Bronco wrestlers compete at State Tournament, Hawks places sixth

The Bronco mat squad traveled to Tacoma this past weekend to compete in the 28th Mat Classic State Tournament at the Tacoma Dome.

There were 24 mats set up and non-stop competition happening across all of them.

The three wrestlers were guaranteed to wrestle twice on Friday, Feb. 19, and would need to win one of these matches to continue onto the second day of competition.

Karl Hawks secured a sixth place finish and returned home with a medal.

Matthias Ferderer made it to the State Tournament after receiving third place at the Regional Tournament in the 132-pound division.

His first match of the tournament he faced off against Austin Wood from Tonasket High School at 11:16 a.m.

Head Coach Jason Hilzer said he saw some nerves from Ferderer in this first match as he had never wrestled on a stage this large before.

He fought hard in the first period but after the second period started, he got out of position and was taken down and pinned. This moved Ferderer into the consolation bracket for the remainder of the tournament.

Tucker Guiles took the mat next for the Broncos. Guiles entered the 220-pound division after placing fourth in the Regional Tournament.

Guiles wrestled against Brayden Olmstead from Concrete High School. In the first round of the match, Olmstead took down Guiles and pinned him, which moved him down to the consolation bracket.

Hilzer said Guiles was a little nervous as well but in his matches he could see Olmstead outmatched Guiles. He is a sophomore and this is his first year wrestling.

Karl Hawks wrestled third for the Broncos in the heavyweight division. He received a bye for his first match and did not take to the mat until after 7 p.m. on Friday.

Ferderer and Guiles’ first matches in the consolation bracket were byes as well.

Hawks met Seth Bridge of North Beach High School for his first match of the day. Bridge is the number one seed from his region.

Hawks proved unable to make a move on the mat, Bridge took him down and pinned him the first period. This dropped Hawks into the consolation bracket for his next match.

In this match Hawks hurt his knee and this would prove to be an issue through the rest of the tournament.

Ferderer then matched up against Chris Jones from Colfax High School.

After three hard fought periods, Ferderer lost by just one point with a final score of 6-5.

Hilzer stated Ferderer had relaxed and he felt he should have won this match but it all came down to the one-point difference.

Guiles took to the match versus Hunter Schurger from Mary Walker High School for his next match of the day.

After a brief break to assist Guiles with a bloody nose, Schurger moved Guiles into a position to be pinned in the second round.

Hawks was the last of the Bronco wrestlers to wrestle on Friday.

He faced Alex Garcia from Brewster High School and quickly took Garcia down and pinned him in just 52 seconds.

This meant Hawks would move onto Saturday’s competition and closer to earning a medal.

On Saturday Hawks first met Hunter Dawley from Reardan High School on the mat. After a slow first period, Hawks pinned Dawley in the first 20 seconds of the second round.

Hilzer stated Hawks decided to wrestle through his knee injury as he was a senior and would not get another chance.

This advanced Hawks to a position where he would be guaranteed two more matches and would either wrestle for third or fifth place depending on the next match.

In the next match, he faced off against Tristan Newman from Waitsburg High School.

This match took place just 45 minutes after his prior match, which is regulation.

This proved to be a tough match and ultimately Newman took down Hawks and pinned in the first period.

Hawks would now have one more match, which would determine fifth place in the 285-pound division.

Alex Horn from North Beach High School would be Hawks opponent; Horn is the number two seed from this region.

After a back and forth first round Horn moved Hawks into position and was able to pin him in the second round.

Hawks received sixth place in the tournament and Hilzer said he overall had a great two days of wrestling.

When looking back at the season Hilzer said he thinks the team did really well and met the expectations he had.

They started with nine boys and one girl and at the end of the season had just five boys.

Three of these five had never wrestled before. Four of these boys wrestled in the Regional Tournament and three went on to State.

Hilzer looks forward to the next season and hopes to focus on recruiting some more people to join the wrestling program.