Five Hillsboro wrestlers advance to state tournament
Eric Cress will represent Goessel
Sports reporter
After finishing the regular season undefeated in dual play, Hillsboro High School wrestling team continued its success with a fourth-place finish Saturday in the Eureka invitational.
The Trojans qualified four wrestlers for the state tournament, and one other who wrestled with the team but attended Goessel High School.
Ric Johnson 130 pounds, Matt Brown 145 pounds, Andrew Bina 152 pounds, and Jacob Yoder 160 pounds will represent HHS this weekend at the state tournament in Hays.
Eric Cress who wrestled as part of the combined HHS-GHS team, will represent the Bluebirds at 140 pounds after a second-place finish at regionals.
The Trojans had a shot at sending three champions to state, but Bina, Brown, and Yoder all lost in the champion round.
Bina, who stands at 33-2 on the season, had a chance to avenge his only loss of the season to West Elk's Marc Madison, but lost a heated battle, 8-6.
Brown, 30-6, lost a close one as well, falling 7-6 to Michael Frank of Cherryvale.
Yoder finished up the season 22-15 after being pinned in four minutes, 21 seconds by Cody Austin of Remington. Austin won 36 of his 37 matches this season.
After finishing 11th last season at the Onaga regional, the Trojans improved this season, and have a chance to finish toward the top at state with four wrestlers seeded three or higher.
The tournament at Hays begins Friday morning and ends Saturday evening.
Results:
eureka regional (hillsboro)
103 - Alex Jost, 0-2, DNP.
112 - Zach Magnuson, 2-2, DNP.
119 - Chris Jensen, 2-2, DNP.
125 - Nicholas Mueller, 1-2, DNP.
130 - Rich Johnson, 4-2, third.
135 - Tyler Jones, 1-2, DNP.
140 - Sean Leihy, 0-2, DNP.
145 - Matt Brown, 2-1, second.
152 - Andrew Bina, 3-1, second.
160 - Jacob Yoder, 3-1, second.
171 - open.
189 - John Hein, 1-2, DNP.
215 - open.
275 - Kurtis Shaw, 1-2, DNP.
goessel
140 - Eric Cress, 3-1, second.
145 - Grady Stultz, 1-2, DNP.
