The Hutchinson High boys wrestling team qualified seven wrestlers for the Class 5A state tournament last Saturday in Newton.
Kade Smith was the Salthawks lone regional champion at 165 pounds. The senior is a state-championship contender, and he won his first three matches comfortably before edging by Great Bend’s Jace Schartz 4-1 in the championship match.
Smith won his previous three matches with a combined less than 5 minutes of mat time.
Two Salthawks took home third place, including Cruz Cannon at 113 pounds and Max Harris at 157 pounds. Harris’ only loss was in the semifinals by medical forfeit. Three of Harris’ four wins came by pin.
Two Salthawks finished in seventh place, including Cooper Harris (150) and Jackson Anderson (175).
Finishing in eighth place were Dion Brown (106) and Skyler Ray (215).
The state tournament is Friday and Saturday at Park City Arena.
Girls wrestling – Two Salthawks qualified through the 5A regional on Feb. 15 at Topeka Seaman.
Aaida Brown led the Salthawks with a seventh-place finish at 100 pounds. Also qualifying was Alexa Lewis (115), who came in eighth place.
Brown and Lewis will also compete at the 5A state tournament Friday and Saturday at Park City Arena.
Boys swimming – Logan Most finished up his impressive season with a pair of consolation-final placements at the Class 5-4-3-2-1A state meet Saturday in Topeka.
The top eight times in each event qualify for the championship finals, while those finishing ninth through 16th compete in the consolation finals.
Most, a senior, had his best placement in the 500-yard freestyle, as he finished 11th in a time of 5 minutes, 18.32 seconds. That was an 8-second improvement from his preliminary race, where he finished 13th.
Most also finished 12th in the 200 freestyle, in a time of 1:54.97.
Bowling – Hutchinson will host a 5A regional on Thursday at The Alley. The 11-school regional will start with the girls at 9:40 a.m., while the boys will start at 1:10 p.m.
Girls basketball – The Salthawks continued their late-season surge with a 43-34 win Tuesday over Maize.
The win completed a regular-season sweep of Maize.
Hutch led 19-15 at half, and then found its offense in the second half. Kohlbie Craft has a monster game with 17 points
The Salthawks improved to 13-5 with two regular-seaosn games remaining. The Salthawks sit in eighth place in the Class 5A West substate standings, which would guarantee a first-round home game.
Boys basketball – The Salthawks played well for three quarters, but Maize seized control late to win 58-48.
Hutch trailed by just three after three quarters, but fouls mounted in the final quarter that enabled Maize to pull away.
The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for Hutch and dropped the Salthawks to 9-9. They sit 12th in the 5A West substate standings with two games left.
