Nick Bradley, the head coach for the Denison-Schleswig boys’ wrestling team, said Atlantic’s annual Rollin Dyer Tournament has always been tough and that it was even more competitive this year (on January 6) with 19 teams and numerous ranked wrestlers who qualified for the state tournament in the past.

He said it was a huge improvement that four of the 10 Monarchs that wrestled placed at the tournament, as the Monarchs didn’t have anyone who placed last year.

Jackson Graeve placed 7th in the 126-pound division, and Joel Murillo (190 pounds), Luis Chan (215 pounds) and Garret Plagge (285 pounds) all placed sixth. 

Bradley added that a few Monarchs just missed the cut for placing.

The team is a young group this year but is making tremendous growth, and he believes the Monarchs will be extremely competitive in the next few years, he said.

The six other Monarchs that wrestled in the tournament are Trae Hartwig (113 pounds), Jayden Bradley (120 pounds), Fransisco Escalante (144 pounds), James Lemon (150 pounds) Javier Medina (157 pounds), and Ismael Alfaro (175 pounds).

The Monarchs scored 50 points in the tournament and placed 14th.

In other action within the last week, on January 4, the Monarch boys in Atlantic against Harlan Community and Atlantic.

Highlights from the matchups came from James Lemon and Jackson Graeve.

Lemon battled through two tough matches and came out with two victories; both wins by fall.

Graeve matched up against two tough opponents and went 1-1. His one victory came in a win by fall against a Harlan wrestler.

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