Short-Handed Hosts Manage Solid Day At Red Devil Dual Wrestling Meet

CHAMINADE HIGH SCHOOL – If the varsity wrestling team had a full unit available to participate in the highly-anticipated Red Devil Duals team meet at the Juergens Gymnasium on Saturday, chances are it would’ve been a wonderful day for the Red Devil program.

Instead, the shorthanded Chaminade squad, which didn’t have enough wrestlers available to legitimately compete against the other seven teams on Saturday, finished last in the team standings, despite a good effort by the five Red Devil wrestlers who did compete.

“Individually, for the guys at the first-string level, they do very well,” said Chaminade assistant wrestling coach Chris Marsek, who was running the show for the Red Devils on Saturday, because head coach Jeff Grace was attending a funeral.

“We’re in the early building stages (for our program). We’re new coaches here. This year is a real building year for us, and we don’t want to push guys into those varsity matches, that aren’t ready, only to have them get discouraged and quit.”

So while teams from Hazelwood East, , Parkway South, St. Mary’s, Vianney, Webster Groves, and Windsor High Schools competed with full squads on Saturday, Chaminade went with its five-man lineup knowing it wouldn’t be able to compete in most of the usual 14 weight classes of a team competition.

What’s remarkable though, is that even though Chaminade took last place, the Red Devils nearly grappled away seventh place from St. Mary’s, when the two teams met during the final round.

The Dragons had 11 wrestlers available and earned six forfeit wins in the seventh place competition against Chaminade.

But the Red Devils won all five actual matches against St. Mary’s, and barely lost the team competition 36-30.

Three of those Chaminade wrestlers in particular had very good days on the mat.

Senior Max Wilhelm, who wrestles in the 160-pound weight class, won all four of his matches, and was one of only 10 of the nearly 100 wrestlers competing Saturday who didn't lose a match all day.

Teammate Will Eicher, a junior, was another competitor who won all four of his matches on Saturday, after claiming three lopsided wins in the 138-pound class during pool play, and another close win in the final round against St. Mary’s.

“Max and Will a very talented guys that are going to have some real success throughout the season,” said Marcek. “We’re looking forward to watching them progress.”

Senior Andrew Still, a 152-pound competitor, won three of his matches in rather dominant fashion, but suffered his lone loss of the day, in a thrilling pool play match against undefeated Tyler Warren of Windsor (MO) High.

“Andrew wrestled great all day,” said Marcek. “He’s a great competitor, and a great kid.”

The team that shined brightest throughout the day, and won the overall competition was the squad from the Ladue.

The Rams won all four of their pool play matches against Parkway South, St. Mary’s, and Vianney, then claimed a surprisingly lopsided 51-21 win in the championship round over Hazelwood East.

“That Ladue team was very impressive,” said Marcek. “We saw them a couple of weeks ago, and they looked great. But I thought Hazelwood East was just fantastic, and for Ladue to beat them they way they did, that just says a lot for what they’re doing over there. The Rams were impressive.”

Parkway South took third, after defeating Windsor 48-32, and Vianney dominated Webster 64-6, to claim fifth place honors.

“We know we’re going to take our lumps,” said Marcek. “But we’d rather have our young guys start a little lower, build their confidence, learn the moves the correct way, then be ready to go when they get to varsity level.”

Chaminade is now off for the rest of 2011, but will be back on the mat in January with four competitions during that first week of the new year.

The Devils will compete tri-meets on January 3, 4, and 5, with the latter being a home competition against John Burroughs and Soldan.

Then, on Saturday, January 7, Chaminade will be one of at least 12 teams competing in the Vianney Tournament at Vianney High School in Kirkwood.

CHAMINADE RED DEVIL DUALS FINAL STANDINGS:

First Place: Ladue (4-0) def. Hazelwood East (3-1) 51-21

Third Place: Parkway South (3-1) def. Windsor (2-2) 48-32

Fifth Place: Vianney (2-2) def. Webster Groves (1-3) 64-6

Seventh Place: St. Mary's (1-3) def. Chaminade (0-4) 36-30