VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com/Express Wrestling) – Friday February 26th, North Dakota USA wrestling held its annual middle school, elementary and girls state team qualifier in Bismarck. ND sends two teams in the middle school and elementary division and one team in the girl division each year to compete in Iowa in April. First team consists of all 1st place winners and second team consists of all 2nd place winners of their respective weight brackets in their divisions. Elementary consists of grades 1-6, middle school consists of grades 7-8 and girls consists of grades 1-8.
Qualifying for the girls’ team from the Express wrestling team was 5th grader Gabby Hannig (97 lbs). This is Gabby’s third time qualifying for the Heartland National Duals. Gabby qualified by pinning her opponent twice in a best of 3 bracket at the Dual Qualifier in Bismarck.
Qualifying for the 2nd team in the elementary division from the Express wrestling team was 5th grader Chase Coghlan (90 lbs). This was Chase’s first time qualifying for the Heartland National Duals. At the Qualifier in Bismarck Chase lost in the semifinals and worked his way through the wrestle backs to pin his opponent for 3rd place then he pinned his opponent in the true 2nd match to take 2nd place and qualify.
3rd grader Carter Coghlan (60 lbs) also competed at the Dual Qualifier in Bismarck taking 3rd place and just missed qualifying by one place.
The teams comprised of athletes from all across the state of ND, will compete in the Heartland National Duals on April 16-18th, in Council Bluffs, IA. These two days will consist of 4-5 duals each day, giving each wrestler about 10 matches throughout the weekend.