Wrestling grapples at State

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Tenly Synhorst

Raider boys take 2nd in the State Wrestling Tournament.

After winning its 5th straight Region 4A wrestling title, the Raiders headed into the State Tournament poised and confident. AS a result, the team walked away with 2nd place in State and Duals, along with three individual champions.

The 2022 state championship wrestlers included Senior Riley Benson, Senior Logan Graf, and Junior Corter Doney. Lets take a look at these:

Riley Benson is no stranger to wining, this being his second year winning the state champ label in the 160-weight class. Benson has been wrestling since the age of twelve, learning many things such as to work hard and “be a better person”. Benson is planning on attending Dickenson State University next year where he will be continuing his journey wrestling. Although this is his last year at Stevens High School, Riley will be missing the team as well as his coaches Travis King and Ringo.

Corter Doney has been wrestling since kindergarten. The sport has taught him to never give up, leading to his win to state—something that he has been waiting for a long time. However, Doney had faced an unrelated wrestling suspension, “Getting suspended from school and part of wrestling, then coming back and winning it was pretty big.” While he suffered setbacks, Doney was able to channel that and turn it into something positive.  As well, he has one more year to hone his skills and come back next year with the same determination.

Senior Kadin Nelson started wrestling only last year but has learned so much from being around the team. He had an important message for younger wrestlers and even others who start out late in the game just like him, “fight through it, it sucks but it will pay off in the end.” Nelson continues to share his hardest experience this year being, “Getting whooped up on, a lot, but it was worth it.”

Travis King seems to be an important part of all these boys’ lives. He has been brought up multiple times within the interviews when asked who they look up to; its safe to say that he has had a great impact on these boys, on and off the mat.