Broncos wrestling squad sending three to Regionals

The Bronco wrestling squad traveled to Liberty for the South League Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 6, where they fought for their spots in the Regional Tournament.

Wrestling that day were Matthias Ferderer, Alex Whitman, Karl Hawks, Joe Benedict and Tucker Guiles.

In Ferderer’s first match the opponent was injured and he was defaulted to the next round of competition.

The second round held a competitor from Colfax High School. Ferderer has matched up versus this wrestler prior and performed better in this match than previously, according to Head Coach Jason Hilzer.

The Colfax wrestler cradled and pinned him after Ferderer gained a lead in the second period. Ferderer secured second place in Districts and advances to the Regional Tournament.

Whitman began the tournament against a wrestler from Waistburg High School who he was pretty evenly matched with, according to Hilzer.

Hilzer said in the third period Whitman started showing some fatigue. His opponent took advantage of his exhaustion and pinned Whitman.

After this match he moved on to face a Reardan High School wrestler. Whitman was pinned in the first round during this match.

In Whitman’s final match for fifth or sixth place he faced a different Waitsburg wrestler and pinned his opponent in the second period, securing fifth place.

This will make him an alternate in the Regional Tournament in the 138-pound division.

Guiles wrestled in only one match in the 220-pound division on Saturday, as there were only three in the division.

He began the day versus the number two seed in the tournament who he had previously lost to 11-3. In the third period Guiles was ahead 3-2 and gave up an escape and a take down and ultimately lost 5-3.

Guiles took third place in Districts and will advance to Regionals.

Hawks wrestled in the tournament after taking a few matches off due to a hand injury. In his first match, he wrestled against an opponent from Reardan and was able to pin him in the second period.

This match moved him to the finals. The first and second place finishers both move to the Regional Tournament and because of this Hilzer decided to injury default Hawks in the final match.

This prevented additional injury to Hawks’ hand and he advances to Regionals with a second place finish.

Benedict wrestled a Colfax High School opponent and lost in this first match of the day. He then faced the same Reardan wrestler Hawks beat but could not defeat him.

This gave Benedict a fifth place finish, which makes him an alternate in the Regional Tournament.

This week the team has been wrestling live to give the wrestlers the practice they need for the next level of competition.

They are also going to do everything they can to make sure their weights are where they will need to be on Saturday for the tournament.

The Regional Tournament will take place in Reardan with weigh-in at 8 a.m. and the matches beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13.