Though this year’s state tournament didn’t go quite as well as hoped, the Valley City Hi-Liners wrestling team qualified for its fourth consecutive state dual tournament this season, and qualified fourteen wrestlers for the state tournament.  Of those fourteen, eleven will return next year. That makes head coach Aaron Larson’s squad an EDC contender looking forward to next season.  Over the last four seasons, the Hi-Liners are 31-5 in EDC duals. Senior Jaden Oestern finished his Hi-liner career second at 285 pounds with a 35-5 record,  David Peterson, who was second in the state in 2018 and Cade Powers are the other Hi-liners graduating.  Returning is 138 Parker Larson, who finished third after making the state semifinals for the fourth consecutive year.  Larson will lead a pack of strong underclassmen including eighth graders Koye Grebel and Tyson Hovland.  Aaron Larson is most proud of the way this team has performed academically this season.

“Our 21 wrestlers had a combines GPA of 3.6, so these guys are working in the classroom as well,” Larson noted to NDwrestle.  “This is an incredible group of kids that should make the community of Valley City proud.”