Bachman and Rathbone represent Hillsboro; Palic, Marion

The window of opportunity to punch a ticket to the Class 3-2-1A at Hays this weekend closed for half the field for both the Hillsboro and Marion High School wrestling teams. 

Marion’s 195-pound Todd Palic, earned his fourth ticket, and the Hillsboro duo of 145-pound Jordan Bachman and 152-pound junior Tristan Rathbone are no strangers to Hays, either. Both have qualified previously. 

But for Marion’s Chance Shults, and Hillsboro’s Garrett Helmer, and Austin Rempel, the window closed for their late-season surge. 

For Shults and Helmer, they’ve got more years ahead of them, but for the 195-pound Rempel, there’s no tomorrow. 

Rempel’s spectacular career came to a close Saturday at the eastern sub-state in Minneapolis, with the senior missing out on a medal as well as qualifying, finishing with an 18-14 record and 0-2.

With 40 teams competing, the Trojan grapplers faced what would have been the equivalent of Hays’ opening day. 

Top-ranked Hoxie proved the Indians will be tough to beat Saturday, outdistancing runner-up Hill City, 193-128.

The Trojans finished in a three-way tie for 13th with 26 points, along with Southeast of Saline and Sylvan Grove.  

The Warriors’ 25 points left them 14th out of 35 teams with Silver Lake beating out Wellsville for the top spot, 97-83, in the Marion sub-state. 

Rempel’s day got off to a rough start, dropping a 4-1 heartbreaker to Atwood’s eventual runner-up, Cyrus Green. 

He bowed out in the consolation quarterfinal on a major decision by Stockton’s Rylan Basart. 

Helmer’s day also ended after just two matches in the 138-pound division, but his late push is a warning that he still will be a force to be reckoned with on the Hillsboro team next year.

The Warriors’ 126-pound Shults has two more years left, but the Trint Rogers’ puzzle remained unsolvable for Shults. 

Shults went 1-2 on the day for sixth, but his sole victory was courtesy of first round scratch in the consolation quarterfinal. 

Palic breezed through the day at 4-0, including avenging a loss last week to Wellsville’s undefeated and top-seeded, Cruz Farley, in the semifinals with a 7-4 decision. 

Palic took down Silver Lake’s runner-up Preston Gillen in 1:38 for the gold medal. 

Bachman got the luxury of Kingman’s second ranked adversary, Colby Schreiner, being in the other side of the bracket. 

Bachman got out of the gate in a hurry, dispatching Plainville’s Gabe Kerns by a pin in the third period. 

However, Bachman’s bid for another rematch with Schreiner was spoiled by Hoxie’s top-ranked and unbeaten sophomore, and eventual champion, Derek Johnson, in a 7-0 decision. 

Bachman bounced back in the consolation, whipping Kerns in a rematch for third place by an 11-1 major decision. 

Rathbone went 2-2, upending Stockton’s Justus Hulse in the opening match, but falling to Norton’s eventual runner-up, Garrett Urban, in the semifinals. 

Rathbone took down Southeast of Saline’s Mac Chambers, but fell in the third-place match against Atwood’s Eddie Hanson. 

Saturday’s action is slated for 12 p.m. at Gross Memorial Coliseum at Fort Hays state.