Over the years, Blue Valley has sent countless teams to state competitions in hopes of bringing home a championship to add to the collection. On February 27th, Junior TJ Blancarte, along with the rest of the wrestling team, was sent to the yearly state competition in Wichita, Kansas.

Although the season seemed to go by in a blink of an eye, Blancarte explains all the work it took to get to where the team is at now.

“In order to qualify for state, you need to win two matches at the regional tournament. That’s hard to do considering there are so many talented wrestlers”, explained Blancarte. Working hard throughout the season is one of the many ways that the coaches emphasize the key to a successful season. Although Blancarte was not one of those to qualify for the state competition, many others from BV did. Michael Solomon (sophomore), Gabe Hughes (senior), and Luke Hyland (junior) were some of the team members that were sent to Wichita to compete in the two-day tournament. 

Beyond the goal of making it to state, the team looks forward to creating memories and building friendships each season. “My favorite part of wrestling is being apart of a family and having really great friends”, mentioned Blancarte. In order to create a functional environment for the wrestlers, emphasizing a good relationship between the teammates is vital.

Along with a teammate-to-teammate relationship, wrestling is known for the effort that coaches make to help their players perform to the best of their ability.  

As a junior hoping to go to qualify for state next year, Blancarte explained how “the coaches are helping me to train and get better to make a 100% chance for me to go to the state level”.

In hopes of state championship this year, the BV Tiger Wrestlers will be working hard in Wichita to bring home some hardware.