Carnage in Camelot – Titans drop the Knight’s Invitational

Posted on by admin

The Titans failed to defend their impressive record from last year at the Knight’s Invitational and fell to the Kinnick Red Devils 104 to 60.  On a day where we had two of our far East Champions (Ryo and Rio) watching from the stands, we managed to crown just one champion – Chang Young at 135lb.

The loss in this early season 9-team tournament provided a good gauge of where we are as a team and where we need to get to by January 14th – the first dual meet of the year.

On a day where we failed to rack-up eight champions like we did last January, there were some positive takeaways from the day:

  • Sophomore Harold Mancia took 2nd place in the 108 lb. division in his first high school tournament
  • Freshman William Krcelic took 2nd place in the 115 lb. division in his first high school tournament
  • Freshman Kai Atobe took 3rd place in the 122 lb. division in his first high school tournament – a bracket that was won by a Far East Champion and dominated by experienced wrestlers
  • Sophomore Nishant Chanda took 2nd place in a very competitive 129 lb. division
  • Junior Tatsu Matsumoto took 3rd in the 129 lb. division
  • Junior Gregory Tanaka took 3rd in the 158 lb. bracket
  • Senior Mitchell Krcelic took 2nd in the 168 lb. bracket
  • Senior Joon Seo Bae took 3rd place in the 168 lb. division
  • Junior Alex Patton took 3rd place in the 180 lb. division giving last year’s Far East Champion a real scare as he was only down 2-0 after the first 3 minutes
  • Junior Leon Araya took 2nd in the heavy weight division

Definitely no need to panic as we move into the winter break and some quality practices.  Expect to see our Far East Champions all back in the line-up for January, our seniors (Mitchell, Eshan and Tatsuo) hitting their stride, Shane Koslow rejoining the team at 215, and the rest of our 2016 lettermen dialing in their abilities as everyone settles into the proper weight classes.

“They [Kinnick] just proved to us that they are once again going to be tough to beat,” commented Coach Yabui. “As with every season, it’s the Christmas break practice that is going to make the difference.”