Kids Club Heads South for Edwardsville Open

(12/22/2007)

The Mt. Zion Kids Club had another great day at the Edwardsville Open.  The tournament had close to 900 participants and traditionally plays host to the best competition from Downstate Illinois and Missouri.  

The team competed very well with every member winning at least one match.  They had an overall record of 17-15 with 3 1st place finishes.  

In the Tots Division (5-6), Kooper Loehr was unstopable winning 3 consecutive matches en route to a 1st place finish.  John Bowling continued to wrestle well with a 4th place finish.  Andrew Wike found himself in the middle of a tough bracket and still battled to a 5th place finish.

In the Bantam Division (7-8), Grant Edwards and Zach Lane both fought their way to the title match, but lost close matches in finals for 2nd place finishes.  Nate Bowling had a good day, but lost a few close matches finishing in 6th place.

In the Midget Division (9-10), Ryan Scharf finished in 1st Place.  1st year wrestler, Paxton Lane continues to improve and finished with a solid 4th place finish.  Matthew Wike lost to a very tough first round opponent, but rebounded to a 6th place finish.  

In the Novice Division (11-12), Jake Eckenrod was spectacular.  He started the day with a tough first round win over a wrestler from O' Fallon.  He then fought his way through the semi-finals with a win over a Fisher wrestler.  In the finals, he met a wrestler from Mt. Vernon Indiana.  Jake led the entire match eventually winning by fall in the 2nd period.  Ryan Scharf finished in 4th place. 

Results

Tots

John Bowling–4th, Andrew Wike-5th, Kooper Loehr-1st

Bantam

Grant Edwards–2nd, Zachary Lane–2nd, Nate Bowling–6th 

Midget

Ryan Scharf–1st, Michael Lane–4th, Matthew Wike–6th

Novice

Jake Eckenrod–1st, Ryan Scharf-4th