November 18th was a big day for the Delphi Oracles wrestling team. This day was the second year the Mike Atwood Memorial Invitational tournament was held and showed the schools ability to host and all the community around the sport. The Mike Atwood tournament is to honor our late coach Mike Atwood who left a strong line of discipline on our Delphi’s wrestling team and other schools. With an attendance of 10 schools including Benton Central, Culver Academies, Delphi, Fountain Central, Harrison (WL), North Newton, Northridge. Seeger, South Newton, and Twin Lakes. We have 2 main athletes from Delphi to bring a spotlight to seniors Javon Frost and Brandon Terrell. Javon Frost went undefeated the whole day and got 1st place in the tournament and Brandon Terrell for getting a close but strong 2nd place finish. The rest of the team did well holding their own and pulling through where they needed.
The Oracle Arena was transformed into a tournament hall holding 4 wrestling mats and holding the fans and families of 10 schools worth of athletes.
The day started early for our wrestlers with most of them showing up at the school at 6 AM, and some showing even earlier to get some last minute running in to lose those last few tenths of pounds off. With weigh-ins for the schools at 8 Am many of the schools began to show up at 7:30 and later. Weigh-ins went smoothly with the teams and officials going quick and being where they needed to be. The matches were set to start at 9 so all the teams were quick to get a spot and warm up, a very stressful part for some teams as finding a spot can be the hardest part.
Transitioning into the matches went quickly and orderly with the help of the wonderful officials and announcers doing work to get everyone off the mats and get the matches called. There were 5 rounds of team versus team wrestling in which there were 2 pools of teams that would face off and send the best into the final bracket. Harrison High School had a dominant day with many of the weight classes including their wrestlers for the last matches.
The last matches were preceded by a ceremony honoring Mike Atwood followed by silence and the playing of the National Anthem.
Harrison High School took home the trophy but everyone went home happy knowing that the tournament was done well and the matches were fun. The tournament went up until 6 Pm and the Delphi wrestlers stayed putting everything away up until 7 Pm.
If you see a Delphi wrestler give them a pat on the back or tell them good job as they worked hard to put everything together and worked hard up to that point.
