Injuries. Close calls. Bad breaks.
It all added up to a tough weekend for the Boone Central/Newman Grove Cardinals in the B-3 District wrestling tournament at York.
Although the cooperative effort with Newman Grove has, indeed, been beneficial this year – adding quality competitors and much-needed depth to the Cardinal mat program – it was not enough in the end to keep BC/NG from being shut out in the bid for state tournament qualifiers for the first time in program history (dating to 1965).
Veteran Cardinal Coach Dale Bonge was not displeased with the efforts by his squad – to a large extent, the Boone Central/Newman Grove wrestlers were simply the victims of circumstance.
Two of BC/NG’s top varsity wrestlers were unable to compete in the B-3 meet due to physical ailments and a third suffered serious injury early in his initial match Friday. Several Cardinals were on the cusp of a trip to Omaha, but came an agonizing victory short of qualification.
All in all, Cardinal frustration.
“We are definitely not disappointed in the young men, as their efforts were outstanding,” Bonge stated. “We just could not get a few breaks to go our way when we needed them.
“Steven Arreguin, Dakota Ruhnke and Ethan Wilke all made it to within one match of qualifying for state.”
Complete district results in Print & Online editions of Albion News
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