West Grand elementary and middle school place at state

by Coach Brian Strathman
The Middle and Elementary School wrestlers competed in the ES/MS State Wrestling Championships. After qualifying through the Regional tournament wrestlers are placed into a 16 man bracket for ES and 64 man bracket for MS and prepare to square off. WG sent 11 ES and 4 MS wrestlers to the National Western Event Center to compete.

Brackets were separated by age group K / 1 , 2 / 3, 4 / 5 and MS 6-8. Competing for WG were Sully Svendsbye, Ashton Lockhart, Ben Svendsbye, Grayson Kassib, Riley Mahon, Stran Lechman, Walker Howell, Landon Lockhart, Ruben Hatcher and Blake Terryberry in ES. Competing in the MS class were Taylor Luttrell, Joe Probst, Wyatt Shearer, and Wyatt Howell.

The tournament started off Friday afternoon with wrestling going long into the night. WG struggled some on Friday as we got off to a tough start as a team. Getting the only wins were Grayson and Blake in round 1. After a first round loss it takes a lot of mental and physical hard work to get back to the medal round. Round 2 and 3 went much better for WG with wrestler advancing in their brackets. Highlight of day 1 was Blake Terryberry securing his spot in the finals on Saturday night with and exciting 9-1 win in the Semi’s. Wrestling well but being eliminated from the tournament on Friday were Landon Lockhart, Taylor Luttrell, and Wyatt Shearer. The remaining wrestlers moved on to compete on Sat.

The team got some much needed rest overnight and came ready to go for Day 2. Day 2 went much better for WG with kids competing all over the Event Center. Everyone but Blake (finalist) needed to keep winning as 1 more loss and your tournament is over. Day 2 is physically and mentally demanding as some of the MS brackets are so large you are wrestling every 20 – 30 minutes. The team did a good job of competing at a high level and leaving everything on the mat.

Placing for WG were:

Sully Svendsbye placing 5th in K / 1 61lbs. Sully has been wrestling for the last 2 years and had a good tournament. It is always entertaining to watch the youngest division as the kids are taking things very seriously but smiling the whole time they are on the mat.

Grayson Kassib 2 / 3 74lbs 6th Grayson has been wrestling with the program for the last 2 years. Grayson came a long way this year. He has been working hard and it paid off. Grayson had his best weekend yet which was really exciting to watch.

Blake Terryberry 4 / 5 HWT Blake has been in the program since he was little. Blake has put a lot of hard work into his wrestling and it paid off for him. Blake spends most wrestling weekends wrestling up an age group. Sometimes he even wrestles 8th graders to find the best competition he can for himself. Blake wrestled at his best all weekend which was fun to watch. He has he has been working so hard. Blake won his finals match to finish in 1st place. In the process, Blake became WG’s first Elementary School State Champ in only the second year of having a ES division.

Wyatt Howell MS 140 lbs. Wyatt has been in the program since he was little. He finished his MS career wrestling at his best. Wyatt started Friday night with a tough loss. Wyatt bounced back and won his next 5 matches to advance to the 3rd place match. In the 3rd place match Wyatt lost a close decision to finish in 4th place. Wyatt became just the 2nd MS wrestler to place in the top 6 at the MS State tournament. He is ready to make the jump to the HS level next season and make an immediate impact.

The pee wee wrestlers have their only home meet on Thursday at 5:30 at the High School.