Trojans, Warriors each qualify three for state meet

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
Hillsboro and Marion each qualified three athletes for this weekend’s Class 1-2-3A state wrestling tournament following top-four performances at the regional tournament Friday and Saturday in Hesston.

For the Trojans, sophomores Ricky Johnson and Eric Cress will make their first state appearances while senior Daniel Yoder will round out a strong career at HHS with his fourth appearance.

For Marion, senior Steven Boone will return to Hays for the fourth straight year, junior Chelsea Arnold will compete for the third time and junior Drew Looper will be making his first appearance.

Cress, a student at Goessel High School, competed at regionals as a Goessel Bluebird, and will do so at state. He won the 125-pound class with a 3-0 record.

Cress pinned Chris Austin of Eureka in the first round and Paul Wikoff of West Elk in the semifinals before defeating Jordan Daerr of Garden Plain, 14-5, in the championship match.

Yoder was the Trojans’ next highest finisher, taking third place at 145 pounds. Yoder pinned Casey Nelson of Marion in the first round, lost 4-0 to his nemesis from Halstead, Buster Adkins, in the second round before coming back to beat Justin Gannon of Bluestem, 15-8, to earn the state berth and Marc Madison of West Elk, 12-3, in the third-place match.

Johnson, competing in the 112-pound class, defeated Jose Andrade of Halstead, 10-7, in the first round, lost to eventual champion David King of Hesston in the second round, 6-1, pinned Josh Peterson of Bluestem to earn a state berth, then lost to Arnhold, 5-2, in the third-place match.

Marion’s Boone asserted himself impressively in the 171-pound class, pinning Hesston’s Craig Miller in the first round, pinning Ryan Mosely of Wichita Independent in the second round, then shutting out Kyle Smith of Chase County, 7-0, in the championship match.

Arnhold, wrestling at 112, earned her return trip to Hays the hard way by extending all four or her matches the full three periods. She beat Peterson of Bluestem, 7-1, lost to Paul Berry of Cherryvale, 9-5, in the second round, then beat Andrade, 6-4, before outscoring Johnson in the third-place match.

Looper, meanwhile, placed third in the 275-pound heavyweight class by pinning Kurtis Shaw of Hillsboro in the first round, then was pinned by Steve Hamilton of Eureka in the second round.

Looper came back to outscore Curtis Vandermate of Fredonia, 5-0, and then pinned Jimmie Nelson of Sedgwick in the third-place match.

Eight other Trojans competed at Hesston: Daniel Bookless (1-2 at 103), Jess Boucher (1-2 at 119), Darci Unrau (1-2 at 125), Andrew Bina (1-2 at 140), Ryan Kaiser (1-2 at 152), Adam Dirks (1-2 at 160), Tim Glahn (0-2 at 171) and Shaw (2-2 at 275).

Eight other Warriors competed: Ross (1-2 at 103), John Barr (1-2 at 125), Ben Leppke (2-2 at 130), Gavin Moore (3-2 at 135), Nelson (1-2 at 145), Luke Bowers (0-2 at 152), Chris Freeby (1-2 at 189) and Dallas Wells (0-2 at 215).

The emphasis at regionals is on individual performances, but the Warriors finished a respectable sixth in the 18-school field with 83.5 points while Hillsboro placed 11th with 50.5 points. Eureka won the team title with 135.5 points.

The pairings have been released for the first round at the state tournament, which beings 10 a.m. Friday on the campus of Fort Hays State:

— Arnhold (24-10) versus Keaton Taylor (25-9) of Silver Lake.

— Johnson (19-10) versus Brett Swoyer (38-0) of Rock Creek.

— Cress (20-10) versus Curtis Black (21-16) of Norton.

— Yoder (26-10) versus Kevin Shuster (10-14) of WaKeeney.

— Boone (29-3) versus Justin Wall (21-13) of Silver Lake.

— Looper (18-15) versus Charlie Parsons (25-8) of Ellsworth.

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