COLBY, Kan. – The Hutchinson Boys Wrestling team battled their way to a 3rd Place finish at the 38th Annual Eagle Invitational this weekend. The Salthawks earned a 3rd place finish in this dual format tournament which notches only their 3rd, Top 5 finish at the Eagle Invitational since the team began attending the event in 2008.
The Salthawks started off the weekend by defeating a Nebraska top 10 team out of Lexington High School 39-36. In the second dual of the evening, the Salthawks knocked off the defending Colorado Class 2A Team Champions in Wray (CO) 52 -25. In the evening session, the Salthawks defeated Wichita West by a score of 53 – 21 and suffered their only loss of pool matches to the current #2 ranked team in Kansas Class 3-2-1A Phillipsburg High School 36-32. To finish off pool matches on Saturday morning, the Salthawks defeated Lawrence High School 58 – 19 to conclude pool play matches with a 4-1 pool record which advanced the Salthawks into the 1st – 3rd place matches.
During the first bracket match of the day, the Salthawks were narrowly defeated by the #10 ranked team in Kansas Class 4A and tournament host Colby High school by a score of 39-36. The Salthawks ended their weekend with a loss to Colorado powerhouse Pine Creek with a dual score of 57 – 16.
Hutchinson Head Coach Dane Edwards said, “I am happy for them (the kids), I’ve told them, I believe they belong with some of the best and I think we proved it this weekend.” Edwards is now in his 3rd season at the helm of Salthawk Wrestling.
The Salthawks will host Derby High School on Thursday at the North Gym on the Campus of Hutchinson High School in an AVCTL Division – 1 matchup.
Box Score:
Hutchinson (39) – Lexington, NE (36)
Hutchinson (52) – Wray, CO (25)
Hutchinson (53) – Wichita West (21)
Phillipsburg (36) – Hutchinson (32)
Hutchinson (58) – Lawrence (19)
Colby (39) – Hutchinson (36)
Pine Creek, CO (57) – Hutchinson (16)