Archive for Thursday, January 28, 2010

BSHS wrestler Seaton is top dog at Husky Invitational

By Nick Bates

January 28, 2010

Bonner Springs traveled to the always-tough Blue Valley Northwest Husky Invitational on Friday and Saturday, and the Braves came away scratching their heads.

They placed 11th out of 22 teams and had some very good individual victories. They had three medalists but as a team, they still seem to be searching for an identity.

First-year coach Brandon Jobe was pleased with what he saw out of his top-tier wrestlers, but he said he also sees a lot of room for improvement.

“I am very pleased with Caleb Seaton, Aaron Puckett, Jonathan Blackwell and Jake Barren,” Jobe said. “They wrestled extremely tough, battling through every match, (but) we did not score many backside points in this tournament. (A lot) of guys (won only one match or lost both matches). We have to compete better and wrestle to our strengths.”

The tournament included 34 wrestlers ranked in the top of their individual class, so there was talent everywhere.

BSHS features one of those ranked wrestlers in Seaton. He’s ranked fourth in Class 5A at 119 pounds, but he was the top wrestler in his weight class during the tournament. He won all four of his matches, two of them by pin, and placed first. He beat Colby Witten of Maize (No. 3 in Class 6A) in the finals, 11-7.

Puckett, a freshman, demonstrated his toughness while turning in a 3-1 record for the tournament. He placed second in the 140-pound weight class and continues to get better each week.

After losing to Gardner-Edgerton senior Micah Flora-Swick at the Dick Burns Mat Classic two weeks ago, Puckett was able to exact revenge against the third-ranked wrestler in Class 5A. It was not even close this time as Puckett dominated the match with an 8-0 major decision. In the finals, Puckett lost 10-4 to Louisburg’s Bryce Hood (No. 2 in Class 4A).

Blackwell wrestled hard all weekend, and then placed fourth at 130 pounds with a 3-2 record. He lost a close match to Turner’s Forrest Carroll (No. 4 in Class 5A) in the semifinals, and lost an overtime match for third place against Kevin O’Grady of Blue Valley West (No. 6 in Class 6A).

Barren, Bonner’s senior heavyweight, had his best tournament of the season with a 2-2 record for the weekend. His two victories came by pin in the first period. He was only seconds away from placing before being taken down at the buzzer of his fourth match.

Freshman 103-pounder Justus Seaton lost two close decisions to top-6 ranked wrestlers in Class 6A.

Maize High School won the tournament.

“We had some very big wins in this always-tough tournament,” Jobe said of the weekend. “We have a busy week (coming up) and must stay focused.”

Bonner played host to a junior varsity dual meet on Tuesday and the varsity will participate in a dual today at Santa Fe Trail. The Braves picked up a tournament at Osawatomie for a few varsity and junior varsity wrestlers on Saturday for competitive experience.

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