ADEL — Third-ranked 113-pounder Kaleb Olejniczak and sixth-rated 20-pounder Zachary Thompson finished atop the podium at Saturday’s Raccoon River Conference tournament.
Perry ended the day fifth in the eight team meet, but added one runner-up, four fourth place and one fifth place finish to draw the praise of their head coach.
“This is the most intense they have been all year,” Mark Weber said of his Bluejay matmen. “What is great to see as a coach is how we are coming together and competing as a team, which means we must be doing something right in the (training) room.”
Weber said he added a twist to his usual pre-meet talk with the team.
“We have been talking about focus and fight, so today I told them I wanted every single guy to go out there and beat somebody they aren’t supposed to beat, because that would require them to be focused and to fight,” he explained. “With some of the guys I think ‘I want to see him doing this or getting better at this’ but at that end of the day if they are better than they were the day before it is still improvement.”
Ballard scored 236.5 points to win the team title, with Carlisle (174) edging Winterset (171) for second place. ADM (141.5) was fourth and Perry (119.5) fifth, with Bondurant-Farrar (102.5), Boone (98.5) and Carroll (89) completing the field.
While the successes of Olejniczak and Thompson, along with the runner-up placing of 10th-ranked Zach Stewart at 132, was noted, Weber focused on some of Perry other grapplers.
“Jacob Nelson (fourth at 126) and Erick Funez (fifth at 152) stand out because they have been having difficult seasons,” Weber noted. “We have guys who are getting experience at the varsity level they just would not get otherwise and it will pay off for them if they keep working, especially if they work hard in the off season.”
Olejniczak (46-4) blew through his bracket, pinning John Thorne (ADM) in 3 minutes, 22 seconds before nailing Trey Allen (WNT) in 2:46 in the finals.
Thompson (44-5) also faced little trouble, pinning John Thorne (ADM) in 3:22 before scoring a technical fall (15-0, 4:09) over Kaleb Reed (CRL) in his finals.
Stewart (43-8) used a 17-2 tech fall, in 2:40, to top Trenton Cook (WNT) before pinning James Runestad (BNE) in 1:35 to reach the finals. There he encountered Ballard’s Jarrett Miller, who improved to 32-7 with an 8-2 decision that left Stewart in second place.
Tucker Strough (10-20) was fourth at 106, Nelson (8-20) fourth at 126, Adan Medina (15-17) fourth at 170 and Tyler Soll (18-21) fourth at 285 while Funez (9-39) placed fifth at 152.
Also in action, but not placing, were Ever Tobar (138), Miguel Gonzalez (145), Cole Snyder (160) and Juan Campos (195). The Bluejays left both the 182 and 220 pound weight classes open.
