Wrestlers grapple with success

RANDOLPH –It was a busy weekend for Randolph wrestling as both the boys and girls were able to partake in plenty of contentious tournaments.

The girls and head coach Mark Lech traveled to Elgin last Friday while the boys headed to Wisner.

The Lady Cardinals had four girls compete with Karma Henry and Eva Bermel both in the 110-pound bracket, Gracie Wortman (120) and Emilee Olson (125) all making the trip.

“All four girls wrestled well with Eva seeing her first live competition this year,” Lech said.

Wortman led the Cardinals with a secondplace finish; Olson placed third and Henry and Bermel both medaled as well at fifth and sixth place, respectively.

“The team placed in the middle of the pack in team standings which is excellent with only four girls wrestling,” Lech said. “It was good to see all four girls make it back into competition as the team has been battling some nagging injuries and sickness. With Emilee being our only experienced wrestler, the team gains a lot each time they participate in a large tournament.”

The boys were able to bring back four medals to Randolph and the team finished fifth out of 17 teams.

Aiden Gubbels (third, 285), Gage Jensen (third, 190), Justin Backer (fourth, 175) and Gavin Wortman (fourth, 165) led the Cardinals’ charge up to the medal podium.

“We had other wrestlers finish in the top six of their brackets, but the tournament only medaled to four places,” Lech said. “It took all of the team and their multiple wins and pins to propel the Cardinals this high in the team standings.”

Bermel is appreciative of the opportunity to be on the mat representing the Cardinals.

Girls wrestling as a sanctioned sport has been an “amazing” opportunity not only for Bermel but for others just like her, she said.

“It’s a great opportunity for other people that didn’t want to go out for basketball or didn’t like the co-op with Osmand,” she said. “It’s another opportunity and there’s been years we’ve had girls come through Randolph that wanted to do wrestling, but they couldn’t because it just wasn’t a thing back then and it was the way it was.”

Bermel said that the girls squad is a mix of athletes that wanted to try something new and others where the sport may just be baked into their DNA.

“For me, it was spur of the moment, but the rest of my team, it was like built into them, it’s been that way,” she said. “They were meant to be wrestlers. Their family had been wrestling for forever, so they were going to do it.”

Bermel joins the elite few first-time wrestlers on the squad.

“We’ve had two really experienced wrestlers on the team and their records are phenomenal,” she said. “There’s two like me, we’re first-year wrestlers so, we’re doing what we can to try to perform like the rest of them.”

The girls wrestled Monday at Summerland and then will break until after Christmas.

See a recap of how well they fared in next week’s Randolph Times.

After the holiday break, both teams will get right back to it, Lech said, with the girls team headed to Winnebago Dec. 29, and the boys traveling to Ord Dec. 30.

“As the first part of the season wraps up I want to thank all of the freshmen wrestlers and first-time wrestlers,” Lech said. “They have all stepped up and immediately entered into varsity competition and have contributed greatly.

I especially give thanks to my two first time wrestling seniors Joe Miller and Eva Bermel.

Both chose to try a sport that is physically and mentally demanding in their final year of high school. The have done well already and look forward to the rest of the season.”