VALLEY CITY, ND (Submitted by Farmers Union Insurance)
Hi-Liner Wrestler of the Week for week ending Jan 14, 2023 is Tucker Johnson.
Tucker is Senior at VCHS and is currently ranked #5 in Class A at 132 lbs.
Tucker had a super tournament in Rugby this past weekend. His bracket had the #2, #3, #4, #5 and #6 ranked Class B wrestlers in the state. Tucker won two hard fought battles to get to the title match. In the quarter finals, he beat the tournament #2 seed, Chance Burns from Grafton in a 3-0 match, and in the semi-finals, Tucker faced the tournament #6 seed, scrappy William Cook from Kenmare, ND. The match ended in a 1-1 tie in regulation, before going to overtime. In sudden victory overtime, Tucker secured a takedown which gave him a 3-1 win and advanced him into the tournament finals. In the finals, Tucker lost a hard fought and bloody 8-3 battle to Ethan Maier from New Salem who is ranked #2 in Class B. Tucker wrestled the final period with a severely cut lip that would later need multiple stitches.
Tucker answered our “Hi-Liner Wrestler of the Week” questionnaire as follows:
1. Name: Tucker Johnson
2. Parents/ brothers/sisters?: Nate Johnson, Nikki Johnson, Brinklyn Johnson
3. Academic achievements?: I am in Honors Society, have made the honor roll.
4. School activities/sports?: Wrestling, Cross Country, Speech, Show Choir, Jazz Band, Student Council, Student Congress, Theater.
5 . Hobbies: Fishing, Hunting, Playing Music, Watching Movies & TV.
6. Favorite class in school: Multimedia
7. Favorite food: Steak
8. Favorite video game: Minecraft
9. Most memorable wrestling moment: When we had to get 4 pins in a row to win a dual and I was one who got one of the 4 pins we needed to win.
10. Who is going to win the Superbowl?: 49ers
11. Best advice for young wrestlers/underclassmen wrestlers: To always work hard and don’t get discouraged because you have to fail in order to succeed.
12. Biggest life lesson you’ve learned from the sport of wrestling: The perseverance to pick myself back up and keep going no matter what. And Hard work pays off.
Wrestler Of the Week is sponsored by Farmers Union Insurance- Kirk Olson & Tyler VanBruggen.