It was an outstanding day for the Hillsboro Varsity Wrestling team, as the squad cruised into the Class 3 District 1 Tournament and strolled out with the First Place plaque, along with seven Gold and three Silver Medals. The 21-22 season for the Hawks has been an impressive showcase of their dominance, and the team lived up to the hype at the final tournament of the regular season. In fact, out of the 13 weight classes, the Hawks medaled in 10, which earned the team 239.5 team points as well as the District Championship, which makes them back to back District Champs!
Since the beginning of the season, Hillsboro has expected and prepared for excellence, and the Hawk wrestlers did just that. In the individual results, Gabe Barnett took home the Silver Medal in the 106lb. weight class. Barnett pinned his opponent in the semifinals, but lost a close decision 4-2 in the finals to earn second place, still picking up 18 team points.
At 113lbs., Jordan Penick put in an impressive performance, winning two of the three matches he wrestled by pin. Unfortunately, Penick lost in the finals, but still took home the Silver Medal to contribute 20 team points.
Wrestling his way to the finals was 120lb. grappler Gavin Alexander. In his first two matches, Alexander pinned each opponent in under a minute. Then, he won both the semifinals and finals by decision, 9-2 and 11-4 respectively, to bring home the Gold Medal, and add 24 more team points.
At 126lbs., Jackson Tucker swept the bracket with three wins, including two pins and a decision victory 5-2 in the finals. With those wins, Tucker earned the Gold Medal and 24 team points.
Next up was Blake Jackson wrestling at 132lbs. Earning 18 team points, Jackson had a pin and a decision victory 6-4 to make it to the finals. However, he lost the last bout 6-3 to take home the Silver Medal.
Notching 23 team points, and snagging a Gold Medal was 138lb. grappler Nate Barnett. He pinned his first opponent, won a major decision in the semifinals and then a 6-3 victory in the finals to conclude his day on top of the podium.
Sam Richardson, at 145lbs., turned in a stellar performance as well, scoring 26 team points, and also bringing home a Gold Medal. Richardson had three fast pins to get to the finals, where he then shutout his foe 7-0 to win the tournament.
At 152lbs., Evan Morris won his first match by pin and the semifinals by technical fall 17-2. However, the finals were a different story, as Morris had to battle until the final moments of the match to eke out the 3-2 victory and bring home the Gold Medal, as well as 23.5 team points.
Eddie Hines also put in an outstanding day of work to contribute 23 team points and a Gold Medal at 160lbs. Earning a 24-second pin in his first match followed by a tough 8-4 decision win in the semifinals set him up for a major decision victory in the finals, winning 12-1.
At 182lbs., Dalton Litzsinger dominated his weight class, scoring 28 team points. He won all four of his matches by pin, including the finals which only lasted 1:25. With the sweep, Litzsinger earned the Gold Medal.
Aidan Petit, at 195lbs., wrestled four times, going 2-2 on the day with two pins, which earned his team six points.
At 220lbs., Wyatt Yeager earned six team points with a 1-2 tournament record.
Jordan Jarvis finished the day at 285lbs., and unfortunately was injured in his first match and had to forfeit the remainder of his matches.
While it was a great day for Hillsboro, the team has only one goal in mind, and that is a first place team finish at the MO State Tournament. Up next for those 11 wrestlers that qualified are the sectional rounds which take place this coming weekend. The Hawks will now have a week to recover and prepare for the next challenge.
