By: Beth Jones
The Fernandina Beach High School wrestlers competed in the regional tournament Feb. 27-28.
“There were only six wrestlers that moved on to the regional tournament, but all six of them had a great first day,” said Eric Kubatzke, head wrestling coach at FBHS. “All six of them were able to make it into the second day and exceeded our expectations on how well they performed.”
The FBHS grapplers finished 14th out of 38 teams.
“We had only one senior in the tournament, so most of the wrestlers were freshmen and sophomores,” Kubatzke said. “Taking this many underclassmen and all six of the wrestlers making it as far as they did was really exciting.
“The second day was harder, with four of the six wrestlers losing in the round required to move onto the state tournament. We really thought that we could get a couple at least through this round into the state tournament the following weekend. The guys still wrestled really well and are so close to making it to that next level of competition. The good news is, all but one will be back next year.”
Crew Richter was the lone senior competing at region.
“He was also one of our four that had to win one match to move on to the state tournament,” Kubatzke said. “Even though he did not move on, he wrestled exceptionally well and he ended his senior year with the best season he has had throughout his entire wrestling career. He ended with a 40-17 record and placed in all but one tournament that we competed in this past season.”
Individual results:
106 Tristan Holmes (29-17), 2-2, two pins
113 Adam Wilson (14-16), 2-2, one pin
126 Jayden Holmes (34-11), 3-2, three pins
132 Crew Richter (40-17), 2-2, two pins
150 Ethan Shiver (24-14), 2-2, two pins
190 Colt Richter 3-2 (38-17), two pins and 1 technical fall
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