Triton Wrestling: Trojans Tie Record En Route To LaVille Title
LAKEVILLE — All in all, Triton’s wrestling team had a pretty fair day at the LaVille Super Duals Saturday. That is, if you consider a perfect 5-0 sweep for the team title and a school record-tying effort fair.
The Trojans swept convincingly through the field at the invitational via some lopsided margins — including wins of 66-0 and 71-3 over Marian and Bremen — and tied a school record for wins in the process by pushing their record out to 15-4 so far with half a season still remaining. Triton’s narrowest margin of victory was a 14-point, 52-28 win over runner-up St. Joseph in the second round of duals. The Trojans completed their sweep with a 48-30 win over host LaVille.
“Coach (Matt) Arvesen and I, we were talking earlier about how many times we’ve been 4-1, 4-1, 4-1, knocking on the door trying to go 5-0. It’s always great when you can go undefeated on the day and give those kids a sense of how that feels so that it’s not foreign to them when they get that opportunity to try and do that again,” said Triton co-head coach Ron Brown.
Three Trojans went unbeaten at LaVille to earn weight class titles Saturday.
James Snyder swept through the field at 182 pounds to win the title there, and wrestling partners D’Angelo Shumpert and Connor Pitney collected titles at 113 and 120, respectively.
“We have iron sharpening iron. They do a great job throughout the week pushing each other, making sure they get the best workouts possible, learning our move sets that we want to see. It’s great that they have each other to feed off of,” said Brown of Shumpert and Pitney.
“Bo is Bo. He does what he does, and it works well for him. He’s kind of hard to pinpoint on what moves he likes to do and all that stuff. He’s doing a good job this year.”
But it took a complete team effort for Triton to clinch a sweep Saturday.
Nate Riggins nearly captured an individual title but suffered a single loss bumping up from his usual 126-pound class to 132 on the way to a 4-1 finish. Bryce Coppes broke into the varsity lineup and recorded four wins Saturday, and Ethan Berry and Billy Smith also put in standout performances in the upper weight categories.
“We have a multitude of kids that are just doing a wonderful job. They’re really pouring themselves into what we’re trying to do here, and it shows. Coach Arvesen has been doing a wonderful job with the technique and making them run specific moves, and you can see that they’re starting to take off. Hopefully the further we go throughout the season we’re going to progress more,” Brown said.
“We have all sorts of kids all over the place that are doing what they’re supposed to be doing, working hard, doing the right things on the mat and in the classroom, so I can’t be more pleased with their effort and how they’re representing our program.”
Tippecanoe Valley also enjoyed a solid finish Saturday, placing fourth with a 2-3 mark in Lakeville. The Vikings’ two wins came over Bremen (54-12) and Marian (60-0) after a slow start in a still-competitive defeat to St. Joe (46-33). They nearly went 3-2 on the day but came up short on a first-score criterion to the Lancers with four first-point scores to five by the hosts, resulting in the narrowest of 41-40 losses after the two finished in a 40-40 draw.
“LaVille was a huge team fight. I know we ended up losing on criteria, but it was a great team effort. Each of the kids bumped up a weight class for us,” explained Valley head coach Kyler Kearby.
“I think the kids battled hard today. They showed a lot of effort, and we’ve just got to keep working on always staying in good position, capitalizing on mistakes and making less mistakes ourselves.”
Valley could at least console itself with four weight class champs.
Halley Hoover was the 106-pound champion after winning via five forfeits, while Jordan Owens and Jon Humes went unbeaten at 145 and 152, respectively, and Isaac Randall continued to polish his technique en route to a perfect finish at 170.
“We have some good individuals,” said Kearby. “Owens, Humes and Randall had a nice day, especially Randall. He wrestled the way he needs to, especially down the road. He looked tough. Owens was a little sloppy, but he’s one that finds ways to win. That’s what he does, and this is his first tournament that he’s ever won, so I know that’s a huge accomplishment for him. Jon Humes just keeps getting better. He gains confidence every time out. It’s nice to have Halley down there as a weapon because a lot of teams anymore don’t have those lightweights.”