Vikings advance three wrestlers to state

 TRURO (Feb. 9) -- Three AHSTW wrestlers qualified for state and four others fell a win or two short on Saturday at the Class 1A, District 2 Tournament held in Truro.
 Freshman 106-pounder Hayden Fischer claimed a district title for the Vikings while junior 132-pounder Joel Sampson and senior 182-pounder Gabe Pauley both placed second. All three will compete at the 2019 State Wrestling Tournament starting Thursday (Feb. 14) at Wells Fargo Arena.
 Fischer (31-18), who was pinned by Nodaway Valley’s Elliot Cooney at sectionals one week earlier, outlasted Cooney 8-6 on Saturday to place first.
 Sampson (33-16) lost his championship match 8-5 to Gunnar Larsen of ACGC but bounced back to pin Wayne’s Trent Terrell in a wrestle-back for second place.
 Pauley (33-3) - a 2018 state champion and ranked No. 1 at 182 all season - lost by fall to seventh-ranked Colby Page of Southeast Warren in his championship final but did not have to wrestle again for second. Pauley led Page in the second period when he got caught with a throw and briefly went to his back. Page pulled off the stunning upset in 3:08.
 Additional district qualifiers for AHSTW included senior Elliot Young (third place at 126), senior Ben Ehlers (fourth at 138), junior Seth Kiesel (fourth at 160) and junior Gavyn Fischer (third at 220). The Vikings placed fourth as a team with 66 points.