Thursday, March 28, 2024

Bears wrestle their way to second place

After losing their first match to Dover-Eyota, the Byron wrestling team bounced back by beating Westfield and WEM/JWP to claim second place at the Dave Scharberg Memorial Invite on Saturday, Dec. 14.

Head Coach Ryan Radke was pleased with how his team came together after a slow start.

“We wrestled well as a team. We had moments where we looked a bit flat but got better as the day went on,” he said.

            The five wrestlers that went 3-0 on the day also impressed him. They were Jake Thompson, Maxwell Petersen, Seth Haight, Kyle Stahler, and Vicente Deleon

            Deleon’s performance was highlighted by a 13-12 decision over Westfield’s Colton Krell.

“It was an incredible match. He just wrestled for six minutes. We tell the kids often that the match isn't done until the whistle blows and time has expired so you have to wrestle until the match is over,” he said.

            Another Byron wrestler who went undefeated was Maxwell Peterson who wrestled at 126 and 132 pounds.

            Radke said the decision to have him wrestle at two different weight classes was based on whom he’d be competing against.

“We often have to alter a lineup a bit to just get the best matchups possible to win a dual,” he said.

            Meanwhile, Peterson’s brother, Mitchel, didn’t compete due to a recent injury.

“He tweaked his knee the other night and wanted to just make sure it didn't get worse. We're not sure [when he’ll be back], but we just want him to heal up, as it's early in the year,” he said.

            Even without one of his most accomplished wrestlers, Radke is overall happy with how his team performed.

            “We’re doing lots of things correctly,” he said.

However, he noted the Bears still have some things to work on.

“We noticed some similar mistakes so we know as a team some areas we need to work on,” he said.

            The Bears next opportunity to improve on those mistakes is when they compete in this weekend’s tournament at Rochester Regional Sports Center at 2 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 20.

 

 

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