Paced by first-place finishes by wrestlers Tristan Rathbone and Garrett Helmer, Hillsboro ended up sixth out of 19 teams in a two-day invitational Friday and Saturday in Halstead. Marion finished 19th.

“Although we were a bit short-handed due to a few wrestlers battling injuries and illness, overall the guys that competed wrestled pretty well,” Hillsboro coach Scott O’Hare said. 

Helmer, 19-3 on the season, scored three straight pins before handing Minneapolis wrestler Austin Wolff only his second loss of the season, a 19-2 decision.

Rathbone, who improved to 20-2 with three of his victories by falls, had what O’Hare described as “a very dominant performance over both days.”

His quarterfinal victory Friday night was his 100th as a varsity wrestler, only the seventh Trojan wrestler to reach that milestone.

He joins, according to O’Hare,  Nicholas Mueller, Jordan Bachman, James Bina, Tyler Jones, Danny Yoder, and Levi Mendoza in that elite club.  

Wrestlers placing for Marion and Hillsboro included, by weight class:

HALSTEAD INVITATIONAL

113 pounds — 5. Kellen Waner (5-13 for the season), Marion.

120 — 3. Anthony Fickes (6-7), Hillsboro.

132 — 6. Chance Shultz (9-6), Marion.

145 — 6. Lyle Fickes (8-10), Hillsboro.

152 — 1. Garrett Helmer (19-3), Hillsboro.

170 — 1. Tristan Rathbone (20-2), Hillsboro.

220 — 6. Deon Weeks (11-10), Hillsboro.