2005 Year in Review

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Tony VanDerleest

Fresh/Soph State Wrestling Series

Six Morrison wrestlers competed the past few weekends in a wrestling tournament series sponsored by AAU. On Sunday, February 27th Tim Hood (103), Greg Hanson(124), Tony Vanderleest (130), Eli Gravert (150), Ethan Smit (165), and Neal Mahoney (194) wrestled at Sterling Newman High school in the AAU regional tournament.

The top four place winners at each weight move on to the Sectional Tournament. Tony Vanderleest (130) and Eli Gravert (150) both qualified for that tournament in Sterling. The other 4 young men wrestled well but didn’t qualify for sectionals. All of the competition they wrestled was from double A schools. Both Hood and Hanson won matches in the tournament but they could not quite make it to the medal round. Neal Mahoney stepped on the mat for the first time in two years and did a nice job. Ethan Smit was in a tough weight class and wrestled well.
On Sunday March 6th Tony and Eli wrestled in Sectionals. The top 3 wrestlers from this tournament move on to the state meet in Chicago at Saint Xavier University. Eli wrestled until overtime in his final match but lost on a last second takedown. By losing he was eliminated from the tournament. Had Eli won he would have qualified or been an alternate to the state tournament. Tony qualified for the state tournament by placing 3rd. Tony lost a very heated match in the Semi finals and wrestled back to get 3rd place. By doing so, he becomes the first Fresh/Soph state qualifier for Morrison.
Tony competed in the state meet this past weekend with the elite freshman and sophomore wrestlers in the state. He won his first match with a great throw in the third period. At the time of the throw he was losing 2-1 and he ended up winning 6 – 2. His next match was a tough one. We knew going into the match it was going to be his toughest match. When the dust settled he lost 8 – 3 but it was still anyone match until the last 8 seconds. After losing that match Tony had to have that young man win to stay in the tournament. Unfortunately in the next round he lost and Tony was eliminated from the tournament.
Even though he did not medal, like all the young men who entered into this state series the experience was a success and bodes well for the future of mustang wrestling.

Gregg Dolan
Wrestling Coach

by larryg
2005-03-15 22:11:37