Following long-time coach Robert Gonzalez’s historic 300th dual win as coach last weekend, the Indians were back in action Saturday, this time for a competition they had been preparing for since they won Centennial late last month. It was time for Regionals, and naturally, excitement was in the air.

For those 14 wrestlers, many of whom are league champions, all of the laps ran in practice, and all the sweat that was left on the mats led to this for them: the chance to become Regional champion and make their way to the State competition. 14 walked in and 13 walked away qualifying for the 6A state competition. With that, Manhattan left with the Regional win, out-wrestling seven other teams.

Eight Manhattan wrestlers fought their way to the championship round in their weight classes, and four of them defeated their rivals to earn the name of Regional champions. Juniors Mason Wallace, Eldon Picou, Joe Braun and Zephry Killham all placed first, blazing through their brackets and ultimately winning their final match.

“It went well. We had five champions and eight finalists,” junior Mason Wallace said.   

Among those other qualified for state were senior Carlos Martinez, who recently signed on to Bethany College accepting a scholarship to wrestle for them after this year, and sophomores Abraham Sanchez, Robert Houston and Hunter Christensen. As if these weren’t enough, MHS also took home the coach of the year and wrestler of the year awards given to Gonzalez and Killham respectively.

“I was realy proud of myself and I thank [Gonzalez] for all of that,” Killham said.

After a successful Regional campaign, the Indians will now travel to Wichita to compete in State on Friday.

“We have a real chance to beat Garden City and take home the state title as a team,” Wallace said.