 37-20, to finish ninth.