by Oran Sorenson, Coach
On the eve of our season’s first real blizzard, a Garretson school bus delivered our high school wrestling team to the campus of Freeman Academy last Thursday for a triangular with Marion/Freeman and Viborg/Hurley. It was a rare occurrence to wrestle where we did, but the Freeman high school gym was preoccupied.
In the first match of the night against host Marion/Freeman, things started out well for the Blue Dragons, whose goal was to go 2 and 0 for the night. “Our lower weights did what we expected of them,” said Coach Ruml. Preston Bohl, Jayse Miller, Braxton Rozeboom, and Hunter Abraham all got first or second period pins to catapult the Blue Dragons out front 24-6. After sluggish performances in the next three bouts, all matches the coaches knew we could win, the host team would edge ahead before going into their strength in some of their upper weights. Gabe Johnson did garner 6 more team points for the Blue and White at HWT, but Marion/Freeman would persist by a score of 39-30. “No doubt it hurt to lose one we let get away, but let’s hope our boys use this as motivation to work harder and be better prepared said Coach Tyler Sorenson. “Maybe it is our job too to push the boys and work them harder in practice,” said old coach Oran Sorenson.
In just their second year in the sport, Viborg/Hurley was able to pick up just three victories against the Blue Dragons in the second match of the night. Their best boys are at 126, 220, and HWT and that is where they were able to pick up wins. Garretson would prevail by a final score of 42-12. Winning both matches for the night for the Blue and White were Preston Bohl at 106, Jayse Miller at 113, and Hunter Abraham at 132. The Saturday tourney at Tri-Valley was cancelled because of the weekend storm. Our wrestlers next see action this Thursday at Sioux Falls O’Gorman where our boys will take on two A teams, the Knights and the Quarriers of Dell Rapids.
