Neither the EV-W nor the Kimball team advanced to the State Tournament as a team. Both were eliminated from the competition at Norwood-Young America. EV-W lost the first team round to NYA. Kimball was the Section runner-up, but second place isn’t enough to go to State for the Teams competition.
Eight individuals from the two schools went to the State Tournament, however. (Individual results were in last week’s Tri-County News.
For EV-W, Sonnie DeHeer lost his first match. Isaac Ortiz won 13-2, but lost a tough second match in overtime Friday evening.
Here’s how Kimball’s six wrestlers fared (spoiler alert: no one came home with a medal).
106#, Connor Carlson lost his first match by a pin in the first round on day one. He got a second match, but lost by a pin ending his State Tournament run.
132#, same for Mark Schiefelbein. He got a second match, in round 3, but lost by a pin and was eliminated.
145#, Blake Brutger lost, 1-9, and was eliminated from competition.
160#, Logan Kuseske lost, 0-5, and was eliminated.
170#, Caden Guggisberg received a FF because of his opponent’s injury; he advanced to round 2 but lost, 2-11. In a third match on day one, Guggisberg won, 6-3, and moved on to wrestle again on day two.
182#, Hank Meyer lost 1-3 in overtime, and was eliminated.
Guggisberg returned on day two, the only one of our local eight to make it that far. But he lost his first match on day two, 1-10, and was eliminated.
Congratulations to all the wrestlers on both teams, Eden Valley-Watkins and Kimball, and to the coaches, parents/families, and loyal fans. You did your communities proud, and you gave us all a great season of cheering you on.