Pair of Jayhawks going to 3-2-1A State

ROSSVILLE -- Jayhawk-Linn senior Eli Walrod won the 285-pound bracket while classmate Quincy Hodges took fourth place at 160, ensuring both athletes berths into the State Class 3-2-1A State Tournament, which will be held this coming weekend on the campus of Fort Hays State University.

Both men qualified out of the Rossville Class 3-2-1A Regional Tournament, which was held here Friday and Saturday.

"(They're) the only two seniors on the team and my first two guys to come through the program for four years," Jayhawk-Linn head coach Brett Kramer said. "Wrestling was added here their freshman year. I am so proud of Eli and Quincy. When they started out their freshman year, they struggled a lot. They had trouble with the tough practices and struggled winning matches, But they stuck with it, got better every year (and) now all their hard work has earned them a trip to Hays."

Walrod, who is 25-8 on the season, won four matches by pinfall. He pinned Jacob Boettcher of Council Grove just 29 seconds in the his first-round match. He then pinned Ian McCormick of Onaga in 1 minute, 1 second in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinal, Walrod stuck Trevin Edelman of Sabetha 1:02 into the second period. And in the finals, Walrod pinned Central Heights' David Green 1:44 into the second period. Green, who drew a first-round bye, had pinned both of his opponents in reaching the final.

"Eli was probably in the most even weight class of the tournament," Kramer said. "There were nine quality kids in his bracket. Eli wrestled his best tournament of his career. He beat three very quality wrestlers and he did this by battling and not giving up. In his last two matches, Eli was losing both of them by 5 or more points and was able to come back and catch both of the kids on their back and get the pins."

Hodges (12-8) pinned Garrett Atzenweiler of Atchison County in the first round. He was pinned by eventual Regional champ Colton Gentry of Rossville in the quarterfinals.

In consolation, Hodges took a 14-8 decision over Kyler Moody of Minneapolis, a 16-14 decision over Bryce Platt of Horton and pinned David Crowder of Bennington to reach the third-place match, which assured he would make State. Harvey Webster of Sabetha won the third-place bout, 10-9.

In other Jayhawk results. junior Jarod Avery (21-11) went 1-2 at 152 pounds; junior Austin Billingsley (2-20) was 0-2 at 125; junior Mason Craig (11-15) was 0-2 at 130; and sophomore Tyler Jenkins (5-22) was 0-2 at 135.

Friday's matches begin at 10 a.m. with Saturday's action to start at 9 a.m. at Gross Memorial Coliseum on the Fort Hays State University campus.