Titans send record number of wrestlers to State Tournament

Earning runner-up honors at the Region 1A Meet held Saturday, Feb. 20 in Watertown, the Tea Area High School wrestling team finished with 174 team points. They also took home three first place finishes and had seven wrestlers punch their ticket to the 2021 State A Wrestling Tournament. Later the team would find out that they would actually advance eight to State due to a scratch in a bracket. This marks the most number of qualifiers in school history. Despite the success of some wrestlers, there were those who just came a win or two shy from advancing to State.

“As always, the Region Tournament was a bittersweet day. It was amazing seeing some of our guys’ efforts throughout the year and come into fruition, but heartbreaking for some others who came up shy of their goals,” said Titan head coach John Niesen. “It was a roller coaster of a day with some huge wins and some upsets alike. We’re pleased to have eight qualifiers, which is the most in school history, but need to clean a lot of things up in order to make noise at the State Tournament.”

Representing the Titans at the State Meet will be Quincy Hulverson, Maddix Slykhuis, Wyatt Stuntebeck, Connor Eimers, Sam Werdel, Isaac Johnson, Griffen Schnider and Preston Eimers who was declared officially in at 182 pounds due to a scratch in the bracket.

Hulverson, Slykhuis and Stuntebeck all captured the Region Championship title in their respective weight classes: Hulverson at 113 pounds, Slykhuis at 120 pounds, and Stuntebeck at 126 pounds.