Richmond coach Cody Hogan and his Spartans had to go to the rulebook to sweep their first boys wrestling triangular of 2023.

The Spartans cruised past Lexington 60-22 to open the Jan. 5 home competition, but tied Penney of Hamilton 33-33. Richmond was declared the winner, based on match forfeits, per the National Federation of High Schools wrestling rulebook, Hogan explained.

Richmond won by forfeit at the 106-, 132- and 190-pound divisions because Penney was open at those weights. The Hornets had no forfeit victories, with five wins coming by pin and the other by a 12-9 decision. Both teams were open at two weights – 144 and 157.

It shouldn’t have come down to a tiebreaker, Hogan suggested.

“We could’ve wrestled a lot better in a lot of matches. … We gave up the pin … too … (easily). … We (have) got to do better in that situation,” he commented.

The Hornets have room for improvement, too, Penney coach Dave Nixdorf acknowledged.

“We did well in some areas, got some payback (in) some areas, gave up some stuff,” Nixdorf said.

Still, considering the Hornets were open at five weights and took Richmond to “a major- criteria tiebreaker, it was a pretty good night for us,” Nixdorf said.

The triangular was Richmond’s first competition since The Battle at Katy Trail, a tournament held before Christmas in Sedalia. Teammates Madix Hutchings and Joe Burch III agreed they had to shake off some rust from nearly three weeks off from competition.

“I was a little bit nervous, especially with my first match,” said Burch, a senior. “But (I) got it out (of) the way and I’m feeling good, and I’m ready to improve week by week, day by day.”

Hutchings, a first-year high schooler, said the triangular reminded him he needs “to work a little more in the (practice) room, work more on my technique on shots and everything.”

Hutchings and Burch each went 2-0, with both victories coming on the mat. Wrestling at 126, Hutchings pinned Lexington’s Ean Lynn in 1 minute, 50 seconds and secured a 10-2 major decision over Penney’s Johnathan Morrison.

“I did OK,” Hutchings said. “Definitely could’ve done better – worked on my technique a little more and (I need to) do a little more work on top. But other than that, I did pretty … (well).”

Burch won both of his matches by fall. Wrestling at 165, he pinned Lexington’s Peyton Hopkins in 3:30 and Penney’s Hunter Nixdorf in 3:08.

“I think I wrestled all right,” he said. “There … (were) a few things I should’ve done differently – I missed out on – but (I’m) looking to improve on … (those) in practice and go from there.”

Senior Aidan Ivison also went 2-0, with one on-the-mat victory and another by forfeit at 190. In addition, Daxton McGinnis and Brady Hyder each won their two matches by forfeit.

OTHER RESULTS

The Spartans followed their sweep by wrestling Jan. 7 at a tournament at Marshall. They placed second in the team standings with 149 points – 44 points behind meet champion Brookfield.

McGinnis, Hutchings, Burch and Ivison were among six Richmond runners-up at Marshall. Declan Cockrum also placed second at 120 and Larry Penniston took second at 285.

Overall, the Spartans wrestled well, Hogan commented Monday via email.

“We had a rough finals round,” he wrote. “We have to get better at finishing the day. Conditioning needs to improve, but overall, the kids are wrestling stronger.”

Richmond then swept a quadrangular Tuesday at Carrollton, defeating Carrollton 69-3, Chillicothe 42-30 and Lawson 52-24.

For additional triangular, quadrangular and tournament results, visit trackwrestling.com.