In today’s column, I thought that I would summarize the 2005-06 Girls and Boys Wrestling Season at Lexington High School, and then in next week’s paper, we will highlight the Girls and Boys Basketball season.

Girls Wrestling

The Girls wrestlers had a banner season, as they were the undefeated MRVC East Conference Champions for the first time in the history of the relatively new female wrestling program. The Girls picked up conference dual wins over Carrollton (48-30), Higginsville (5418), Holden (42-33), Richmond (42-24), and Knob Noster (39-36), in the match that decided the Championship.

In the tough District Tournament at Kearney, Mireya Gonzalez and Izzy Hager placed second, while Lainie Schumacher finished third, with all three qualifying for State. Amanda Rodekohr won 3 matches at District while Kaylyn Sander won 2, and both came within one match of qualifying for State. The Minutewomen had a very respectable fourth place District finish as a team. Hager placed for the second straight year at State finishing fourth, after placing sixth last year, while Gonzalez also won two matches, and came within one win of placing for the second time, as she placed third in 2024, Hager, Gonzalez and Schumacher were all named to the MRVC East All Conference first team, while Amanda Rodekohr, Tenley Goetz and Sander were named to the second team, with Elizabeth Rodekohr, Chloe Bennett and Trinity Adair each receiving Honorable Mention. Hager also recorded the 100th pin of her career, and holds the Girls career record for wins with 147. Gonzalez and Amanda Rodekohr each recorded their 100th career win.

Head Coach Zach Black commented: “Our Girls were dominant on the mat all season long, as they were one of four undefeated teams in the State in dual matches this year, as well as being the first Conference Championship Team in school history. We are losing some good Senior wrestlers, who were good team leaders, but we will return quite a few good wrestlers next year, including two multiple time state qualifiers.”

The wrestlers on this year’s Girls team included: Seniors; Elizabeth (Izzy) Hager, Amanda Rodekohr and Addison Peppers; Juniors; Mireya Gonzalez and Lainie Schumacher; Sophomores;

Devyn Claudio-Jennings, Farrah Henze, Elizabeth Rodekohr, Kaylyn Sander and Jaycee Wallace; Freshmen; Trinity Adair, Chloe Bennett, Starr Butts and Tenley Goetz.

Boys Wrestling

The Lexington Boys wrestlers had a mixed bag this past season, as they had some exciting high spots, but they also had some disappointments, where things did not go all that well for them. The team had a successful conference season, as they finished third in the very competitive MRVC East Conference, finishing with a record of 3-2. The Minutemen had wins in dual matches over Holden (6612), Higginsville (42-29), and Knob Noster (42-36). They were beaten by conference champion Richmond (52-25), and lost a heartbreaker to Carrollton (42-41) in the last regular season match, where a win would have given them a second place finish.

Lexington wrestled in possibly the toughest Class 1 District Tournament in the State, that was held in Higginsville. The Minutemen had numerous performers who wrestled well for most of the tournament, but none of them were able to finish in the top four in their weight class to qualify for the State Tournament.

Five different Lexington wrestlers won several Tournament matches, as Ayden Harned, Braxton Emerson, Jesse Dunkle, Noah Ellison and Mason Bergsieker, were all only one win away from qualifying for State.

In terms of All Conference honors, the Minutemen did not have any wrestlers who were named to the first team, but Meyer, Emerson, Dunkle, Ellison and Wyatt Sander were all on the MRVC East Second team.

Lexington also had four wrestlers who received Honorable Mention, and they included, Harned, Bergsieker, Evan Fox and Johnnie Staus.

Coach Black reflected on the Season for the Boys wrestlers: “The Boys had a good season, even though it had an unfortunate ending. Our team placed in several tournaments last season, despite fighting sickness and injuries for almost the entire year. We lose some high quality Seniors, but we have some good wrestlers returning, and we will have an influx of wrestlers who have done well in the youth and middle school programs which should help.”

The wrestlers on this year’s Boys team included: Seniors; Jesse Dunkle, Noah Ellison, Hunter Meyer, and Hugo Rangel.

Juniors; Wyatt Sander and Johnnie Staus.

Sophomores; Mason Bergsieker, Braxton Emerson and Abel Morris.

Freshmen; Bentley Aversman, Blake Dunkle, Garrett Dunkle, Jachai Emery, Evan Fox, Ayden Harned, Collin Hatfield, Kingston Henze and Dwayne Silva.

Coaches for both the Girls and Boys teams were: Zach Black, Scott Hamilton, April Archibeque, Aaron Hayden and Crees Forster .