SALINA — Iola High’s Andrew Garber survived and advanced at the Class 4A State Wrestling Tournament on Friday.
“State is really hard, especially if you’re in the upper weight classes because you have to wait all morning until you wrestle,” coach Jason Bates said. “It was three hours after he warmed up with a partner until the match.”
In Garber’s first match, he handily beat Hoyt Royal Valley’s Jacob Box in a 12-1 major decision.
“You could tell he was a little sluggish, but he came out with a win,” Bates said. “He got the major decision and did really well.”
Garber, in his second match of the day, ran into last season’s state champion, Austin Cook, from Lindsborg’s Smoky Valley. He entered the match at 40-0 on the season, compared to Garber’s 30-8 record. The match ended with Garber being pinned in 1:25.
“We got pinned in the first period, but he wrestled pretty well,” Bates said. “He wrestled hard and didn’t make any mistakes. It’s just, when you wrestle a state champion who’s undefeated, he’s a good kid.”
The loss puts Garber in the consolation bracket where he can still finish as high as third place. He will wrestle against the winner of Basehor Linwood’s Alex Bejarano and McPherson’s Kaleb Jost this morning.
Garber advances
