Wrestling Boys Pin Districts
Ellie Blake
Staff Writer
On Feb. 14 and 15, the Waverly High School wrestling team took on districts at Syracuse High School. Improvement were made, even though only one wrestler will be advancing onto state. Sophomore Justin Hennessy is heading to state for the second year in a row. He took the third place spot in his weight class. Hennessy was the only wrestler that will wrestle in the state tournament.
Even though not everybody will be moving on, progress was made.
“I’m going to finish stronger than I have finished before,” Hennessy said.
Freshman Brayden Dowding finished as the fifth seed out of ten in his 16-man bracket. His first wrestle on Friday was a success. Dowding pinned the wrestler from Omaha Gross Catholic in the first period.
With strength and determination, Dowding made his way to the “heartbreaker” round. This round is the match just before the final match. With 15 seconds left, Dowding was up 3-2, but was overtaken by the wrestler and lost the match.
“It was a better season than last year,” Dowding said. “I’m going to use my loss in the ‘go or go home’ round as motivation for me to improve and get better for next season.”
Seniors Tyler Zabel and Blake Heger, juniors Trevor Spath and Kyle Fogerty, sophomore Justin Lawrence and freshman Bryce Christensen were beat out the first night.
Senior Cory Schaeffer, sophomores Jerret Zierenberg and Josh Post and freshman Hunter Mckim were beat out Saturday morning.
Unfortunately, senior Cole Swierczek had a concussion and was not able to compete in districts his senior year.
