SALINA — Entering the state meet with seven wrestlers and leaving with four medals, the Concordia High School wrestling team concluded its season picking up 18 wins at the largest meet of the year.
Gabi Lange, 140, went 3-1 and finished in second place. Lange won her first match by fall over Obree Barnes of Anderson County in 3:56, by major decision over Hayden Williams of Haven 14-1, and by fall over Kaylee Weibert, an NCKL foe from Abilene, in 4:17, to end day one. In the first-place match, Lange fell to Megan Ryan of another NCKL rival, Rock Creek, to finish in second place.
Isabelle Alexander, 190, went 0-2.
Ava Rowland, 235, went 2-2. Rowland won her first match by fall on 2:31 over Michaela Miller of Prairie View, before falling to Chloe Pope of Girard to end day one. Rowland then picked up a win over Christian Kucan of Holton in 41 seconds, before falling to Izzy Greer of El Dorado to end day two.
Drake Blochlinger, 165, went 3-1 and finished in second place. Blochlinger won his first match over Kyzer Lehmann of Burlington in 1:05, his second match over Brody Nicol of Holton in 55 seconds, and his third match by decision over Bodhi Shay of Paola 1-0, to make it to the championship match, but fell to Brady Martin of Tonganoxie by a decision of 4-1.
Deekon Holbert, 175, went 4-2 and finished in fifth place. Holbert won his first match by fall over Nick Allen of NCKL rival Rock Creek in 2:18, before falling to Aaron Wyrick of Labette County in round two. Holbert then rebounded with a pair of wins by fall, defeating Brody Bowser of Clay Center in 4:21 and Max Harvey of Baldwin in 1:10, but fell to Caleb Menke of Topeka-Hayden and closed the day with a win by fall over Von Grubbs of Hugoton, to claim fifth place.
Tre Hamiel, 190, went 4-2 and finished in fifth place. Hamiel won his first match by major decision 9-0 over Haidan Simon of Wamego, second match by decision 5-3 over Dalton Wulf of Clearwater, before falling to Jude Krentz of Topeka-Hayden by decision 4-1. Hamiel opened day two by falling to Easton Eisenhour of Scott Community by decision 8-3, before ending the day with a win by a decision of 3-1 over Jacob Burklow of Buhler.
Max Metzler, 215, went 2-2. Metzler won his first match over Gabe Johnson of Hiawatha by fall in 5:32, before falling to Kash Smith of Columbus to end day one. He then won his first match of day two by fall in 4:39 over Uvaldo Martinez of Hugoton, before Metzler lost by decision to Dylan Hall of McPherson to cap off his high school wrestling career.
