Team places 8 in top 4 at regional competition

Ellsworth County I-R

GYPSUM — The Ellsworth boys’ wrestling team had a great day Feb. 21 as they traveled to Southeast of Saline to compete in the Class 3-2-1A Regional Wrestling Tournament.

With all eight wrestlers placing in the top four of their respective brackets, the Bearcats amassed 150.5 team points and won the team competition. They ended the day with 2.5 more points than secondplace Lyons. Winning their respective bracket championships were senior Keegan Urbanek and sophomore Bo Kyler.

Urbanek, wrestling in the 190-lb. division, started his day with a bye, then defeated Will Miller of Ellinwood, Elias Williams of Southeast of Saline and Nick Kendall of Republic County.

Kyler, wrestling in the 175-lb. division, also started his day with a bye, then defeated Dale Loughridge of Lyons, Carson Beavers of Republic County and Austin Andersen of Chase County.

The Bearcats had three wrestlers place second in their respective divisions, with senior Micah Galvan, junior Ishmael De La Cruz and sophomore Rett Bohl.

Galvan, a 215-lb. wrestler, started with a bye, then defeated Trentt Gardener of Republic County before losing to Tyler Hutchinson of Council Grove High School.

De La Cruz, wrestling in the 113-lb. division, opened by defeating Leo Collette of Republic County and Aidan Johnson of Herington, before losing to Easton Benavidez of Lyons.

Rounding out the second place finishers for the Bearcats was Bohl. He started the day with a bye, before beating Gauge Fritz of Southeast of Saline and Nate Seimears of Council Grove, then falling to James Greenleaf of Kiowa County.

Claiming third and fourth place finishes for Ellsworth were sophomore Walter Hulse and freshmen Carson Tyrell and Octavio Rodriguez.

Hulse placed third in the 126-lb. bracket while Tyrell placed third at 106 lbs.

Hulse defeated Paul Pachta of Republic County before losing to Landon Lewis of Lyons. Hulse then got back on the winning track by defeating Jayden Kloster of Southeast of Saline and Charlie Klein of Minneapolis.

Tyrell had a first round loss to Jordan Gomez of Lyons before defeating Rustin Ayers of Canton Galva.

Rodriguez was the only fourth place finisher for Ellsworth. He started with a bye, then lost to Roman Tuttle of Southeast of Saline followed by defeating Aaron Llanas of St. Johns and falling to Kegen Wheeler of Minneapolis.

Along with the individual and team successes, head coach Steve Thorburn was named the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association 321A Regional Coach of the Year.

The eight wrestlers will travel to Fort Hays State University to compete in the State Championships Feb. 27-28.

There will be no school Friday, Feb. 27, for USD 327 to allow staff and student supporters to travel to state.