The Perry wrestlers opened their season Thursday by hosting Gilbert, Kuemper Catholic and Roland-Story for a quadrangular.
Perry opened their action with a 51-28 win over Roland-Story before topping Kuemper Catholic, 57-24. Gilbert escaped with a 42-36 win over the hosts after the teams entered their final match tied at 36-all.
Bluejay head coach Mark Weber said there were plenty of lessons to be learned from the first competition of the season, but said his overriding reaction was one of satisfaction.
“I was very happy to see how hard our guys went out there and fought, both varsity and junior varsity,” he said. “The other thing that stands out is how engaged the entire team was. The bench was rooting our guys on, celebrating with them when they won and picking them up when they didn’t. We were paying attention, were involved and were good teammates to each other, and, as a coach, that was very pleasing to see.”
Perry filled all 14 weight classes while Gilbert gave the hosts four forfeits, Kuemper Catholic awarded five forfeits and Roland-Story ceded six six-point forfeits to their hosts.
Five Perry matmen finished 3-0. Second-ranked 138-pounder Kaleb Olejniczak broke a sweat only while warming up, as the senior standout received three forfeits. Erick Funez (160 pounds) used a take down in the final 10 seconds of his match against Gilbert to score a 6-4 decision, adding the win to two forfeits he received. Jacob Nelson (132) and Justin Stammer (152) each won by pin, decision and forfeit, with Cole Nelson (106) recording one pin while being given two forfeits.
Quinn Helmers was 2-1 at 170 pounds with a pair of pins, with Wilber Ramirez (145) 2-1 with a pin and a forfeit, Cole Snyder (182) 2-1 with a decision and a forfeit and Zach Darr (220) 2-1 with two forfeits.
Cristian Chavez (126) recorded a pin in finishing 1-2, with Riece Graham (113) and Luke Holtorf (285) both 1-2 with wins via forfeit.
Chris Simmons (120) and Rylee Ray (195) were also in action for the Bluejay matmen but were unable to come away with a win.
Bryan Funez, Jason Zepeda, Tanner Burgin and Emanuel Soto won their junior varsity matches (Soto was 1-1), Ian Castellanos, Jose Flores, Alan Gomez, Carlos Gonzalez and Sebastian Hernandez also seeing time on the JV mats.
Perry will send the varsity to the Harlan Invitational Saturday, with the JV Jays to compete at Des Moines North. Perry will then visit Montezuma Tuesday for a quadrangular that will also include Ogden and Woodward-Granger.
