Hansen and Sander lock up another pair of titles, Spartans head to Treynor Monday for third competition in five days
By Drew Herron - AJ/NT Sports / Jan. 12, 2014
COON RAPIDS – Exira-EHK placed a pair of individual champions, with a third and fourth place medal as well Saturday at the 33rd annual Coon Rapids-Bayard Invite.
Junior Evan Hansen (182) and Trey Sander (195) both cleaned up on the front side, and each dominated their way to seizing the wall charts in a competitive 10-team tourney.
South Central Calhoun crowned three individual champions and staved off Audubon (203.5 to 181.5) in a two-team race for the team trophy.
Exira-EHK finished seventh of 10 with nine weight classes filled.
As we shift modes to mid-January, this was just about what the Spartans are hoping for.
“I was glad to see some good competition, and I am real pleased with how our guys performed,” head coach Rick Andersen says. “All the way from top to bottom, I was pleased with the whole thing.”
Hansen, the top-ranked wrestler in 1A, used a pin, a major decision and a 7-0 decision in the finals against Guthrie Center’s Andrew Laabs to win the title at 182 and push his record this season to 28-0. The opponents have faced each other half a dozen times, most recently about 40 hours earlier at the quad-meet in Elk Horn.
“Evan’s wrestled (Laabs) quite a few times, hopefully he’s done with him for a while, maybe until State,” coach Andersen joked.
At 195, Sander rode a bye and a 15-2 major decision into his finals match against SC Calhoun’s Rylan Richardson, the No. 5 ranked individual at 182 pounds. In the championship, Sander and Richardson showed minimal offense and both did a little feeling out as they circled and tested each other’s perimeter early on.
After taking a slight 1-0 lead into the third period, Sander opened the match up at about the five-minute mark, and dominated the rest of the way before finishing off Richardson via pin at 5:53.
“He’s heavy on the head, and he wears on you,” coach Andersen says of Sander. “Trey is strong, and he stays in good position, and he was just looking for his opportunity. When the other kid gets tired, Trey knows to make his move.”
The march to the crown for both Hansen and Sander was earned in these weight classes that plugged in a combined seven ranked individuals. Hansen worked his way through two state place winners from a year ago, and four guys ranked somewhere according to the latest ratings by The Predicament (Jan. 9).
“Whenever you are able to come to a tournament like this, it is only going to make you better at the end of the year,” coach Andersen says. “Everyone showed some promise today, and that is what I am most pleased about.”
Also scoring points for the Spartans Saturday, Lane Ring medaled third at 285, and Austin Malloy was fourth at 120.
The Spartans are in the midst of busy five-day stretch that puts them in a tournament in a two quad-meets from Thursday to Monday.
Monday night’s competition brings the short turnaround as the Spartans will head to Treynor for another quad with West Monona, Missouri Valley and the host Cardinals.
The will likely mean the Spartans’ coaching staff will be forced to worked with a sore and tired group that will have to the do the bulk of its practice work later in the week, leading up to next Saturday’s Griswold Dual Tournament.
“It is a lot of competition to get through in five days” coach Andersen says. “But we’ll be ready. We’ve got some thing to work on, and we’re ready to get back to work on them to keep getting better.”
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