Sports

Going Into Section Tourney, Hopkins Wrestlers Celebrate 100 Wins

Another wrestler enters the tourney ranked seventh in the state.

As matches go, it wasn’t the most exciting one.

Hopkins High School wrestler Ben Tinkham dominated his opponent so thoroughly at the Jan. 21 Tartan High School tournament that he walked away with a technical victory, surging 15 points ahead of his opponent. Yet the win was a big one for Tinkham nonetheless. It marked his 100th victory in varsity wrestling.

“Anybody can be a good wrestler. You’ve just got to put in the mat time,” Tinkham shrugged.

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Despite Tinkham’s nonchalance, 100 is a big number for Royals wrestlers this year. The team has three wrestlers right around that milestone. Tinkham was the first to hit the century mark. Henry Wolfbauer followed him Feb. 4. And Jake Price is expected to reach that total at Saturday’s section tournament.

It’s an unusually large number of 100-win wrestlers for Hopkins and a reflection of the program’s growing strength and consistent coaching over the years.

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“We’ve never had this many kids reach 100 wins in the same year,” Assistant Coach Al Price said.

The 100-win mark isn’t a milestone athletes reach just by virtue of being on the team. Because wrestlers are capped at 36 matches, only those athletes who make varsity early and win consistently throughout their high school careers have a shot at the target.

“Within the team, we kind of all know how many wins we have as individuals,” Price said.

Henry Wolfbauer concedes he was nervous before his 100th win. He knew going in to the match against a Plainview-Elgin-Millville wrestler that he was on the cusp of the milestone. But once the match got started, he focused more on his coaches’ encouragement to get a major victory. Although Wolfbauer didn’t celebrate when he got the win, he said chalking up 100 felt significant.

“I was pretty happy,” he said. “It was exciting.”

Of course, milestones look different in the rearview mirror. Tinkham said he isn’t sure exactly how many wins he has, although he thinks it’s near the 106 mark. His focus now is just on helping the team.

“I’m not really counting anymore. I got there, and now it’s all about getting (to the state tournament) as a team,” Tinkham said.

 

Hopkins Wrestler Claims Spot in State Rankings

Trey Goeman may not have hit the century mark, but he’s 30-4 for the year and No. 7 on The Guillotine rankings—the only Royals wrestler to be included in the statewide rankings.

Goeman’s success this year is no surprise. He secured wins by fall in both of his matches at last year’s state team tournament—the first Hopkins had been to since 1989.

But this year he’s been absolutely dominating. Goeman prides himself on upper-body techniques. He uses throws, underhooks and overhooks to keep his opponents off balance.

“I’ve gone from learning the basics to knowing the advanced skills,” he said.

Goeman has every intention of displaying those advanced skills at Saturday’s section tournament and helping the Royals reach state.

“I’m not going to stop,” he promised.


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