Competing at the very large and highly competitive Peoria Invitational wrestling meet over the weekend, the Holbrook Roadrunners placed 18th in the 33-team feild. Holbrook was the only team from Division IV at the meet, with the majority of the schools coming from Divisions I and II.
Freshman Theron Johns went 3-2. RJ Alvarado was 3-3 and placed sixth. Drew Shuwmay overcame an injury and finished 4-3 to take sixth. Shawn Gillespie was 4-2 and just one match away from placing. Clayton Hunt finished 1-2 in his first year of competition at this meet. James Self was also 1-2, losing by one point in one match and in overtime in his other loss. Shem Bowman finished 3-2, losing his final match in the closing seconds. Nikko Ferniza went 1-2, pinning a very tough opponent for his lone win. Rueben Kee finished 2-2, losing to two of the top four placers in his weight class.
“Theron did an extremely good job as a freshman. RJ’s weight class was stacked. There were three state champions and two runners-up. He lost a very hard match in the semifinal round to the eventual champion that could have gone either way,” said Coach John Bokker.
“Drew wrestled with a lot of heart after getting injured the first day. He battled and earned his placement. Shawn really impressed me, he had his last guy almost pinned, but time ran out. Shem made big improvements from last year.
“I saw some good things and some things we can work on. It is always great to compete against such a high level of competition,” said Coach Bokker.
