Two Cardinal wrestlers headed to state mat

PLEASANTON — Aiden Gubbels and Gavin Wortman have kept the Randolph wrestling season alive.

Both Randolph wrestlers qualified for this week’s State Tournament in Omaha.

Gubbels (285 pounds) and Wortman (165) finished third and fourth in their respective brackets at the District meet.

A total of eight Cardinals headed to the Class D District tournament where the two Randolph grapplers planted their flags as state wrestlers.

“In Class D, we are allowed two wrestlers in one weight class as long as your total number of wrestlers don’t exceed 14,” Randolph head coach Mark Lech said. “We doubled up in two separate classes with Bryson Eledge and Owen Junck in the same class and Joe Miller and Gage Jensen in the same class.

Bryson and Gage both made it to the heartbreak round and lost close matches keeping them from qualifying for State.

“The team had a great season and fought well at a large, tough district,” Lech said. “We look forward to our two boys to go out and competing hard down in Omaha.”

On the girls side, Gracie Wortman (115) battled at districts and needed a top four finish to advance, but she was bounced in the heartbreak round.

“Gracie had an outstanding year and being a freshman, we look forward to several more chances to qualify for the state tournament,” Lech said.

Gubbels said advancing to state means everything and following in his older brother Ajay’s footsteps adds to the accomplishment.

“Ever since I have been wrestling – since second grade – I have been dreaming of going to state,” he said. “It’s really exciting and it’s one of the better parts of high school.”

He wrestled one match on the first day and sat around until he got to work on Saturday.

“My first match was kind of shaky and I almost got thrown in a headlock and got pinned, but fought it off,” he said. “Then the second day came around and I did a lot better. I think just not sitting around was a big factor and just getting there on a good night’s sleep and warming up and then just kind of going like normal.”

Gubbels also said he was happy Gavin Wortman will experience the trip with him to state.

“It’s really nice not just going alone and now I have someone to kind of be there,” he said. “I think (the program) has a bright future because we have (only two seniors) and everyone else will be coming back. So, I feel like next year we for sure will have more qualifiers. Then we have a pretty good freshman group coming up next year. I think we definitely could get three or four (to state).”

Gubbels said the biggest difference for him from last year is that he wrestles “smarter” and he has eliminated the “dumb little mistakes” that plagued him in previous seasons.

“I am practicing and getting better,” he said. “I feel like I made quite a few dumb mistakes and especially last year during my last round, I felt I kind of wrestled like I was on the defense and didn’t want to do anything stupid. I was just wrestling scared and I feel like I didn’t this time.”