On Saturday, Ellsworth boys headed to Beloit to wrestle at the regional competition.

In the 126-pound bracket, sophomore Will Donley began with a bye. He then won both quarterfinal and semifinal matches by fall. After securing his spot at the state competition, Donley wrestled Phillipsburg’s Hunter Sisson, but was pinned. Donley placed second at regionals and is 20-7 for the season.

“(I) did what I would do for any other tournament — just go hard in practice all week,” Donley said about how he prepared for regionals.

At state, Donley said he is looking forward to “having fun and trying to win a medal.”

Head Coach Steve Thorburn described Donley as “the most motivated kid in the practice room.”

“He thinks about wrestling and what he needs to work on every day, then he gets after it in the practice room,” Thorburn said.“He is very focused. To win at regionals, Donley let it all go and wrestled. I look forward to seeing what he can get done at state.”

Wrestlers had to lose twice to be out of the competition. Keegan Urbanek and Micah Galvan both began with one win and one loss, putting them in the consolation bracket.

Urbanek, wrestling at 165 pounds, won his first match against Aiden Hall of Hill City to go onto the quarterfinal round. He then lost to Drew Withington of Atwood by an early fall. He moved on to the consolation bracket after winning his third match, but was pinned in the next round by Carson Simmons of Belleville.

“It was OK. I could have done better,” Urbanek, whose record is 10-12, said.“Hopefully (next year) I’ll make it to state.”

He scored 7 points for the team.

Galvan, who wrestled in the 150-pound weight class, scored 6 team points. He lost his first match by a fall to Belleville’s Jordan Williams. Galvan then won the first round of consolation by pinning his opponent, Easton Werth, followed by an injury default. In the third round of consolation, Galvan lost by a fall and finished the season 6-15.

The varsity team consisted of freshmen and sophomores, and there were positives and negatives for the young team. According to Thorburn,“no experienced leadership and low team numbers” hindered Ellsworth’s success. Thorburn added that“young middle weights have a tendency to get worked over by older, experienced kids during competition.” On the flip side, he said “young kids have been on the mat and will be more experienced if they are tough enough to handle the losses and keep their chins up.”

Donley competes at the 3A State Wrestling Meet at Fort Hays State University’s Gross Memorial Coliseum, Hays, this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24 and 25. The meet begins at 10 a.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday. Admission is $10.