Marion wrestlers place 4th
Staff writers
The Warriors wrestled their way into fourth place as a team at a Chase County tournament Thursday.
Colby Lollar (138 pounds) pinned first place with a perfect 4-0 record on the day.
Kellen Waner, Chance Shults, and Caleb Darrow, placed second in their respected weight classes.
Shults pinned an Onaga wrestler who had been ranked sixth in the state.
“I saw some promising things from a lot of our wrestlers heading into regionals this next weekend,” coach Tyler McMichael said. “We are going to have to carry our success and stay healthy this week so that we have our best chance to qualify for state in Hays.”
Regionals will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Sports and Aquatic Center in Marion.
“Everyone is dangerous at the qualifying tournament because no one wants their season to end so we cannot afford to overlook anyone,” McMichael said.
Hillsboro grapples with health
With two meets remaining, it appears health may be the biggest opponent for Trojan wrestling coach Scott O’Hare.
Hillsboro had a bigger cast than the week before for the Central Kansas League meet Thursday, but Anthony Fickes and Lane Rogers still are sidelined with injuries.
The Trojans finished 9th out of 10 league opponents with 34 points while Pratt cruised to the championship 1001/2 points better than Hillsboro and 19 better than runner-up Haven.
“It was nice to get more of our lineup back in action together,” O’Hare said. “However, we were missing two important team members.”
He hopes both can be back for the 3-2-1A regional in Marion.
Thursday was highlighted by freshman Sutton Redger, who became the league’s 165-pound champion as the Trojans’ only first-place finisher.
Emery Dalke, Aidan Simmons, Dave Schafer, and Dallas Whorton each took fourth, and Aaron Hein was sixth.
In Saturday action in Wellington, in a 4-1A girls’ regional, Emily Gilkey became Hillsboro’s first girl to participant in a sanctioned match.
Gilkey, a freshman, didn’t place, but she still made history with Rachel Schafer out with injury.
“Although Emily did not place to qualify her for the state tournament, I am very proud of both of these girls and their efforts over the course of the season,” said O’Hare. “They both made tremendous progress and are paving the way for other girls to follow, hopefully helping the girls’ wrestling program grow at HHS”.