Nordquist, McLinden claim titles

By RYAN RICHTER

Staff writer

With the regular season winding down, the Marion High School wrestling team competed in arguably one of its toughest tournaments of the year Friday at the Hoisington Cardinal Classic.

Behind a pair of first-place finishes, the Warriors took fourth out of 10 competing schools.

Marion’s 102 points was the third highest behind runner-up and Class 3-2-1A’s top-ranked host Hoisington and Beloit, which briefly spent time in the state’s top 10.

“This was a good meet for us, it gives us a chance to see some teams we don’t see much and a good warm-up for late in the season,” Warrior coach Tyler McMichael said. “Hoisington’s got a really good team and we don’t get to see them anywhere else but state, and Beloit’s got some good kids.

“Eisenhower gives us a good taste of the larger classes. We held a couple of kids out for the JV tournament Saturday that may have had an impact in points.”

Highlighting the meet were 220-pound Charlie Nordquist and heavyweight Jarret McLinden capturing titles in their respective divisions.

Nordquist finished 4-0, taking down Goddard Eisenhower’s LJ Flax in 5:26.

McLinden’s wave of destruction continued, pinning Eisenhower’s Derek Yuza with 2 seconds left in the second period and finishing the day 3-0 for his third consecutive tournament title.

Tyler Palic finished second in the 195-pound division, dropping an 8-5 decision to Ell-Saline’s fifth-ranked Nick Davenport in the title match.

Ethan Darnall and Calib Mallory each finished third in the 132- and 138-pound classes, respectively, going 4-1 on the day.

Darnall made short work of Ellsworth’s Eryk Andalon in 21 seconds, while Mallory outlasted Ellsworth’s Morgan Kelley, 8-5.

The trio of Will Alleven, Brock Mitchell, and Kyle Horton all took fourth place.

Alleven was 1-3 on the day, defeating Hillsboro’s Charlie Major for his lone win at 113 pounds.

Mitchell was 2-3 overall, capping off his day with Beloit’s Chance Sweat securing a pin in 1:04 of the third-place match.

Horton exploded out of the gate, winning his first two matches on technical falls, before having his title hopes dashed by Hoisington’s top-ranked and defending champion Christopher Ball.

Horton also finished his day at 2-3, falling to Cimarron’s Tate Seabolt in the 152-pound third-place match in 2:50.

Up next for the Warriors is a Friday tournament at Onaga.