The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

Seven State-qualifying members of the Sedgwick County/Fleming wrestling team definitely rose to the occasion this weekend and brought home an eighth place team finish out of 44 teams. To finish in the top-10 teams at the State Tournament is a huge accomplishment. The team finished day one of the event with opening round wins by all six of the boys' wrestlers; five by pin and one by decision. At one point the team was sitting in first place.

Going into day two all six boys were in the quarterfinals and Aliyah Engle - the lone State qualifying girl from the SC/F team- was in the first round of consolations. The round did not fair well for the boys' team as Kaiden Schelling was the only one to win his quarterfinal match and advanced to the semifinal round. Engle also won her match in the first round of consolations and advanced to the second round consolations. Later in the day Jack Bornhoft and Grant Statz both won their matches in the second round of consolations to advance to the third round of consolations.

The brother/sister duo of Scotty and Aliyah Engle didn't end the second round of consolations the way they would have liked and their quest for a medal had come to an end.

Schelling then wrestled his semifinal match and won this hard-fought battle to advance to the 113-pound Championship on Saturday night.

When the wrestlers returned to Ball arena Saturday morning Bornhoft and Statz had to win two more matches to be guaranteed a medal. Both did just that and advanced to the consolation semifinals which would determine if they would wrestle for third or fifth place. Bornhoft lost his consolation semifinal match and wrestled for fifth place and Statz won his semifinal match and wrestled for third place. Bornhoft wrestled a tough fifth place match, but came up short and brought home the sixth place medal. Statz wrestled a tough third place match and came out on top bringing home the third place medal.

Saturday night, following the traditional parade of champions, Schelling wrestled his 113-pound Championship match. The outcome of this match was not what he was hoping for and brought the second place medal.

Individual results from wrestlers competing out of Haxtun and Fleming for the weekend are as follows:

110-pound senior Aliyah Engle ended her season with a 14-8 record.

She lost by fall Sarah DeLaCerda of Alamosa in round one. In consolation round one, Engle defeated Arianna Sanchez of Eaglecrest by fall in 3:37. She then lost by fall to

Mia Thorne of Discovery Canyon to end her season.

113-pound junior Kaiden Schelling finished as the State Runner-up in his division with a 32-9 overall record on the year. He won round one by fall in 5:29 over Thomas Valdez of Swink. He then took the quarterfinal round over Mateo Martinez of Rocky Ford by fall in 5:54. In the semifinal round, Schelling defeated Miguel Franco of Dolores Huerta Preparatory by 5-4 decision. In the Championship match, Schelling was defeated by fall in 4:46 by Traven Sharon of Fowler.

126-pound sophomore Scotty Engle ended his season with a 29-4 record. He won his opening round by fall in 3:27 over Treyven Stevens of North Fork High School. He then lost in the quarterfinal round to Damian Lopez of Monte Vista by 7-1 decision. In consolation round two, Engle lost to Clay Crawford of Meeker in sudden victory, 6-4.

144-pound senior Jack Bornhoft, earned a sixth place finish at State and ended his season with a 33-13 record. He won in the opening round by fall in 3:03 over Logan Jack of Calhan. In the quarterfinal round, Bornhoft was defeated by Abe Maupin of Meeker won by fall.

(Courtesy photo)

GRANT STATZ, a 165-pound Haxtun sophomore, finished the season at 26-9 overall and earned a third place finish at State.

He bounced back for a win in consolation round two, taking a win by over Jacob Martin of Mancos by 11-0 major decision. In consolation round three, Bornhoft won by 7-4 decision over Abel Flowers of Buena Vista. He then lost in the consolation semifinal round to Samuel Meisner of Wray won by fall. In his final match of the State Tournament, Bornhoft lost to Logan Clark of Dayspring Christian Academy by a 7-1 decision.

165-pound sophomore Grant Statz finished the year in third place and ended his season with a 26-9 record. Statz won round one by a 7-2 decision over Jesus Valadez of Center. He lost to Cade Blunt of Meekerwon by fall in the quarterfinal round. In consolation round two, Statz won by a 7-1 decision over Lochlan Osborne of Lyons. He took consolation round three by 3-2 decision over Kole Hawkins of Cedaredge. Statz won the consolation semifinal by a 8-5 decision over Keon Bandy of Limon. He closed out the State Tournament with a third-place victory by a 7-3 decision over Jesus Valadez of Center.