The wrestling team’s season came to an end after losing to the Reservoir Gators in the dual-meet state semifinals. This marks the third year in a row that the Vikes advanced to the semi-finals but lost.
The meet started off well for the Vikes with 135 pounder Jordan Tritell winning his match 5-2 and 140 pounder Mike Harder will 16-3. But then the Gators battled back with a 145 pound win against Brad Taylor, making the match 7-4.
Then, 152 pounder Andrew Follman lost in a close bout which tied the overall score. This was quickly broken though when160 pounder Alex Hysong won 7-4 to make the meet 10-7.
The Vikes lost the lead in the next match when 171 pounder Rafael Sayada lost a major decision 3-12 which put the Gators in the lead. Again, the lead went back to the Vikes when 189 pounder Taylor Leighton and 215 pounder Danny Lee both won with easy pins to put the Vikes up 22-11.
The gators battled back to make the score 22-23 when heavyweight Ned Daryoush and 103 pounder Jacob Rosenblum were both pinned.
Down by one, the clutch 112 pounder Sawyer Symington put the Vikes in the lead with a 8-6 comeback win to make the score 25-23 but Reservoir then won a technical decision against 119 pounder Dylan Symington, making the score 25-28.
Reservoir secured the match victory with a pin against 125 pounder Ben D’Elia. With the match already decided, 130 pounder Eric Harder still fought and won 6-2 to make the final score 28-34.
The Vikes’ dual meet season is now over, but the individual state tournament still awaits them on March 5th. There, the wrestlers look to promote their individual skill in hopes of winning their own state title.
