The end to winter sports is near meaning championships are around the corner. In the wrestling team’s case, it’s this Thursday all the way through Saturday. This year there will be five wrestlers going to the state championship tournament at Mizzou. The state qualifiers left school Thursday morning as the students and staff formed a tunnel and cheered them on. The wrestlers who qualified for state are: 

Brandon Jones – 132 pounds

Wyatt Haynes – 138 pounds

Christian Zeik – 145 pounds

Trentin Helton – 152 pounds

Janna Stevenson – 187 pounds

There were 13 wrestlers who competed at districts which took fifth place at St. Charles High School on Feb. 8-9 with the lineup being:

106 – Patrick Lynch

113 – Zane McCulloch

120 – Dominik Bishop

126 – Jacob Cunningham

132 – Brandon Jones

138 – Wyatt Haynes

145 – Christian Zeik

152 – Trentin Helton

160 – Evan McCulloch

170 – Jackson Ward

182 – Cole Wolfe

195 – Oliver Fensterman

220 – Ben Adelsberger

Liberty is in Class 3 District 2 and placed fifth place overall as a team scoring 108 points.

Christian Zeik placed first in his bracket while Wyatt Haynes, Trentin Helton, and Brandon Jones placed second and Janna Stevenson third.

Coach Kling is excited about this year’s state lineup.

“I feel pretty good about it,” Kling said. “I think all of them have a legitimate shot for placing at state.” Kling also thinks that this is the best group they’ve had saying “I think all of them worked pretty hard to get where they are.”

The tournament this year has pretty interesting stories behind it such as Zeik going for first, Helton and Haynes looking to place for the first time, Jones making his first state appearance and Stevenson being the first ever female wrestler to go to state in Liberty history in the first ever girls state tournament.

The state wrestling tournament is Thursday Feb. 14 through Saturday, Feb. 16 at the Mizzou Arena.