Improvements still need to be made for the Stanhope Elmore wrestling team after competing in the Class 6A Region 2 Duals on Saturday.
The Mustangs as a whole were unable to snatch a win against region opponents Pike Road, Wetumpka, Russell County and Benjamin Russell. Despite this, coach David Adams was pleased with what he saw from his team.
“We did fairly well,” Adams said. “We got some stuff that we need to work on. Overall this dual meet was pretty good. All the teams showed up. Everybody did what they were supposed to do. Some of the teams did a little bit better than the others, but that's to be expected.
Stanhope’s Dominic Sager (285 pounds) had himself a day. He wrestled in all four matches and came away with a victory in each one. Eventually coming away with an All-Region not for the heavyweight class and also escaping with Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Other wrestlers who were able to snatch some individual victories were Braylon Hansby (150), Caleb Allen (126), Aaron Lunas (106), Isaiah Bowman (138) and Cody Tyus (144).
As far as what Adams wanted to see his team improve upon was their leg defense, but he saw they were not the only team to struggle with the concept.
“(We have to) maintain good leg defense,” Adams said. “We have to make sure we keep our legs safe. That's and that's something I saw with a lot of teams too, so we're not the only ones. But hand fighting, hand control, proper mat returns, stuff like that, just simple stuff, we get back to the basics.”
Despite having to work on some of the basics, Adams was proud of how the team was able to perform whether they were on the top or bottom. He saw their transitions between moves be one of their strong points.
“(Our) transitioning from one move to the next, especially transitioning from a breakdown into a pinhole, not rushing your pinhole, actually working it in just properly,” Adams said.
However, the best thing for Stanhope was getting more time on the mat which could in turn help them as it approaches state qualifying matches.
“Given the fact that a lot of these teams don't see the northern teams this year, this is paramount,” Adams said. “This is paramount because it helps with seeding at sectionals. Then sectionals the better you do then obviously the better you are seeded at state.”
