By Derek White
The Colby Lady Eagles traveled to Salina over the weekend to compete at the Kansas State High School Activities Association’s state wrestling tournament. They brought seven girls to the two-day contest at the Tony’s Pizza Event Center starting on Feb. 28. Of the seven, only three would make the podium led by sophomore Morgan Hills who won her first state championship battling through a shoulder injury.
In her first appearance at the state tournament, Hills finished in fourth placed after losing to the tournament’s first seed Keira Mullen from Smoky Valley. In show of strength, she battled all the way to the consolation finals wining three matches in a row. She ended up losing a second time to the Mullen, and taking fourth in her freshman campaign.
This year, she has been dominant through the season amassing twenty-nine wins and only two losses. Both losses were against high caliber opponents, first was to this years’ Nebraska state champion at 135 pounds, Ambie Custard out of Southwest high school at the Eagle Invitational. Her second loss came from Hailey Ramos from Dodge City, who also won a state title this year in the 6A division at 135 pounds.
In the opening round Hills received a win by forfeit from Seneca-Nemaha’s Harper Foster, then in the quarterfinals she defeated Buhler’s Lillie by injury default after she suffered a head/neck injury with twenty-four seconds remaining in the match, Hills was close to winning the match by technical fall prior to the injury.
In the semifinals, Hills won by technical fall over Santa Fe Trail’s Morgan Pickering 17-1 to advance to the final. The gold medal match was one-sided as Hills dominated Haylei Potter a senior out of Burlington with a 47-2 record. She quickly took a 6-1 lead into the second period, where she started on bottom and escaped to quickly attack Potter with a high crotch gaining another takedown to take a 10-1 lead.
On a scramble halfway through the third period, Hills aggravated an on-going injury to her shoulder leading to an injury time-out. She then went on to finish the match in strong fashion to take the gold medal by technical fall 17-2.
“My favorite moment of the tournament was definitely winning the state title after battling an injury, then to go and hug my coaches. Especially coach Flanagin, because he’s helped me through this season more than he knows,” said Hills. “It was especially great to hear how the coaches were proud of me and having them in my corner. Coach Tucker Branum was also a big help this season, his talks about not overthinking played a big role in this season.”
Colby freshman Dallis Stieben finished in fifth place for the Eagles after going 4-2 in the tournament. Her four wins were against Parsons’ Brittany Boucher by fall, Jefferson West’s Lucy Henderson by fall, and Pratt’s Jade Baker in sudden victory with a take-down to win 3-0. She then lost in the consolation semifinal to Scott City’s Ashlyn Rose by fall, and then received a win by medical forfeit from El Dorado’s Aryana Vance.
The final Eagle to hit the podium was sophomore Adrian Salcido, she went 3-3 at the tournament to finish in sixth place. She had tough matches resulting in loss from 4A first ranked Josie Wilson from Abilene, fourth ranked Peyton Brazzle out of Wamego, and then third ranked Hannah Noel from Columbus. She did however, collect a win over sixth ranked Audry Johnson-Wood from Sante Fe Trail, Chanute’s Riverlee Allen, and Burlington’s Isabella Matney.
Aspen Sharpe ended the tournament at 1-2, Joslyn Bartlett went 1-2, Faith Hoover ended 1-2, and Alana Fabrizius finished 2-2 to end the 2025 Eagle high school season.
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