Seniors Gabe Ramirez and Alejandro Sachinas were named co-most valuable wrestlers at the Seymour High School wrestling awards program held in the School cafeteria Tuesday night.
Ramirez and Sachinas were team co-captains this season and did an excellent job, along with Jacob Rotert and Jacob Kriete, of filling that role, head coach Todd Weaver said.
Ramirez had a record of 27-9 wrestling at heavyweight, and Sachinas was 23-6 at 195 pounds. He was unable to wrestle part of the season due to an injury.
Weaver said Ramirez and Sachinas ranked either first or second in most of the individual categories this season.
Ramirez, Sachinas and Colin Sons received senior awards. Sons was injured for most of the season. Weaver said the seniors were 80-24 combined this season.
Ramirez received the award for having the most pins, finishing with 14.
Ramirez, Sachinas and Rotert were sectional champions to lead the Owls to a second-place finish at Jennings County. Rotert was also a regional champion, and all three qualified for the Evansville Semistate.
Rotert was a Hoosier Hills Conference champion, and Ramirez and Sachinas were runner-ups. The Owls placed fifth in the HHC tournament.
Rotert, a junior, received three special awards: Best record at 29-7, most takedowns (39) and mental attitude award.
Weaver said Rotert turned his season around during a match at Indianapolis Roncalli when he rallied to defeat a Roncalli wrestler and wrestled outstanding the remainder of the season.
Other special awards went to Ty Woods, Daniel Polido, Brody Shipley and Kate Snook.
Woods received the coaches’ award, Shipley was named most improved and Polido was named the top junior varsity wrestler.
Weaver said the rookie award goes to a first-year wrestler.
Snook, a junior, placed fifth in the 160-pound class in the girls state tournament.
Other Owls who placed in the girls state tournament were Emma Gillaspy, fifth at 170, Ashley Trujillo, eighth at 138, and Jocelyn Soto, eighth at 170.
Weaver said eight girls went out for wrestling at the beginning of the season. Six of them finished the season with four earning varsity awards and two received JV certificates.
The Owls had a dual meet record of 17-11.
“We stepped up our schedule, and we won a lot more than I thought,” Weaver said.
He said it turned out to be a different kind of season than he expected, as several underclassmen from the 2017-18 season were not on the roster this season for various reasons, and several wrestlers up from the middle school and junior varsity filled in varsity spots and did an excellent job.
Weaver said Seymour will host the Seymour Scramble Tournament April 25, and he is hoping all of the returning wrestlers compete in that event.
He also encouraged the returnees to attend camps and wrestle in tournaments this spring and summer.