Pierce Bluejay Wrestlers Shine at State Wrestling Tournament
By Addison Sporleder
Five of the Pierce Bluejay wrestlers packed their bags and made their way to the CHI Health Center in Omaha to compete at the NSAA State Wrestling tournament on Thursday, February 16 to Saturday, February 18. Pierce fought well against the competition in Class C, earning four medals, including two golds, as well as a team fourth place finish.
State champion Jayden Coulter at 152 pounds stated, “It feels unbelievable. This is something I have dreamt of since I was a little kid. I’m going to cherish the memories with my coaches and teammates. My state wrestling experience had been rough before, so it felt great to finally have a good experience in Omaha.”
Coulter began his road to the gold by wrestling Jace Freeseman of Gordon-Rushville and pinning him in 1:19. For his quarterfinal match, he took on Alex Meinecke of St. Paul and won by major decision, 11-3. Moving on to the semifinals, Coulter faced Samuel Grape of Boone Central where he got the pin in 1:11. Coulter then secured his title in the championship match where he pinned Logan Burt of Tekamah-Herman in 2:42.
Along with Coulter, fellow senior teammate Dawson Raabe claimed the Class C 285 pound championship. Raabe’s first match of the tournament was against Jeremiah Coley of Mitchell, where he pinned him in 6:00. In his quarterfinal match, Raabe pinned Keith Kvasnicka of Wilber-Clatonia in 2:30. Raabe’s semifinal match was quite the nail-biter to watch on Friday night, as he won in the ultimate tie breaker 2-1 against Markey Hinrichs of Fillmore Central. Raabe then won his gold medal by pinning JT Brands of Oakland-Craig in 3:20.
“I’m really happy to see that all of the hard work throughout the season has finally paid off,” the 285 pound state champion commented.
In the 170 pound weight class, senior Blake Bolling earned himself a third place finish. Bolling’s first match of the tournament was against Colton Ray of Boone Central, where he won by technical fall 16-0. He then faced Jack Myers in his quarterfinal match and won by a 4-1 decision. Bolling moved on to the semifinals, where he took on Cameron Shultz of Raymond Central, but fell just short by decision, 7-5. His fourth match of the tournament he competed against Jackson Cooley in the consolation semifinals and won by major decision, 11-2. Bolling then moved to wrestle in the third place match, where he defeated Barrett Andel of David City by a 5-2 decision, securing his third place spot on the podium.
Bolling’s younger brother, freshman Brenden Bolling, wrestled in the 132 pound weight class and finished sixth. In Br. Bolling’s first matchup, he took on Tucker Banister of Gordon-Rushville and won by a 4-0 decision. In the quarterfinal match, Br. Bolling lost a close competition to Tristan Burbach of Central City in sudden victory, 2-0. He started to fight his way back up to a medal when he wrestled Dalton VanLaningham of Fairbury and won by decision, 7-0. Br. Bolling’s match in the third consolation round was against Sam Luther of Kearney Catholic, where he won by decision, 7-0, once again. He then advanced to the consolation semifinals where he lost to Kaleb Baker of St. Paul by a 4-0 decision. Br. Bolling competed in the fifth place match, but lost to Hayden Neeman of Superior by an 8-2 decision. He finished on the podium with a sixth place medal.
Wrestling at 195 pounds was sophomore Clayton Carlson, who lost his first match to Tycen Breckner of Doniphan-Trumbull by fall in 2:39. In his second match, he fell to Mason Kreikemeier of Raymond Central in 1:37.
Head coach Tyler Legate stated, “I thought we competed really well. I was looking for the top two places, but we got fourth, which was good. I’m very happy with the boys, and I’m excited for good things to come.”
The Bluejays finished in great standing by placing fourth as a team with 78.5 points. This concluded the 2022-2023 wrestling season.
