On Wednesday, Feb. 15 the Knights wrestling state qualifiers left after school around 3:30 p.m. to head to Columbia, Missouri to take on schools from around the state of Missouri which include schools that are tough competition in the area like CBC and Lafayette high schools. Most of the schools around the Kansas City area are also very tough to compete against.

Three students will take on state competition this week: Myron Crawford, Dylan Lauer and Jacob Smith.

Throughout Thursday, Feb. 16 to Saturday, Feb. 18 will be all the events the Knights will take place in. Thursday will consist of the parade of athletes in the morning followed by the first round of wrestling. If the Knights were to lose their first round of wrestling, they will wrestle again that evening. However, if they lose that match, they’re done for the weekend. Once they make it past the first rounds of wrestling, Friday will be the quarterfinals of state, the second round wrestle brackets. If they make it past the quarterfinals, Friday evening will be the semifinals “do or die” matches. If they win those matches, they will receive medals for sure and will have the chance to to compete on Saturday. On Saturday, the morning will start off with the 3-5th place matches and at 4:30 that evening will be the start of the State final matches.  

What makes the semifinals matches so exciting is “depending on how the brackets are laid out,” said Varsity Wrestling coach Chris Brown, “is that those could be potential finalists matches.” 

One of the most impressive players from FHN is sophomore Dylan Lauer. Not only is it a great accomplishment qualifying for state as a wrestler, but to do it as a sophomore is even better.

“I’m really excited for state,” said Coach Brown, “especially for all of my wrestlers including Dylan, hoping this will not be his only state appearance and get his first of many medals.”

Senior Jacob Smith also was the District champ in his weight class and Myron Crawford place third in his District weight class to qualify them for state competition.

Also joining the team are team managers juniors Emma Eckhard and Morgan Bales. Throughout the year, the two will watch and record as many matches for the players so they can review them and work on their techniques and how to beat their competition.

“We watch all the matches and record them to post on Hudle and Trackwrestling for the players so view,” said Eckhard. “But we also take stats for each player as they wrestle.”

The managers will join the players on Thursday morning Feb. 16 in Columbia, Missouri.