Last night the ACGC grapplers formally closed out their 2017-2018 season with an awards banquet. The evening began with opening remarks from Assistant Coach Kirk Davis. Through his many stories and anecdotes, Davis touched on how wrestlers will experience the highest of highs and lowest of lows. He also encouraged the squad to always remember wrestling is not just about individual performance and to always work to “max out” on their abilities.

After the opening remarks, various awards were handed out to the cheerleaders and managers. Then Head Coach Shawn Danker distributed the awards for the grapplers and highlighted several achievements. As a collective unit, 17 Chargers saw action on the mat. The Chargers finished their dual campaign with a 12-16 record. While it was still below 500, they secured two more wins than in their inaugural season.

There were four special awards given to individual wrestlers. The first of the night was the Coaches’ Award, which went to Freshman Gunnar Larsen. Larsen notched an 11-5 record in his debut season at 113 pounds and received the award for his willingness to apply coaches’ improvements to his performance. Senior Seth Brokaw received the Most Improved award. Brokaw turned a 7-11 record last year into a 21-25 mark this year. He also improved in many individual statistical categories.

Blaine Beeler was named the Most Valuable Wrestler after notching his 100th career victory. Beeler finished with 38 wins for the second straight season and placed in all eight tournaments. He was a six-time finalist this season and was in the top 3 on the team in all ten statistical categories. He was the top performer in five of the ten, including a Charger record 250 Team Points.

Gabe Rowley earned the final award, receiving the Roger Fett Courage Award for overcoming an asthma diagnosis. He put up a 14-9 record and was on the leaderboard in eight of the top ten categories.

Individual Awards:

Freshmen:

*Seth Danker (106, 33-13)- State Qualifier, District Qualifier, Top Four in 10/10 Leaderboard Categories

*Joe Davis (113, 28-14)

Ryan Fees (132, 8-13)

*Devon Jackson (170, 12-28)

*Gunnar Larsen (113, 11-5)- Coaches’ Award

Christian Nolte (113, 10-13)

*Cale Rowley (113/120, 24-20)

 

Sophomores:

*Cole Plowman (160, 14-37)

John Pavelka

 

Juniors:

*Easton Benson (126, 27-10)- Leaderboard distinction in 9/10 categories

*Blaine Beeler (120, 38-9)-  Most Valuable Wrestler, Top Three in 10/10 Leaderboard Categories, ACGC record in Team Points (250)

Spencer Grove

*Ben Kingery (182, 10-27)

*Gabe Rowley (138, 14-9)- Roger Fett Courage Award, Leaderboard distinction in 8/10 categories

 

Seniors:

*Seth Brokaw (132/138, 21-25)- Most Improved, Captain’s Plaque

*Zach Fees (132, 30-16)- Captain’s Plaque, Top Three in 10/10 Leaderboard Categories, 4-Year Letter Winner, 98 Career Wins

 

*-Denotes Letter Winner