The Jag wrestling team was able to hit the road Friday, December 10, heading west to Mapleton for a nine team Invitational. The Jaguars had eight of fourteen weights entered; three Jags advanced to the finals, 113 lbs. Freshman Colin Johnson, 126 lbs. Senior Caelen Oakes-Sudish, and 138 lbs. Sophomore Caleb Will. 132 lbs. Junior Kaden Holder and 160 lbs. Junior Grant Smith placed third. Senior 145 lbs Kyle Johnson placed sixth, and the two big guys at the top, 220 lbs. Sophomore Nate Graves and Heavyweight Sophomore Ryan Wicklein had rougher nights and didn't place. 

Oakes wrestled a nice tournament. He had a good opponent in the finals that pushed him the whole match. He needed a tough match to get his body in good wrestling shape. Fifth seeded Colin Johnson pinned the fourth seeded wrestler, then pinned the #1 seed to advance to his first Varsity finals before succumbing to his Sioux City East opponent. In maybe the biggest story of the night, 7th seed Caleb Will pinned the #2 seed from South Central and beat the #3 seed from MV-AO 10-7 in the semi's to also make his first finals. Will was pinned by a tough West Monona opponent in the finals. 

Kaden Holder had a fine night placing third. In the semis Holder jumped out on top of his West Monona putting him on his back twice but couldn't quite secure the pin. His opponent returned the favor and put Holder on his back and recorded the fall. 

Our young team took some small steps forward Friday night. The lower weights wrestled harder and stayed in better position not giving up big moves, but our upper weights still are learning, struggling at times to not give up the big moves which puts them on their backs. 

Team Scores

1 West Monona 226.5

2 Manson Northwest Webster 157.0

3 Denison-Schleswig 153.0

4 Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto Hs 152.5

5 Sioux City East 128.0

6 South Central Calhoun 117.5

7 Southeast Valley 106.5

8 ArchBishop Bergan Catholic 92.0

9 Tri-Center 70.0