As a freshmen, Chris Butts was a state qualifier and won a match at the state meet.

As a sophomore last year, Chris Butts dealt with a nagging foot injury that he suffered during the previous football season. 

As a junior this year, Butts was back to winning at the state wrestling championships. At the state meet, Butts won his first match 14-2, but then lost in the quarterfinal match by Fall. In his third match, Butts won by Fall, which advanced him to the state “bubble” match, which means a win would guarantee him a medal and a loss would send him home. 

In the deciding match, Butts was losing by two points late in the bout. There were about 20 seconds left and he knew that he had to do something for him to win. Luckily, Butts got a takedown with about one second remaining, which sent the match to overtime.  

In overtime, Butts wanted to take his opponent down by surprise.

“In my head, I was thinking ‘he’s not going to think that I’m going to (go for the takedown)’ right away, so that’s what I did and it worked out,” Butts said. 

Butts then won his next match 6-2 and advanced to the third place match. In the third place match, Butts lost 9-0. Butts was pleased with his fourth place medal. 

“This was a great goal of mine,” Butts said. 

Coach Ryan Bollinger has been the head coach for the past two years. Butts became his first state medalist as the head coach. 

Bollinger said, “Any time a wrestler’s hard work ends with them bringing home a state medal is a huge accomplishment.  Chris has put a lot of time into the sport of wrestling and I’m so proud of him.” 

 Four of the Owls six state qualifiers will return next year, so Butts plans on taking on more of a leadership role. 

“I’m going to do some summer wrestling. Next year, I’m going to set a good example… Since it’s my senior year, I’m going to take it a little more serious,” Butts said.