Wrestlers impress at Quincy Invitational
By Anthony Jones
sports.times.tribune@gmail.com
Triad wrestling continued to add to their mileage last week with a Jan. 13 trip to the Quincy Invitational. Out of a field of 16 teams, the Knights found themselves in third with 153.5 points.
“Aidan Postma wrestled extremely well and beat a kid in the finals that beat him earlier in the year. Ben Baumgartner wrestled well and earned his first tournament championship in high school. I feel like our team made some individual improvements as well which is what we have been focused on. Now we have a few more duals in the next week and then our focus is on conference and postseason,” Coach Witzig said after the Quincy Invitational.
The highest scorer for the Knights, Aiden Potsma finished with 28 points and a meet champion at 145 pounds. His first three wins all came via pinfalls in 2:14 or less and he took the title in a 4-3 decision.
Ben Baumgartner also finished in first place, scoring 27.5 points for the Knights. Enroute to his 126 pound championship, he scored pinfalls in 1:00 and 3:30. He won his title match with a 20-5 technical fall.
At 113, Glen Henry pieced together another impressive Triad performance to take third place. Henry finished 3-1 at the tournament with two pinfall wins and a 10-0 major decision. His lone loss came in a 14-10 decision on his 18 point day.
Fellow third place Knight Will Kelly wound up with a total of 17 points. Two pinfalls helped secure this finish at 106. Kelly’s loss occurred in a 10-0 major decision in the quarterfinal round.
Eleven more points were delivered by senior Nate Engler at 195. A 4-1 decision and a sudden victory pushed the Knight into the semifinals, before he would suffer a pair of falls to take fourth place.
Koen Rodebush and Matt Hobbs both finished in fifth place for Triad. The duo finished with 14 points each with 3-1 records and all of their wins coming via fall.
At 152, Braden Carlson scored seven more points for the third place Knights. His tournament started with a 15-6 major decision before suffering a 1-0 decision loss. He responded with a 4-2 decision before winding up on the wrong side of a 14-2 major decision in the fifth place match.
Braden Rowe competed for Triad at 138, wrestling his way to seventh place and six points. Rowe kicked off his Quincy tournament with a pinfall win in 1:15 before a pair of losses. A 4-2 decision earned him a victory in the seventh place match.
The next highest finisher for the squad was Bobby Patterson. The 170 pounder took home eight points and ninth place overall, after recording a 3-1 record. After dropping a 8-2 decision in the opening round, he responded with three pinfall victories.
A thirteenth place, three point performance added to Triad’s point total. This finish was provided at 120 by Brody Smith, who finished the tournament with a pinfall victory in 1:19.
