Five Richmond Hill wrestlers finished in the top eight in their weight divisions at last week’s sectional tournament in Acworth.
That earned each of them a ticket to the state traditional meet today through Saturday at Infinite Energy Arena in Duluth.

Freshman Will Evans was the Wildcats’ highest placer at sectionals, taking third at 113 pounds. Sophomores Bailey Anderson (106) and Taylor Wilson (182) each finished fourth, senior Alex Hill (220) was fifth, and senior Akira Bechtel (145) was seventh.

“I felt like we had a good shot at carrying six or seven, but I am happy for the five we have going,” Richmond Hill coach Robert Parker said. “There are a lot of very good wrestlers in each weight class. Our goal is to have all qualifiers to finish in the top six and be on the podium on Saturday.”

Each RHHS wrestler will be the higher-ranked seed in his opening match.
Anderson (14-3), seeded seventh, will open against Ivan Aguello (33-16) of Rome, who is seeded 10th. Evans (37-6) is the No. 5 seed in his class and will face Dutchtown’s Michael Parker (25-7), who is No. 12.

Bechtel (16-5) comes in as the No. 6 seed in his weight class and will take on No. 11 Evan Gianfala (33-12) of Creekview in the first round. Wilson (39-8), who comes in as the seventh seed in his class, opens against Dunwoody’s Darwin Osorio (40-10), the 10th seed.

Eighth-seeded Hill (38-6) opens against Hunter Hardin (27-10) of Woodland.
The championship finals will be streamed live on NFHSNetwork.com/GHSA starting at 3 p.m. Saturday.