Bluejay Wrestling
Wrestlers Place First at David City Aquinas
by Kailey Marks
The boys wrestling team traveled to David City to take on their fellow opponents on Saturday, January 11. Pierce wrestled their way to first place in the meet with 184 points racked up in a sixteen team tournament, beating David City Aquinas by one point.
Individually, Brett Tinker, Dylan Kuehler, and Zander Schweitzer placed 1st in their brackets; Brock Bolling and Carter Jensen placed 2nd; Jayden Coulter, Jeremiah Kruntorad, and Michael Kruntorad placed 3rd.
Starting at 113, Brock Bolling scored 21 points of the Bluejays final score. He won against Wilson Cucul Tzin of Broken Bow and Brayan Romero of Schuyler JV by fall. He won against Ethan Williams from Conestoga by major decision but lost in his final match against Konner Schluckebier of Milford.
Moving to 120, Jayden Coulter contributed 18 points to the final score. Coulter won by fall over Colin Hough and Ethan Schmid of Aquinas Catholic. He also won by decision over Braden Ruffner of Conestoga. In his semifinal match, he lost by decision to Braden Ruffner of Conestoga. In Coulter’s final match, he won with no contest over Ethan Schmid of Aquinas Catholic.
At 126, Blake Bolling scored 10 points of the team points. He won by fall over Jagger Plevel of Conestoga. He then lost by fall against Casey Faulkenberry, but then came back to win two matches by fall, one against Kevin Perez of Schuyler JV and the other over Juan Davalos of Twin River. In the final match, he lost by fall against Zach Zitek.
At 132, Carter Jensen scored 20 points for the Bluejays. Jensen won by fall over Scott Dufault of Conestoga and over Cater Wattier of Norfolk Catholic. He then won by decision against Trent Stauffer of Milford but then lost in his final match by fall against Cameron Williams of Conestoga.
At 138, Jeremiah Kruntorad added 14 points to the Bluejays final score. J. Kruntorad won by decision over Isaac Booth of Twin River and then won by fall over Allan Olander of Norfolk Catholic. He then lost against Christopher Nickolite of Aquinas Catholic by major decision. J. Kruntorad came back to win against Isaac Booth of Twin River by decision, and then in his final match, he also won by decision over Jack Chapman of Milford.
At 145, Michael Kruntorad also scored 14 points for the Bluejays. He won by fall over TJ Murray of Boys Town, but then lost by decision against Wyatt Smydra of Norfolk Catholic. M. Kruntorad came back and won by decision over Jacob Dragon of Conestoga, and won by no contest over Mason Tenski of Twin River.
At 152, Ashton Schweitzer scored eight team points. A. Schweitzer won by fall over Esteban Garcia of Schuyler JV and Noah Wattier of Norfolk Catholic. He lost to Grant Lindsley of Shelby-Rising City by decision, but came back to win by decision over Jed Jones of Twin River. In his final match, A. Schweitzer lost by decision against Nolan Eller of Aquinas Catholic.
At 160, Zander Schweitzer assisted 24 points to the final score. Z. Schweitzer won by fall over Dylanger Dady of Broken Bow and Isaac Voboril of Milford. He won by decision against Christopher Scdoris of Milford, and in his final match won by decision over Jaxson Jones of Twin River.
At 170, Brett Tinker contributed 26 points for the Bluejays. Tinker won by fall against Lane Ballard of Lincoln Christian, Gunner Mumford of Thayer Central, and Ben Kment of Aquinas Catholic. In his final match, he won by decision over Issiah Borgmann of Stanton.
At 220, Dylan Kuehler also contributed 26 points for the Bluejays. Kuehler won by fall against Issac Wilcox of Norfolk Catholic, Lorenzo Temple of Milford, and in his final match, Keifer Anderson of Broken Bow.
At 285, Sam Rosno scored three points for the Bluejays. Rosno lost by fall against Jace Owen of North Bend Central and Shayan Jafari of Lincoln Christian but won by fall over Trayce From of North Bend Central.
Coach Tyler Legate states, “Everybody wrestled really hard, and I was really excited with how well we finished. With the matches that we didn’t get, there is time this week to improve before our next meet this Thursday.”
The Bluejays will take the mat again on Thursday, January 16, at Plainview starting at 7 p.m., and Saturday, January 18, at Schuyler starting at 9 a.m.
JV Wrestling Travels to Winside
by Kailey Marks
The JV boys wrestling team traveled to Winside on Saturday, January 11 and placed 7th scoring 68.5 points.
Individually, Isaiah Adams placed 1st, Ashton Koch placed 2nd, Jacob Kerber placed 3rd, Parker Sackville placed 4th, and Tavin Koehler, Ethan Dohmen, and Richard Halligan placed 5th.
Starting at 120, Isaiah Adams contributed 21 points to the final score. Adams won by fall over Cassandra Brown of Pender and Sam Taylor of Ponca. He then lost to Caden Meinke of Battle Creek JV by fall. Adams came back to win by injury default over Trey Johnson and by major decision over Caden Meinke of Battle Creek JV.
Moving to 126, Ashton Koch aided 16 points to the final score. Koch won by fall over Gabe Wortman of Quad County Northeast, Zach Frankus of Viborg-Hurley, Chase Hofmeister of Pender, and over Wyatt Huber of Viborg-Hurley. In his final match, he lost by fall against Dalton Anderson of Ponca.
At 132, Ethan Dohmen scored five team points. Dohmen won by fall over Kaedon Maunu of Viborg-Hurley. He then lost by decision against Nash Albers of Hartington Cedar Catholic and lost by decision against Art Escalante of Winside. He came back and won by fall over Ethan Kirwa of Millard North JV, and in his final match, he won by major decision over Kaedon Maunu.
At 152, Parker Sackville scored 9.5 points for the Bluejays. Sackville won by tech fall over Sean Heimdale of Winside. Damon Crawford of Guardian Angels Central Catholic won by fall over Sackville. He came back and won two matches by fall against Ty Schroeder of Battle Creek JV and Aauysh Singh of Millard North JV.
At 160, Jaden Jones lost both of his matches by fall, one against Dalton Moore of Millard North JV, and the other against Traven Croghan of Battle Creek JV.
At 170, Tavin Koehler contributed five points to the final score. He lost by fall against Mason Topp of Winside and by fall against Eric Hoesing of Hartington Cedar Catholic. Koehler came back to win by major decision over Brandon Sensenig of Riverside and won by fall over Wyatt Scofield of St. Mary’s Catholic. In his final match, he won by fall over Cale Schwer of Guardian Angels Central Catholic.
At 220, Richard Halligan scored two points for the Bluejays. He lost by fall against Beau Hrbek of Niobrara-Verdigre, Ethan Engen of Viborg-Hurley, Aaron Strain of Millard North JV, Colton Sanderson of Pender. In his final match, Halligan won by medical forfeit over Hunter Mebourne of Ponca.
At 285, Jacob Kerber added 11 points to the final score. Kerber won by fall over Jacob Campbell of Viborg-Hurley and over Fischer Carson of Quad County Northeast. He then lost by fall over Jace Shiney of Millard North JV, and in his final match, lost by fall against Eric Hathaway of Pender.
Coach Jason Freudenburg comments about the meet, saying, “I thought we did really well considering we brought eight guys to the meet. I would say we did well on both top and bottom but still need to improve on both.”
The JV Bluejays will take the mat again on Saturday, January 18, at Schuyler starting at 9 a.m.
JV Wrestlers Take Down Competition
by MacKenzie Peters and Hannah Whitmore
The Pierce JV wrestlers journeyed to Wisner Pilger High School Monday, January 6, finishing 3rd out of 13 teams.
In the 132 weight class, Ethan Dohmen placed third scoring 10 team points. Parker Sackville placed first in the 160 weight class and scored 19 points for the team. In the 170 weight class, Tavin Koehler placed first, adding 18 to the team score. Jaden Jones also placed first in his weight class, 170, scoring 16 team points. Junior Travis Jensen placed third in the 195 weight class and scored 9. In the 220 weight class, Richard Halligan scored 9 team points and placed third individually. Lastly, sophomore Taylor Zamora placed third in the 285B weight class but was unable to get in any points for the team.
Coach Tyler Legate was impressed by the team’s performance, saying, “It was good for them to wrestle people more their age. They did well. Jaden Jones went 3-0 with his second time placing first this year. He’s come along way from his freshman year. Parker Sackville did really well too. He beat some really good kids.”
