I have coached several wrestlers that I thought could have placed in the top 6 at the 3-2-1A state tourn. but could not get out of the always tough western regionals. The one that comes to mind first is Zane Engelbert. Zane has wrestled for FHSU the past 4 seasons splitting time on varsity. In college he has a winning record which includes all of the open tournaments.
But in high school Zane was never able to qualify for the state tourn. To show you how good he was, in 1997 when someone dropped out of the East/West Classic, I volunteered Zane to wrestle Chad Flores of Silver Lake. Flores did win the match but Zane was able to take the 2 x State Champion down twice and make the match much closer than most thought it should be. Zane also had a win over Brandon Pfienmeier (sorry for spelling ?) of Clay Center in Freestyle. Granted that was not high school wrestling, but we are talking about a 3 timer -vs- someone that never even qualified for state. I try to remind Coach "Charby" of that match every time I see him.
