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Warriors tame Bulldogs, fall prey to Dragons

Sports reporter

It's been one of those years for Chad Adkins and the Marion High School wrestling team.

The kind of year where you look back and say, "If not for those injuries we would have been really good."

"The luck is just not with us for some reason," Adkins said Thursday night after defeating Chase County and falling to Halstead in a double dual.

Don't think that was a complaint from Adkins. Instead it was the fifth-year coach facing reality.

"There is nothing we can really do about that," he said. "We're just going to keep hitting them hard and get as many out to [state] as we can, and go from there and build for the future."

That's exactly what the Warriors did in both matches, especially their first dual with former CVL mate, Chase County.

An injury to 103-pounder Logan Richmond forced Marion to forfeit the opening weight class. It was up to senior Chelsea Arnhold to keep Marion from falling in an early hole.

The three-time state qualifier shook off a week-and-a-half long illness, to completely dominate Chase County's Ross Eidman.

Arnhold had Eidman on his back the entire match, leaving him with little room to attempt any moves.

Arnhold piled up back points, leading 12-0 heading into the final period. While she failed to get the pin, three straight points in the third period led to a five-point tech fall, and a 15-0 victory. Arnhold also won her match in the Halstead Dual, completing her perfect night.

"Those were a couple of big wins — and she needed them," Adkins said. "She came back strong, which I expected."

The next five matches belonged to the Warriors, with Riley Ross and Charlie Holub winning by forfeit.

At 125 pounds, freshman Hank Collett defeated Aaron Ward 7-2, John Barr pinned Nathan Phipps in 1:18 in the 135-pound clash, and sophomore Ben Leppke picked up his first varsity victory with a pin in 3:06 in the 140-pound class.

The five straight victories helped Marion to a 32-6 lead, with its only defeat a forfeit.

Two of the next three matches went to the Bulldogs because of injury openings for Marion.

Junior Casey Nelson continued the winning trend with a pin of Dusty Martin at the 2:58 mark of the 152-pound dual.

Another open for Marion at 160 left the score 38-18 in favor of the Warriors.

At 171, senior Chris Freeby lost a rare match, falling 11-6 to Lee Heinten.

Junior Adam Depler finished off his opponent, Kyle Smith, in 2:49, to give Marion the victory.

Openings at 215 and 275 didn't affect the Warriors, as they rolled to the 43-33 victory.

"That was probably one of the biggest dual victories we've ever had," Adkins said.

That was because they won with only seven wrestlers, finishing 6-1 in matches actually wrestled.

The second dual wasn't as successful for the Warriors, but they didn't go down without a fight.

Marion won 3-of-7 matches wrestled, falling to its league foe, 42-30.

Giving up 30 points because of injury forfeits proved too much against the talented Dragons.

Arnhold, Nelson, and Holub picked up victories for the Warriors, enabling them to finished 9-5 in matches wrestled. Despite the injuries, any coach would like to go 2-0, but Adkins was happy with his team's performance.

"We lost a couple of matches we could have won," Adkins said. "But it was a phenomenal effort by these guys."

Holub had the fastest pin of the night, with his 31-second dispatch of Halstead's Jacob Clark. Arnhold claimed the biggest defeat, 15-0, against Eidman.

Marion had this past weekend off, and will compete at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Chase County Dual.

Adkins welcomed the break.

"We need it right now," he said. "We've been sick and we just need some time to recoup and hit this next month strong."

Injury bug

Richmond's injury and Arnhold's illness weren't the only problems for the Warriors.

Former state qualifier Drew Looper re-dislocated his shoulder Jan. 22 at the Eureka Invitational. The senior was expected to be fully healthy and had just returned from the injury after winter break. Surgery is expected, and he will miss the rest of the season.

As will Hunter Spencer, a freshman who the Warriors thought had recovered from an ankle injury. The doctors haven't cleared him yet to wrestle, and most likely won't this season.

JV tournament

Two wrestlers represented Marion Jan. 22 at the junior varsity Leon-Bluestem tournament. Both left without a blemish on their record.

Freshman Justin Jacobson and Logan Richmond both finished 5-0 to claim first place in their weight classes. Richmond competed in the 103-pound class and Jacobson the 125-pound class.

Unfortunately, Richmond's knee injury occurred in his final match, leaving him out indefinitely for the rest of the season.

It was the final JV tournament of the season.

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