By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline wrestling team will send three Trojans to the state meet today after a productive season with a young team.
SES worked with four freshmen, one sophomore, a junior and two seniors this year, and all three of their upperclassmen are now headed to state.
“We were a very young team this year,” Trojan head coach Chuck Schremmer said. “I like how we came together as a team, usually, the Freshmen are excluded but these guys got a chance to practice with the seniors and we had a pretty tight-knit group.”
In addition to learning from the coaching staff, those underclassmen had an opportunity to develop under three state competitors throughout the season.
“Matthew knows more about wrestling than any of those kids put together and Eli is very intelligent with athletics,” Schremmer said. “It made our lives a lot easier as coaches.”
With the 3/2/1A state tournament getting underway today, here is a closer look at the three Trojans who will be wrestling for a shot at individual state glory.
Matthew Rodriguez
Class: Senior
Height: 6-0
Weight class: 182
Record: 31-1
Rank: #1 in 3/2/1A (#4 in state)
First opponent: Connor Simmers (20-11)
“I’ve had coaches come to me and ask that Matthew take it easy on their wrestlers before,” Schremmer said. “He’s very fluid on the mat and he’s been a joy to coach for these four years. When he wrestles, we get to save our voice and you don’t get many kids like that. He’s already pinned six kids in this bracket this season and if he goes out and just wrestles he should be fine.”
Eli Jackson
Class: Senior
Height: 6-0
Weight class: 285
Record: 22-16
First opponent: Joe Martin (21-12)
“Eli is a really good kid, he makes me laugh a lot,” Schremmer said. “One year we took him to a tournament as a freshman and he was out scouting other kids that we were going to see later in the season all on his own. If he had another year of eligibility he would be ranked but he’s really come into his own his senior year.”
Mac Chambers
Class: Junior
Height: 6-0
Weight Class: 160
Record: 29-4
Rank: #6 in 3/2/1A
First opponent: Abram Keim (23-17)
“On Saturdays, Mac shows up ready to wrestle and he really gives it all for us there,” Schremmer said. “He didn’t realize how good he could be until he pinned a ranked kid at our sub-state last year and you could see the light switch turn on. This year he came into it knowing that he can wrestle with the best and he has. All four of his losses are to ranked kids and it wasn’t by much.”
While Jackson and Chambers are both more than capable of making deep runs, Rodriguez enters state as the favorite to win it all in his weight class.
For more on SES wrestling at state, stay tuned to the Salina Post.