Wrestlers see lots of action, many big wins
RANDOLPH –With the remnants of the winter storm that paralyzed Northeast Nebraska, the Randolph Cardinals wrestling teams took to a busy week to catch up on what it had missed as the cold took its toll earlier this month.
The Randolph boys wrestled three times last week while the girls were busy over the whole last weekend and with good results.
The boys
The Cardinals wrestled Cedar Catholic last week and came away with some big wins. Cole Jensen (120), Owen Junck (132), Bryson Eledge (138), Gavin Wortman (165), Justin Backer (175) and Gage Jensen (190) all battled one of the most improved programs in small school wrestling as Backer and Gage Jensen came away with win.
They then headed to the West Holt Invitational and four of the eight wrestlers medaled for Randolph.
Aiden Gubbels (285) took second place, Gage Jensen and Cole Jensen both finished fourth in their respective weight classes and Wortman captured third.
Randolph continued its week hosting a triangular against Osmond and Creighton for Parents Night and the Cardinals won both duals.
They then wrapped up the week at the Plainview Invitational and took third place with seven of eight athletes grabbing a medal.
Cole Jensen and Backer claimed the top prizes in their brackets as Gage Jensen and Gubbels were second, Wortman ended up third, and Junck and Eledge hauled back fifth-place results to Randolph.
“I feel like we did pretty good and you can see the little improvement for how little practice you have to be just on little things like moving our shoes, staying on our toes and everything,” Wortman said. “Our shots and everything have been getting better throughout the week.
The girls
The Lady Cardinals also wrestled in Plainview and then Norfolk Catholic last weekend.
Gracie Wortman placed in both tournaments – third in Plainview and second in Norfolk.
Catching up
The teams went to Winnebago Tuesday to make up a conference meet that was halted earlier this month due to weather. Then next weekend, the postseason starts for the girls at sub-district and the boys head to Wakefield.
“Both teams looked good this weekend and are preparing to peak in time for the postseason,” Randolph head coach Mark Lech said.
Gavin Wortman acknowledged that the snow days slowed his team’s roll but might have come in at a beneficial time.
“For a lot of people on the team, I know it was really great, because just being able to rest and recover from practice and meets and everything,” he said. “It was just a really nice feeling. It was definitely a second wind. When the season starts, everyone’s excited to go and then as you go through the season, you get tired. Your body is all worn down.
So, two weeks of doing mostly nothing and just being able to relax … it’s super.
“When people got back from that break, it was like everyone was energized and ready to get back into it.”