Limited Highland grapplers finish 6th in MVC Duals at Mascoutah High School
It has been a strange, unique and trying season for Highland wrestling coach Terry Ohren and his Bulldogs mat men.
The Bulldogs did not start the 2021 season until late April due to the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Monday, May 24, the Bulldogs — going with just three wrestlers — turned in a fifth place finish in the team standings of the Mississippi Valley Conference Duals at Mascoutah High School.
“We came out with the guys we had and did what we could out here,” Ohren said.
In the Bulldogs final match of the day, Highland squared off and lost to Waterloo. HHS had Trevor Bowman wrestle at 182 pounds, followed by Aiden Conrad at 170 pounds, and Phoenix Lewis wrestling in the 120 class.
Due to a lack of wrestlers, Highland forfeited all of the other weight classes in the match and finished sixth.
Bowman started off decently in his match but lost by pin to Drew Rose of Waterloo late in the first period. Conrad lost by pin to Jordan Summers of Waterloo in his match at 170 pounds.
Lewis took on Waterloo’s Gavin Hearren and battled but fell behind 9-1 late in the second period before losing the match.
Despite the loss, Lewis, who has wrestled well all season, finished as a second team all-conference selection thanks to his performance at the meet.
“Lewis was guaranteed to be first or second all-conference coming into the match depending on whether he won or lost, so he did pretty well,” Ohren said.
Like every other area wrestling program, HHS had its winter upended by the pandemic and it forced Ohren into a situation where the Bulldogs program was forced to compete with fall sports such as football and boys soccer and spring sports such as boys tennis, baseball, and track and field.
The Bulldogs started the season with 11 wrestlers and the pandemic was a key factor in stealing roster depth along with other sports going at the same time.
“It (the pandemic) set me back big time because I was fighting against baseball, track, soccer, and tennis and all that and in a normal season, all I’m competing against is basketball,” Ohren said. “This year after football season was over, the guys came (in) and had three days to teach them everything I could teach them and then we had our first match (April 29).
“In a normal season I would have two weeks and this year I had to pound everything I could into them and try to make respectable looking wrestlers out of them on the mat.”
Other wrestlers such as Dylan Beadle were lost to concussion protocol and standouts Tanner Schranz and Brody Lewis decided early in the season not compete this spring for personal reasons.
Highland coach pleased with team, looks forward to next season
In spite of the defections and attrition, Ohren has been pleased with the work of Bowman, Conrad, and Lewis.
“They’ve been doing pretty decent this year considering most of them never wrestled before in their lives,” Ohren said. “They’re sticking with the program and that’s the main thing and all that counts.”
Ohren said the main goal for the program during the final of week of the season is to train and learn and have some fun while doing those things and hopefully be better prepared for what presumably will be a more normal season next winter.
HHS will finish the spring 2021 season at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 1, with a road tri-match at Waterloo against Waterloo and Metro East Lutheran and then will host Belleville West and Hillsboro in a home tri-match at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 3.
This story was originally published May 25, 2021 at 10:24 AM.