Rocket wrestling finishes seventh at state

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Sophomore Braden Tatum took second at the 106 weight class. The Rockets took seventh as a team.

On February 27, the Rose Hill High School’s wrestling team went to state and took seventh. It’s been 14 years since Rose Hill placed that high.

Braden Tatum, a sophomore at RHHS, came in second in the tournament. He lost to a wrestler who he’s competed with back and forth multiple times.

Tommy Rogers, who is a senior at Rose Hill High School, came in third place. 

Chris Saferight, the coach of the RHHS wrestling team, was proud of his wrestlers.

“We set three goals for ourselves at the beginning of the year; we wanted to be league champions and we accomplished that. We wanted to win a Regional Title and we fell a little bit short of that but were really close,” said Saferite. 

Saferite said he was impressed with his wrestlers since he didn’t know what to expect as a first year coach at Rose Hill High School.

“The season was good. This is my first year being at Rose Hill, so I didn’t really know what to expect, and I’m sure a lot of the wrestlers didn’t really know what to expect, but overall, I was really proud of the kids. They bought into what we were trying to do and what we were trying to accomplish,” said Saferite. “Not only trying to achieve team goals, but individual goals as well. I think we reached a lot of them but there’s still some business to be handled for the next few years coming up.”

Saferite said he was proud of his wrestlers for adapting to his ideals as a new coach. 

“I started coaching in 2008 over at Andover Central High School, so I was there for a long time, and with this being my first year here, it’s been fun and the kids let me in and they kinda started buying into what I believe in and it was all good,” said Saferite.

Saferite said he’s always looking for improvement and there are always aspects to be improved on by the team.

“We’re always looking to improve on anything, whoever it is, whatever match it is, we’re always looking to improve,” said Saferite. “If you’re happy with where you are, then you kind of get left in the dust.”