By Brad Hallier
The Hutchinson High boys wrestling team navigated the brutal Class 5A West Regional and qualified seven for this weekend’s state tournament at Hartman Arena in Park City.
Cruz Cannon led the Salthawks with a runner-up finish at 106 pounds. He was the Salthawks’ only finalist.
The top eight in each weight class qualified.
Three other Salthawks reached the semifinal round but lost. Camden Jensen placed third at 285 pounds, Max Harris was fifth at 144, and Kade Smith finished sixth at 157. Smith lost his semifinal in overtime and took two medical forfeits after.
Also qualifying were Jair Maciel at 120, Jackson Anderson at 150, and Skylar Ray at 190.
Overall, the Salthawks finished ninth with 109.5 points.
Boys swimming – The Salthawks’ 400-yard freestyle relay team finished in seventh place at the Class 5-4-3-2-1A state meet Saturday in Topeka.
After qualifying seventh in the preliminaries, the team of Zion Hayes, Trent McClelland, Lakin Franz and Logan Most finished the championship final in a time of 3 minutes, 29.23 seconds.
Three other Salthawk entries qualified for the consolation finals. The 200 medley relay team of Jordon Graham, Lakin Franz, Zion Hayes and Trent McClelland came in 14th at 1:52.77.
Most finished 12th in 200 freestyle (1:54.23) and 11th in the 500 freestyle (5:17.86).
Boys basketball – The Salthawks lost a tough one Tuesday at Derby, 65-60 in double overtime.
Terrell King led Hutchinson with 17 points but fouled out in the first overtime. Jax Heneha added 12 points, and he also fouled out, in the second overtime. Julian Smith scored 11 points.
The loss dropped Hutchinson to sixth place in the 5A West Substate standings.
Hutchinson, now 13-6, wraps up the regular season at Newton. A Salthawk win, coupled with a Hays win at Great Bend would leave Hutchinson in a three-way tie for the coveted fourth-place spot that guarantees home-court advantage in substate. The tiebreaker then would come down to points, which has Hutchinson behind the other two at the moment.
Girls basketball – The Salthawks had a great first half, leading Derby 32-26 at halftime, but the Panthers stormed back in the second half and posted a 62-46 win.
Grace Posch led Hutchinson with 17 points, and Kaia Smith added 14.
The loss dropped Hutchinson to 11-8, headed to Friday’s regular-season finale at Newton. A Hutchinson win could move the Salthawks into eighth place in the substate standings, which would guarantee a first-round home game.
