Highland wrestling team hosts Gary Curtis Invitational

The 51st annual Gary Curtis Invitational was held at Highland High School Saturday, Jan. 7, where the smaller home team finished the day in 11th place out of 12 teams.

Cullen Klebe (113) came in fourth place and scored 11 points. He won the quarterfinals by fall over Henry May in 0:57.

He lost the semifinals to Samuel Loyd from New London by fall in 1:53. He lost the third place match to Talen Dengler from West Liberty by fall in 4:12.

After the day was over, Coach Clint Jones talked about the tournament and how well everyone did.

He said of Klebe, ?We need to steer him from wrestling from his knees and to keep moving. Cullen is showing some bursts of intensity and hits some good maneuvers, but he needs to continually work on improving position. He?s definitely made progress on his finishes from his leg attacks.?

Cory Stewart (132) came in fourth place and scored 10.5 team points. He won the quarterfinals by a 17-2 technical fall over Tanner Rios from Regina.

He lost the semifinals by an 11-9 decision to Javis Krieger from New London. He lost the third place match by fall in 3:52 to Noah Bierman from West Liberty.

?He?s offensively oriented, as Cory likes to score from executing his shots,? Jones said.

Brady Hahn (138) came in sixth place and scored seven team points. He lost the quarterfinals by fall in 1:12 to Jerome Mays from Wilton.

After receiving a bye in the first consolation round, he won the consolation semifinals by fall over Zach Wright from West Branch in 0:27. He lost the fifth place match by fall in 0:39 to Julian Wikoff from New London.

Jones said about Hahn?s performance, ?Brady had a tough assignment right out of the gate in his quarterfinals match against Mays (Wilton).

?That is a learning situation in which we can learn from this that sometimes you have to give up the points to avoid giving up a pin.

?Brady is a tough kid and he?ll bounce back. He has some really good maneuvers at his disposal that he needs to break out for his offense.?

Dan Burton (160) lost the quarterfinals by fall in 2:41 to Ryan Schott from Regina and lost the first consolation round by fall in 4:41 to Derek McQuillen from Wilton.

?Dan just needs to keep working on recognizing positioning and when he is in a position of danger,? Jones said. ?The thing about Dan is he is an incredibly hard-working individual and very coachable.

?He will continue to improve because he brings a good attitude to practice each and his work ethic.?

The next time Highland wrestles is Thursday, Jan. 12, at Wapello beginning at 6 p.m.