by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Four Wellington wrestlers will be headed to Salina for the Class 4A State Tournament, starting Friday and Saturday.

Andrew Pelkey at 152 pounds, Joey Haydon at 182, Skylar Brand at 220, Miguel Lujan at heavyweight will begin their venture to Salina Bicentennial Center. Fan information on pricing and location can be found here.

General admission gates open at 8 a.m. The first round starts at 10 a.m. The second-round championship quarterfinals is at 2 p.m. and the first round consolation and championship semifinals is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Session II starts Saturday at 9 a.m. and will run through the evening. Sumner Newscow will have live twitter updates throughout the tournament as long as there are Wellington wrestlers involved. 

Andrew Pelkey

Wellington head wrestling coach Mitch McComb said all four boys received favorable draws in the tournament.

Pelkey (8-1) will be wrestling a fourth seed from the Hays Regional Nathan Nelson of Chapman (17-16) in round one.

“Interesting fact, Andrew never had won a high school tournament until Saturday when he won the regional championship in Pratt,” said Mitch McComb, Wellington head wrestling coach.

Pelkey is currently ranked fourth in the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association rankings. Three wrestlers ranked ahead of him: Jon Pratt of Baldwin, Caleb Vikman of Spring Hill, and Seth Strauss of Abilene, all won their regional tournaments.

Joey Haydon

At 182, senior Haydon (24-15) will put his regional second seed  to the test against Kaleb Jost of McPherson (25-20). If he can survive there, he could be battling Alex Bejarano of Basehor-Linwood, a fifth-ranked wrestler.

Skylar Brand

At 220, Brand (25-6) is wrestling as well as he has all season. If the senior could get out of the first round, he could be seeing a top five wrestlers from Paola, Duncan Watrous of Paola in the second round.

At heavyweight, Lujan, at 7-2, will come in as a regional third seed. Based on the regional tournament, all bets are off for this surprising state qualifier. With Lujan this is all gravy.

Migel Lujan

He meets Sam Cristy (32-11) from Spring Hill. If Lujan survives that, then it will be likely be a battle with Jason Zook of Chapman (12-0) in the second round.

All the state tournament brackets can be found here.

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