Christmas vacation has not meant a break for Polk County’s wrestling team.
Far from it, in fact. By the time Polk County students return to school on Monday, the Wolverines will have wrestled 17 dual matches since the end of the fall semester. That includes Thursday’s quad match at Polk County Middle School, during which Polk swept a pair of conference opponents and scored a non-conference victory as well.
Those three wins – 63-6 over Patton, 54-24 over East Rutherford and 59-21 over Lincoln Charter – improved the Wolverines’ record to 23-4, proof that the extra effort team members are providing is producing desired results.
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“We’re doing all this stuff over Christmas break and a lot of people just aren’t willing to do this,” said Polk County head coach Thomas Hensley. “Obviously, we need time off, and we took some time off. But we need to keep getting better at wrestling.”
Whether at their best or not, the Wolverines certainly had too much strength Thursday for their three foes. Forfeits hampered Patton, the Panthers not fielding wrestlers in six classes, and East Rutherford also forfeited four classes. But Polk still easily controlled both of those conference bouts, improving to 3-0 in Mountain Foothills 7 matches.
That keeps the Wolverines on a collision course with R-S Central, currently undefeated and the second-ranked 2A team in the state in the RankWrestlers system used for official state seedings. Polk County is ranked third in 1A, which means Tuesday’s meeting at Polk between the two programs will not only feature two of the state’s top squads, but also will likely decide the MF7 regular-season champion.
The Wolverines haven’t won a regular-season conference title since 2004, but Hensley isn’t worrying about that match just yet, instead only looking ahead to Saturday’s Enka Duals. R-S Central will be there as well, which could make for an interesting decision for the two coaches.
“They’re one of the best teams in 2A and we’re one of the best teams in 1A, so we’re really excited about wrestling (Tuesday),” Hensley said. “But we’re not going to look too far ahead. We could theoretically wrestle R-S Central this weekend. If their coach wants to wrestle, we’ll wrestle. If he wants to double forfeit, we’ll double forfeit.
“Last year we split. We won the (conference tournament) and they won the duals. We’re going to try to win both, but we’re going to take it from meet to meet.”
POLK COUNTY 63, PATTON 6
106: Cole Huntley (PC) by forfeit
113: Liam Jackson (PC) by forfeit
120: Efrain Rivera (PC) by forfeit
126: Amon Villarreal (PC) by forfeit
132: Brody Wolfe (PC) p. Cayden Marshall
138: Conner Ahlert (PC) p. Gabriel Puac Miguel
144: Luke Parker (PATT) p. Evan McCraw
150: Jayvin Clark (PC) by forfeit
157: Carson Bell (PC) d. Cavan Sullivano, 6-3
165: Styler Blackwell (PC) d. Nicholas Parlier, 7-1
175: Zachary McCraw (PC) tech. fall Burke Wilson, 17-2
190: Chester Wilson (PC) p. Ryan Vue
215: Callum Eadus (PC) maj. dec. Brady Christian, 8-0
285: Double forfeit
POLK COUNTY 54, EAST RUTHERFORD 24
106: Cole Huntley (PC) by forfeit
113: Marcus Short (ER) p. Liam Jackson
120: Efrain Rivera (PC) p. Sergio Hill
126: Amon Villarreal (PC) p. Jeffery Camp
132: Brody Wolfe (PC) p. Caleb Medford
138: Conner Ahlert (PC) by forfeit
144: Alex Lane (ER) p. Evan McCraw
150: Jayvin Clark (PC) d. Rashid Hill, 10-7
157: Carson Bell (PC) by forfeit
165: Styler Blackwell (PC) d. Ranger Freeman, 7-2
175: Zalen McCraw (PC) p. Barry Huntley
190: Chester Wilson (PC) by forfeit
215: Logan Diehm (ER) p. Brady Carroll
285: Colby Pack (ER) by forfeit
POLK COUNTY 59, LINCOLN CHARTER 21
106: Cole Huntley (PC) p. Elijah Overkamp
113: Liam Jackson (PC) p. Tyklan Negroni
120: Efrain Rivera (PC) p. Jacob Wright
126: Amon Villarreal (PC) tech. fall Tanner Berg, 16-0
132: Brody Wolfe (PC) p. James Barton
138: Lucas Holden (LC) by forfeit
144: Connor Ahlert (PC) p. Brandt Wallen
150: Chris Aparicio (LC) p. Jayvin Clark
157: Carson Bell (PC) p. Favod Johnson
165: Styler Blackwell (PC) p. Steven Willis
175: Zalen McCraw (PC) p. David Morrow
190: Chester Wilson (PC) p. Jackson Baker
215: Zakil Beamer (LC) maj. dec. Brady Carroll, 20-11
285: Jaece Absher (LC) by forfeit
