Highland wrestlers defeat Althoff, Carlyle & Metro-East Lutheran in season finale match
Highland’s wrestling team enjoyed a superb regular season finale Monday, Jan. 23
The Bulldogs defeated Althoff Catholic, Carlyle, and Metro-East Lutheran in a Senior Night quad match at Highland High School.
“The ones that wrestled (for us) wrestled pretty well,” Highland coach Shorty Ohren said. “Dalton (Bailint) wrestled against Carlyle’s state champ (at 120 pounds), and he got beat, but he wrestled real good, and I was impressed there.”
Highland seniors Aiden Conrad and Will Jones were honored before the match as Highland started the night by hammering Althoff 60-12.
HHS won matches at 106, 120, 132, 138, 152, 170, 182, 195 and 220 pounds by forfeit.
Thomas Mitchell won one of the two matches wrestled by the Bulldogs over Steven Ache of Althoff by tech fall in the 160-pound class. Althoff’s Jakobi Tow defeated Logan Hoppes in the other wrestled match at 145 pounds.
“He’s peaking out now, and now he’s starting to shoot and recover. He’s doing ankle picks and stuff as big as he is, and he’s finally controlling the (other) guys, which he wasn’t doing most of the season,” Ohren said.
Top forfeit winners for HHS included Tyson Rakers at 132 pounds, Jones at 138 pounds, August Rottman at 170 pounds, Conrad at 182 pounds, and Ashton Zobrist at 220 pounds.
HHS then defeated Carlyle in the second match of the night.
“Our kids are starting to peak and this is the time of the season they need to be peaking, so that is a bonus for us,” Ohren said.
That led the Bulldogs into their final evening match and they rolled over Metro-East Lutheran 54-18.
“It was just because we had more kids (than them), but I think if we just went head-to-head with what they had, we would have beaten them no matter what,” Ohren said. “My kids are working hard now.”
Top winners in the match for Highland included Mitchell over Metro-East’s Landon Jones by fall at 160 pounds and Ethan Greenwalt over MELH’s Caleb Probasco by fall at 195 pounds. HHS claimed 13 forfeits to take the match easily.
Next up is the MVC Duals
Now the Bulldogs turn their focus to the Mississippi Valley Conference Duals on Saturday, Jan. 28, at Mascoutah.
Individually, Ohren expects Rakers (132 pounds), Zobrist (220 pounds), Gavin Merkle (106 pounds), and Bailint (106 pounds) to have a good chance to qualify for sectionals and place in the conference meet. Rottmann will compete at 170 pounds in the meet.
“She’s lost only one match against a girl and we’re looking forward to her going and bringing home the gold this year,” Ohren said.
As far as potential team finishes go, HHS hopes to be somewhere in the mix of teams this weekend.
“I’m forfeiting three weight classes now instead of just two since we lost our heavyweight (Cam England) as he did something to his elbow the other night at practice,” Ohren said. “He’s out for three to four weeks, so we’re hoping to be in the middle of the pack.”