Two Wrestlers Advance To Regional
31 Jan 2008

Two Manchester High School wrestlers advanced to the Peru Wrestling Regional, and the team finished eighth at the Peru Sectional last Saturday.
Senior Blaine Miller finished as runner-up at the 215 pound weight class, while freshman Dominick Byrns finished fourth at the 285 pound weight class.
Miller had no trouble in his first two matches, winning by pin in under a minute.
“Those two matches weren’t much of a struggle,” he said.
In the championship match, however, Miller met Maconaquah’s Josh Cade, and dropped a 12-5 decision.
“I had a better record than he did, but he had more experience,” Miller said of his final match. “We just locked up for a while, the ref told us to work a move, and I tried to shoot. He didn’t do much, and waited for me to make a mistake.”
Miller used the match as a learning experience.
“I think experience got me,” he said. “I rely on my strength a lot, but technique will always beat strength. I’ll work on some technique this week in practice so I’ll be ready for regional.”
Byrns advanced to the third place match by winning two matches in the wrestlebacks after losing his first round match.
Byrns lost the third place match to Huntington North’s Matt Dilley. By finishing fourth, Byrns will face the first place finisher from the Oak Hill Sectional.
Brecken Kennedy (171) and Bryant Wiley (189) both finished sixth, and were the only other Squire wrestlers to win matches on the day.
Kennedy lost to Northfield’s Brandon Culver in the opening round, then fell to Culver once again in the fifth place match.
Wiley, who was struggling with an arm injury, lost to North Miami’s Landon Fuller in the fifth place match.
“I’m happy to get two guys out,” coach Ryan Good said. “I was hoping for maybe four guys, but this isn’t bad. We’re young and pretty inexperienced, even with our seniors. We had a hard time winning team matches, but we had some good performances this season. Hopefully, Blaine and Dominick can do some damage next week.”
Miller and Byrns will be at the Peru Regional this Saturday starting at 9:00 a.m.