Hononegah Kids Club Have Very Strong Showings at IKWF Kids Open and Marengo Cabin Fever Tournaments
The Hononegah Kids Club wrestlers have continued to have strong performance over the past two weekends.
On Sunday January 18, twenty Hononegah wrestlers competed in the IKWF Jon Davis Kids Open with almost 1500 other wrestlers from across the state. This tournament is unique in a number of ways. Wrestlers get the opportunity to compete in a large venue in front of a crowd of thousands of people. They get to see competition from other areas of the state. All Hononegah wrestlers go down the day before the actual tournament and stay at a hotel, providing a great time to bond and get to know each other for parents and kids alike. Finaly, no coaching is allowed on the floor of the arena.
All of our athletes wrestled hard with 15 coming home with awards. Place winners were as follows:- Tyler Demoss - 2nd place
- Joey Welsh - 5th place
- Benjamin Zalapi - 1st place
- Manny Silva - 5th place
- Nick Carter, 1st place
- Boston Nimmer - 6th place
- Brady Powers - 6th place
- Keegan Powers - 2nd place
- Hayden Brown - 4th place
- Anthony Silva - 6th place
- Braden Zalapi - 3rd place
- Jordan Shahrikian - 3rd place
- Blake Zalapi - 3rd place
- Fernie Silva - 5th place
- Anthony Cicero - 4th place
Congratulations to all!
On Sunday January 25, twenty-one Hononegah wrestlers attended the Marengo Cabin Fever tournament at Marengo High School. We hoped to bring a much larger group of wrestlers to this tournament to defend the team title that we won at last year’s tournament. In spite of our small numbers, we knew we had a strong group that was more than capable of repeating the performance of last year if they wrestled up to their capabilities.
Similar to other tournaments that have team competitions, all teams are asked to designate 10 wrestlers as team scorers. The placements of these 10 wrestlers are used to determine team points as follows:
- 1st place earns 10 team points- 2nd place earns 8 team points
- 3rd place earns 6 team points
- 4th place earns 4 team points
It was somewhat tough to choose 10 wrestlers out of our 21, but at the same time we knew that almost any combination of 10 of our 21 wrestlers were capable of giving us the points we needed to bring home a trophy. However, our actual results exceeded even our own expectations.
For a second consecutive year, we had dominating performances at all levels, enough to earn us 92 out of a possible 100 team points. As I handed our score sheet to the head table, the table worker’s eyes went wide just prior to asking me if I was sure of my math.
As the announcer announced the results of the team competition, our wrestlers who were still there waited in anticipation as they heard, “In 3rd place, with 86 points……the Cary Matmen. In 2nd place with 88 points…..the Dundee Highlanders. And, your 2009 Marengo Cabin Fever champions, winning the team title for the second straight year, with 92 point……Hononegah!”We all proceeded to the awards table to claim a very impressive trophy that stands about 4 feet tall. Make sure you stop into the wrestling room this week to take a look at the trophy. It’s definitely a nice addition to our collection that continues to grow at a steady rate.
Our individual performances for the tournament were as follows:- Brady Powers – 1st place
- Keegan Powers – 2nd place
- Braden Zalapi – 1st place
- Blake Zalapi – 2nd place
- Ben Zalapi – 2st place
- Dominic Cascio – 3rd place
- Anthony Casio – 1st place
- Giovanni Cassioppi – 1st place
- Anthony Cassioppi – 1st place
- Louden Schnake – 4th place
- Xander Schanke – 1st place
- Ryan Spranger – 2nd place
- Hunter Comstock – 4th place
- Josh Lester – 2nd place
- Seth Wisowaty – 1st place
- Jordan Shahrikian – 3rd place
- Zach Mooney – 1st place
- Thomas Rollette – 3rd place
- Kameron VanTassel – 3rd place
- Tyler Brugman – Injury Default
- Josh Willi – 1st place
Congratulations to all who wrestled and coached.
Lastly, I would like to thank the many people who volunteered to work our first ever beginners tournament on Saturday January 24. The tournament was a huge success and we could not have done it without all of the wonderful volunteers.Almost 250 wrestlers competed in the tournament from numerous clubs across the northern part of the state. Every wrestler had at least 2 matches. Our club had over 60 1st/2nd year wrestlers compete. Many wrestlers picked up their first wins, first pins, first 1st place finishes, etc. The great performances were many and all kids should be proud of how they wrestled.
The tournament could not have run more smoothly, with the final matches ending just after 12:30 pm. At the end of the tournament, our outstanding volunteers worked together to have everything torn down and put away by about 1 pm. We received compliments and thanks from numerous coaches and parents on the event. Kudos to everyone involved in making this tournament a success.
Comments
Thanks to all coaches!!
Posted by: Andrea Carter | January 26, 2009 08:07 PM