Morris retains second place

Updated: March 22, 2011 4:40PM

Heading into the championship matches for first, third and fifth place Saturday at the Rich East Rocket Invitational, Merrillville (Ind.) had all but sewn up first place.

His wrestlers sitting in second place, Morris coach Jon Lanning told his team to just focus in on their own match.

"'Let's hold it as a team, and I want you to win it for yourself,'" Lanning said of what he told his team. "This is what it's all about. We pretty much knew it was going to be second or third. We just had to stay in there and win those matches for yourself. That's what it is."

Morris did hold its own, retaining second place with 161 points to first-place Merrillville's 218.5 points. Andrew finished third with 143.5 points. Merrillville finished with three first-place finishers and four second-place finishers overall.

Finishing second overall came without a champion in any of the weight classes for Morris. The Redskins had one wrestler finish second, two in third, four in fourth, one in fifth, and four in sixth.

"It was a good team win for us," Lanning said. "We were close, but we knew Merrillville had a real nice team. We hung in there tough with them, and my boys are wrestling really well right now as a team. We really emphasize that, and we've grown so much these last couple of years."

At 171 pounds, Nik Countryman finished second when he was pinned by Merrillville's Darryl Peppers in 5:32.

Also placing for Morris was Kenny Baldridge (103, 3rd), Zach Mann (125, 4th), Heath Hougas (130, 3rd), Ethan Chouinard (135, 4th), Jared Kowalewski (140, 4th), Branden Odom (189, 5th), and Preston Miracle (215, 4th).

"We had some nice depth today," Lanning said. "Nik has done a really nice job for us all year, and Branden Odom got the best guy in the tournament (at 189) in the second round so that dropped him down to fifth. He was probably the second best guy here and got fifth place. (Ethan) was wrestling in a tough weight class, and (Heath) has been battling for us all week."

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