The Lobos traveled down to Cherokee Trail High School this past weekend for the regional wrestling tournament and in the process qualified nine of the fourteen wrestlers on the varsity.

The first day of the tournament went well for the Lobos, every wrestler had at least one match, with a few having two after not receiving a first round bye. The team moved into the second round receiving many wins in the quarter finals sending about half the team to the semifinals.

After the day was over not one single Rocky wrestler had been eliminated from the tournament, showing promise for the following day of wrestling.

The team returned the following morning for weigh ins to get the day started. After the first round, all but one of the wrestlers who had made it to the semifinals lost their match, sending them to the consolation side of the bracket. On the other hand, a few of the remaining wrestlers who were on the losing side of the bracket the day before, lost out of the tournament, putting an end to their long and tiring season.

The rest of the team who remained in the tournament, consisting of Gunnar Anderson, Evan Shell, Christian Deherrera, Jonny Murphy, Josh Betts, Matt Maguire, Alec Hargreaves, Jake Bennett, and Steven Doyle, moved on to the next round; those who ended up qualifying for state were those who remained in the tournament. Each wrestler had an outstanding match mainly coming out with wins in the end.

Evan Shell said, “[It] wasn’t what I wanted after I lost my semi finals match, but coach told me to bounce back and that I wasn’t out of the tournament yet. After that I wrestled good the rest of the tournament.”

The most riveting match, however, was junior Josh Betts, who was in the finals for the region. Winning this match gave the wrestler a top four seed in the state tournament and can really determine the way state goes.

After a few usual losses from Betts, he came out victorious with a major decision win, putting him in the number two seed or number two placement in the bracket at the state tournament.

Another close call was in Gunnar Anderson’s matches. After winning one and following that up with two losses, he was in a position where the only way he could qualify was by winning two more matches in a row in a “wrestle back.” Anderson pushed through, winning both these matches by major decision, therefore qualifying him for State.

The team finished with an impressive nine wrestlers heading to State to compete against some of the best wrestlers in the state and to search for their path to the podium.