Cardinal wrestlers struggle with filling the roster

The Garner-Hayfield-Ventura wrestling team is struggling with numbers as they open the 2017-18 season.

West Hancock Meet

The Cardinals traveled to Britt on Thursday, Nov. 30. for a dual with West Hancock and Eagle Grove.

Against Eagle Grove, the Cardinals had six forfeits and only managed three wins in a 66-12 loss to the Eagles.  Picking up wins was Luke Brown at 145 pounds earned a 21-14 decision.  Buck Weaver scored a fall at 182 pounds.  Jared Shaw won by forfeit at 152 pounds.

West Hancock also handed the Cardinals a lop-sided loss, 66-12.  The Cardinals forfeited five matches.  Jared Shaw recorded a fallout 152 pounds and Brandon Galkin won his 126-pound match by forfeit.

“We were struggling with numbers at this meet, which makes it hard to compete in duals,” said Coach Cory Jenniges. “We have a hard working group of kids that are only going to get better as the season progresses.  We see improvement every week.”

St. Ansgar Duals

The Cardinals went 0-5 at the St. Ansgar Dual meet on Saturday, Dec. 2.  Forfeits again plagued GHV, making it hard to come up with enough points to compete.

Against Austin, Minn., Drew Faust and Jared Shaw won their matches by fall at 113 and 152-pounds.  Brandon Galkin earned a win with a major decision at 126-pounds and Adam Heflin won by decision at 170-pounds.

The Cardinals scored 24 points against St. Ansgar and picked up five match wins.  Faust recorded a pin at 113-pounds.  Galdin and Shaw won by forfeit.  Luke Brown and Heflin both won by decision.

Against Dubuque Wahlert, GHV only managed to pick up some points on a forfeit to Drew Furst and a decision by Shaw.

GHV had their best match of the day against Westwood, scoring 30 points in a 52-40 loss.  Buck Weaver, Brown and Shaw won their matches by fall.  Furst and Spencer Formanek won by forfeit.

Nashua Plainfield Tournament

On Saturday, Dec. 9, the Cardinals traveled to the Nashua Plainfield Tournament where they finished sixth in the 11-team tournament.  GHV finished with 70 points.  Nashua Plainfield won the meet with 188 points, followed by Hudson with 166 and MFL, MarMac with 165 points.

Drew Furst, at 113-pounds, was the team’s highest finisher with a second place finish.  He won the first two matches by falls and was pinned in round three.

Jared Shaw, at 152-pounds, placed third.  He won by a 10-1 major decision in the quarterfinals; was defeated in the semi-final; came back and won in the consolation round by a fall and won by a 10-1 decision in the 3rd place match.

Spencer Formanek, at 160 pounds and Alex Fullerton, at 220-pounds, both finished in fourth place.

“The kids are competing well for the most part,” said Jenniges.  “Jared Shaw is a our top performer with only one loss on the season.”