Four Redhawks wrestlers spent Friday and Saturday at Rock Hill High School trying to finish in the top three of the UIL 5A Region II tournament and advance to state, but only one broke through.

Winning the District 8-5A championship at 110 lbs, senior Stephanie Qiu duplicated her feat by winning the Region II championship. 

“It wasn’t always my goal to go to state,” Qiu said via email. “When I first joined wrestling, I really didn’t have an end result in mind. I was there just because I thought wrestling was fun.” 

The Redhawks were also represented at the regional tournament by senior Seth Haynes, junior Nihar Jalla, and sophomore Mercede Alvarez, with Haynes and Alvarez finishing in 4th place and state alternates.

For Qiu, an injury during her junior year provided the motivation that fueled her performance this year. 

“I only really set my eyes on state during the end of my junior year. I got an elbow dislocation two weeks before district and couldn’t wrestle,” Qiu said via email. “I was really frustrated and mad about it, but when I went to go watch districts and regions and state, I saw that I could’ve been there. I’d beat a lot of the girls who went to state, and then I knew I really wanted to go. I worked my butt off during the summer, lifting almost every single day for the whole summer, going to club practices, doing a bunch of extra stuff. This year, going into it, I knew I wanted to go to state and place, so I worked hard and got what I wanted.”