Seven wrestlers qualify for state

The Mountain Home Tigers finished fourth at the District III 4A Wrestling Tournament at Bishop Kelly over the weekend, but will send seven wrestlers on to state.

Nampa edged Skyview for the District crown, scoring 340.5 points to Skyview's 339. Kuna was a distant third with 239.5 points, followed by Mountain Home with 207. Bishop Kelly was fifth with 184 points, followed by Vallivue with 118.5, Caldwell, 118, and Emmett, 115.5.

Mountain Home qualified seven wrestlers for this weekend's State Wrestling Championships at the Idaho Center in Nampa. For four of them, it is a return trip to state.

Kole Spaulding, who finished third last year at state, won the 171-pound weight class and is the number one seed in his weight class in the state pairings.

A.J. Hutchison, who also finished third at state last year, won the 135-pound weight class, and goes in as the number two seed.

Kyle Hickerson returns to state after a second-place finish at district at 119 pounds, and is the number four seed going to state.

Charles Davidson returns to State at 215 pounds after a third-place finish at district.

Other Tigers qualifying for state include Daniel Doronio, who finished fourth at 119 pounds, Calvin Vivier, who finished third at 130 pounds, and Kori Andrews, who finished fifth at 145 pounds.

Tyson Sessions finished sixth at 171 pounds and just missed qualifying for state.

Mountain Home wrestling coach Lynn Knudson was pleased with this team's fourth-place finish at district.

"We finished fourth as a team, which isn't too bad for as young as we are, and I don't think we were expected to do that well, so I feel pretty good about that.

"I just wish we would have had a few more kids that would have placed up a little higher so they could have gotten to state, but we're working with a young squad and sometimes things don't always go your way, but I look forward to a lot of the younger kids coming back to the program, and look for good things from them in the years to come.

"It would have been nice if more could have gone and got the state experience, but we'll go over with the seven that we have qualified and if we can keep the kids in there, we'll be in good shape."

Coach Knudson is optimistic that the seven that he has going can have some good efforts at the state meet.

"Kole (Spaulding) placed third last year, and he has the number one seed this year, and Kyle Hickerson is the number four seed, and A. J. (Hutchison) has the number two seed and he placed third last two years, and Charles Davidson was a state qualifier last year, so we have some good things to look forward to, even though we're not going over with a large number of kids.

"We still have a lot of good things to look forward to, hopefully, a couple or more state champions and definite state placers, so we're looking forward to the state tournament."

Knudson is also happy to have state at the Idaho Center in Nampa this year instead of in Pocatello.

"It's nice to have it on this side of the state, which is another reason why we were hoping to get more kids there, but with it definitely being closer, we hope to get a lot of people to come over and cheer us on."

The State Wrestling Championships start tomorrow (Thursday) and run through Saturday at the Idaho Center in Nampa.