The Chants wrestled great this last weekend at districts! We had 7 qualifiers in a tough C-4 District! We started the tournament with 9 guys all with the same dream to make it to Omaha. Some wrestlers had tough brackets and needed to upset great wrestlers to get their ticket punch to state. The week we had great practices and had a sense that special things were going to happen. The Chants made it through the first day with 5 winning their Quarter final matches. Hayden Kluthe, Brendan Boyce, Ryan Gabriel, Trey Warner and Bridger Rice. We had 4 losses the first day but they were ready to fight coming back on Saturday! One Highlight for the Chants was Elliot Baker got a pin coming back in the Tournament. He was a 16th seed and with that win he proved to the district that he was a top 8 wrestler in the bracket! That is a huge part of why we wrestle a tough schedule. Iron sharpens Iron, Elliot’s win was huge for the team race for the Chants.
Saturday, this was the day that many emotions ran through the gym. Young Men battling to get to the medal stand and fighting to stand at the top. We had 5 in the Semi’s and 4 fighting their way back. Hayden Kluthe and Brendan Boyce had hard fought matches against potentially two state champions. We came up short in that match, but we knew our journey wasn’t over. Hunter Meyer, and Sam Boettcher came through the first round with huge wins to give them a chance to continue their fight ! Trent Mcain and Elliot Baker lost in this first round ending their year. These two have grown so much during the year and got better every week. They have very bright futures and see them both wrestling in Omaha in years to come! Ryan Gabriel, Trey Warner, and Bridger Rice won their semi final matches and punched their tickets to State with a guaranteed first or second place finish.
The next round has been called the heartbreak round for years! If you win you make it to state and if you lose your season is done. We had 4 wrestlers in this round and you can see the focus they had knowing what they had to do! First up was Hayden Kluthe and Brendan Boyce, and they both had to wrestle sound matches to win. They both dominated in the neutral position and wrestled tough on top ! They both had nail baiters but both showed grit all three periods. The match ended at the same time and we qualified two more wrestlers to the state tournament! Then we had two more getting ready! Hunter Meyer was the first up at 170lbs. He had the 1st seed in the bracket, but that didn’t stop Hunter. He went in the match and waited for his time to strike! It came later in the first period and pinned his way to the state tournament at 170! Sam Boettcher was the next match, and he was ready to continue the chants great round. He went and wrestler through every position. No matter what the score was Sam was always finding a way! Sam took the lead in the third period and kept pushing the pace with his opponent. Finally got the pin over the 4th seed to give himself a trip to Omaha.
The Finals Round we end up with 2 District champions by pin Ryan Gabrie 195 lbs and Briger Rice 285! Trey Warner lost a tough match to receive 2nd at 220. Hayden Kluthe wrestled and scrambled a great match to get 3rd place at 138 lbs. Brendan Boyce 145, Hunter Meyer 170, and Sam Boettcher 182 all wrestled tough but came up short and ended 4th place in their respective brackets. The Chants ended the tournament as third place behind two top 5 teams in the state! The Chants showed the district and state that something special is happening in Ord ! Those guys have to be so proud that all their hard work has paid off. Wrestling is a sport that teaches self discipline and grit during tough times. These young men embrace these qualities and it showed this weekend! Congratulations to the Chants, but we aren’t done yet we have more things to accomplish. We are planning to add more names on the wrestling room walls !