The Thriving Five
Wrestling team sends five to state after finishing fifth place at district
The wrestling team headed to state on Thursday. Students and staff formed a tunnel and cheered them as they left school.
February 14, 2019
Wyatt Haynes takes down his opponent in a match in January.
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
Christian Zeik works on getting his opponent onto his back for the pin.
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.
