Walton advances to state tournament

Highland wrestlers Jesse Hahn, Zach Frank, Todd Hahn, Cody Schneider, and Jake Walton advanced to the district round held at New London February 14, 2009. The following are comments from Coach Clint Jones about each wrestler.
103 Jesse Hahn - Jesse sure wrestled hard on Saturday, but unfortunately, came up three points shy of heading to Des Moines. In his first match against Farris, Farris hit a Kelly for a five point move, that wound up being the difference in the match. Jesse kept wrestling, and scrambled well the remaining part of the match. It was just hard to overcome that five point deficit from the first period. He made quick work of his Van Buren opponent in the 3rd and 4th place match. Then came his second opportunity to get to Des Moines via a wrestleback at 103 against Bukk (Belle Plaine).
Bukk hit a sweep single to lead 2-0 after the first period. In the second, Jesse chose neutral. Again Bukk hit a sweep single, but Jesse kept scrambling. In this process, Jesse reversed Bukk and put Bukk to his back at the very end of the second period to notch the score 4-4. Bukk chose down, and reversed Jesse to win 6-4. It was tough for Jesse, but he wrestled incredibly well that day. He knows he has the talent, and that will drive him for next year.
119 Zach Frank - Zach Frank definitely experienced a roller coaster of a day, along with all of his coaches, relatives, and fans. Zach faced Jake Hopkins of New London/WMU, an opponent he faced two weeks earlier in the conference finals. In this match, Zach took command by taking Hopkins down late in the first period to jump out to an early 2-0 lead. In the second period, he rode Hopkins hard and was totally in control. However, towards the latter part of the second period, Hopkins reached his feet, and Zach elevated him and put him back down to the mat. Unfortunately, Zach was penalized for committing an illegal slam. Since Jake Hopkins could not continue to wrestle due to the illegal hold, Zach lost by disqualification. In his wrestleback match against Grimm of Wapello, Zach was down 5-0 after the first period after having been taken down and put
to his back from a far-side cradle. However, Zach kept wrestling and inching his way closer. In the third period, Zach went on a tear on his feet, taking Grimm down, letting him up, taking him down, letting him up, etc. Eventually Zach wore Grimm down to a point where he took Grimm down to the mat and to Grimm’s back to secure the fall with like 10 seconds remaining in the match. It just shows the guts Zach has. It was incredibly hard for Zach. I sincerely believe Zach was one of the top two wrestlers in this weight class and would be heading to Des Moines had it not been for being disqualified. I know this upset him immensely, as he worked incredibly hard all season, and look for this to fuel him for next year.
130 Todd Hahn - Todd also suffered a roller coaster day, but not nearly to the same extent as Zach. Todd looked great in his opening match, as he used a Cow-Catcher to take Roberts (Eddyville-Blakesburg) down and to his back to secure the fall in just over a minute. He really did a nice job of taking command of that match early. In his finals match against Hinschberger (Belle Plaine), Todd wrestled well the first half of the match, as it was 0-0 heading into the second period. Hinschberger proved to be too much in the end, and was able to take us down in the second period and turn us for some near fall. In the third period, Hinschberger took Todd down again using a double leg takedown. Todd had to wrestle back as Brad Goehring of Van Buren won his consolation wrestleback. Unfortunately, Todd didn’t wrestle his best match against Goehring, as he was thrown to his back in the first period for a five point move, and just had a hard time initiating his offense throughout the match against Goehring. I know a disappointing finish for Todd, especially considering some of the injuries he has battled this season. However, Todd was very positive about it and battled through it really well. He’ll be missed next year.
145 Cody Schneider - Cody discovered Saturday a tough go along with his teammates. Against Boyer (Eddyville-Blakesburg), Boyer was tough to penetrate from the neutral position, and really dictated the ties. Cody hand-fought really hard, but experienced difficulties opening shots against someone like Boyer. In his 3rd and 4th place match, Cody was close to scoring from the front
headlock, but they went out of bounds. When they returned, Thye (Wapello) feinted a shot which caught Cody off balance, and snapped Cody down for a quick go behind. From there, Thye locked up a far side cradle on Cody. I know Cody was also disappointed with not placing higher at Districts, and seeing his prep wrestling career come to an end. However, Cody can feel well about his impact on our program, and everything he has accomplished in this sport. He’s a positive role model and an incredibly hard working individual. It’s apparent as to how he dieted correctly to lose the weight he did from his sophomore year and how much he improved during the last two years. We’ll most certainly miss Cody next year also.
160 Jake Walton - Jake took care of business first round, scoring the fall in the second period against a tough Eddyville-Blakesburg opponent. In the finals, he faced Dylan Schrader. Jake scored the first takedown on a quick Go-Behind in the first period. However, late in that first period, Schrader was coming out from underneath to his feet, and Jake didn’t adjust and move his feet. As a result, Jake was caught flat footed on the back of his heels, and Schrader blasted into Jake to not only reverse him, but put Jake also on his back. Schrader earned the fall, and Rieck of Belle Plaine won his match to force a wrestle back match to determine who would go to state. Fortunately, Jake used some nice takedowns to earn a hard fought win (6-4) over Rieck to garner our only berth to the State Tournament. Jake’s wrestling well, and aside from getting caught in the finals,he has a lot of tools and abilities that enable him to do well at the upcoming State Tournament.