Both Aberdeen’s wrestling teams looked to be in midseason form in their non-league duals against Elma on Thursday.
The boys team cruised to a 51-24 victory and the girls looked strong in their matches at Sam Benn Gym.
Elma fought valiantly, but working with a shortened roster was too much of a hill to climb. Of the 14 matches scheduled, five of them were decided by forfeit and four of those forfeits went in favor of the Bobcats.
With 24 points guaranteed, Aberdeen’s wrestlers padded their total on the scoreboard. Bodie Wharton came away with the first pin over Elma’s Joseph Geesman, and Sklyer Murray came away away with a hard-fought pin against A.J. Hernandez.
Aberdeen also got a quality win from Thomas Williams, who bumped up a weight class to grab a decision victory in his match.
Bobcat boys wrestling coach Jimmy Martin liked what he saw but is still looking for guys to step up their game before the state tournament.
“There’s always room for improvement, but I’m looking at trying to get six, maybe seven guys to state,” he said. “There always some guy that could jump out that you don’t know about.”
Unfortunately for the Eagles, the takedown that led to Murray’s pin also led to an apparent ankle injury for Hernandez. The Elma heavyweight had difficulty walking off under his own power after the match.The severity of injury has not yet been determined.
Elma standout Justin Sample won by technical fall at 145 pounds.
Elma boy’s coach Adam Catterlin said he wasn’t too concerned about the team scores and was more excited about the improvement of his young team.
“We got a lot of first-year wrestlers who are really starting to turn it on,” he said. “Niall Baxter is doing some good stuff, Taitum Brumfield is doing some good stuff and the heavyweight showdown was pretty tough to the point where our guy went down with an ankle injury.”
Elma’s girls were shorthanded as well. All four of their wrestlers had to compete in two matches.
The Eagles were at a disadvantage but still got wins from Jamison Cavrell and Reina Schneider.
Aberdeen girl’s coach Craig Yakovich said he was glad to get matches for all his wrestlers, especially his seniors, who had been recognized earlier on senior night.
“Its tough getting matches on senior night,” he said. “I have one of those big teams so we can match up all day, but our senior Karli Heikkila went out there and wrestled well.”
Heikkila, who has been nicknamed “The Hammer” by coaches and teammates, appeared to be on top of her game with a pin against Elizabeth Day. Fellow seniors Maya Kuhl and Mackayla Waltee also won via pin.
GIRLS
105 — Alexandria Portmann (A) def. Reina Schneider, 12-0. 110 — Alexia Darst (A) dec. Esmeralda Garcia, 5-0. 115 — Jamison Carvell (E) pinned Rian Tingwall, 2:22. 155 — Karli Heikkila (A) pinned Elizabeth Day, 0:37. 100 — Reina Schneider (E) pinned Madison Neely. 110 — Kaitlynn Smith (A) pinned Esmeralda Garcia. 120 — Maya Kuhl (A) pinned Jamson Carrell, 3:40. 140 — Mackayla Waltee (A) pinned Elizabeth Day, 1:16.
BOYS
113 — Jeremy Roberts (A) pinned Tyler Bristow, 0:58. 138 — Bodie Wharton (A) pinned Joseph Geesman, 1:31. 145 — Justin Sample (E) won dec. Garret Springer 12-0. 152 — Isaiah O’Farrell (E) pinned Garret Springer, 1:10. 160 — Seth Brown (A) pinned Tucker Simmins, 1:22. 170 — Thomas Williams (A) dec. Niall Baxter, 8-2. 195 — Taitum Brumfield (E) dec. Jaden Hogan, 12-2. 220 — Benjamin Bridge (E) dec. Tobias Christensen, 3-1. 285 — Skyler Murray (A) pinned A.J. Hernandez, 3:02.
Aberdeen won forfeits at 120, 126, 132 and 182. Elma won forfeit at 106.
