Twelve RAHS wrestlers place at ‘Europeans’

Twelve Ramstein American High School wrestlers placed at the European Wrestling Championships Feb. 18 and Saturday in Wiesbaden.

Thirty schools participated in the championships. Ramstein placed first in the team standings with 227 points. Heidelberg followed with 220.5 points and Naples with 121 points.

Four Ramstein wrestlers were individual champions at the tournament.
Senior Cole Maxey took first at 215 pounds and added a European Championship to the Far East Title he won last year in Japan.

Freshman Coty Reinhart took first at 135 pounds after a 9-2 victory over Jesse Painter from Würzburg, and sophomore Noah Sheppard dominated Andrew Moon of Heidelberg 12-0 to take first at 125 pounds.

Senior James Horst took first at 275 pounds with a 4-1 victory over Gregg Surpris of Wiesbaden. The victory allowed Ramstein to go 4-for-4 in the finals.

Eight more Ramstein wrestlers placed third through sixth at the tournament.
Third-place finishers were sophomores Trey Fortunato at 103 pounds and Michael Kane at 130 pounds, and senior Karl Saucier at 145 pounds. Senior Logan Rainforth took fourth at 152 pounds. Senior Jose Figueroa and sophomore Joel Smith took fifth at 140 and 160 pounds respectively. Senior Ryan Gough and sophomores Eric Oyan and John Winston finished in sixth at 119, 171 and 189 pounds respectively.
Kaiserslautern American High School entered five wrestlers into the European Championships.

Three of the five placed after junior Jamie Jung was eliminated after four bouts at 125 pounds and freshman Harrison Hayes was eliminated after two bouts at 119 pounds.
Junior Madison Hayes took third at 171 pounds after five bouts. Freshman Stephen Gillespie took fourth at 103 pounds after five matches and junior Troy Price took fifth at 275 pounds after four matches.