Pierce High Wrestling
Wrestlers Compete at Pierce Invitational
by Raegan Theisen
The Pierce wrestlers competed at the Pierce Invitational on Saturday, December 20, and the girls and boys teams finished first.
Head coach Tyler Legate was very proud of his wrestlers saying, “I thought the wrestlers competed hard and didn’t give up in any position. Both of the teams competed hard.”
Senior Isaiah Adams, who wrestled at 126, placed 1st and scored 20.5 team points. He beat all of his opponents including Chase Rasmussen of Pierce by pin, Jacob Lind of Elkhorn Valley by pin, Nathan Halsey of Elkhorn Valley by decision winning 6-3, Braedan Gunther of Crofton-Bloomfield in sudden victory winning 6-4, and finally pinning Owen Vondra of Elkhorn Valley.
Senior Brock Bolling also got 1st, wrestling at 132, and scoring 24 team points. He pinned all of his opponents who included William Steffen of Crofton-Bloomfield, Andy Pham of Omaha Burke, Peyton Kruntorad of Pierce, Isaac Eckert of Elkhorn Valley, and Braeden Kleinschmit of Hartington Cedar Catholic.
Also placing 1st, junior Jayden Coulter wrestled at 145 and scored 20.5 team points. He beat all of his opponents who included Aton Wurdinger of Stanton by pin in :24, Nash Albers of Hartington Cedar Catholic by pin, Maverick Hagemann of Elkhorn Valley by medical forfeit, and William Poppe of Crofton-Bloomfield by a 3-1 decision.
Again, placing 1st was Blake Bolling scoring 20 team points while wrestling at 152. He pinned all of his opponents who included Blayze Meye of Pierce, Aidan Hartley of Omaha Burke, and Conner Hochstein of Hartington Cedar Catholic.
Michael Kruntorad wrestled at 170, placed 1st and scored 22 team points. He pinned all of his opponents who included Anthony Castillo of Pierce, Clayton Carlson of Pierce, Jay Halsey of Elkhorn Valley, and Alex Mainor of Omaha Burke.
Wrestling at 182 was Matt Christensen who finished 1st and scored 21.5 team points. He pinned Becker Pohlman of Stanton in round one, won by technical fall over Casey Jeanoutot of Crofton-Bloomfield 15-0, pinned Garett Hansen of Stanton in :18, and pinned Thomas Reid of Omaha Burke.
Wrestling at 113, Zach Abler placed 2nd and scored 12 team points. He pinned one of his opponents who was Brenyn Ames of Lutheran High Northeast and fell to Robbie Fisher of Crofton-Bloomfield.
Also placing 2nd was Parker Sackville who wrestled at 160 and scored 14.5 team points. He beat all of his opponents who included Camden Jansen of Pierce by pin, Arian Hernandez of Lutheran High Northeast by pin, Tylor Kment of Stanton by decision winning 2-1, and Damien Erickson of Stanton in sudden victory winning 3-1. In the championship round, Sackville lost by a 10-4 decision to Wyatt Tramp of Crofton-Bloomfield.
Wrestling at 195 was Zavien Buol who got 2nd and scored 12 team points. He won one of his matches against Tyler Friesz of Pierce by pinning him and he fell to his other opponent, Ty Tramp of Crofton-Bloomfield.
Senior Nickolas Erickson placed 2nd, wrestling at 220, and scored 12 team points. He pinned his first opponent Lincoln Manyimo of Omaha Burke in :21 and lost to his second opponent Jared Janssen of Crofton-Bloomfield by fall.
Corbin Pfeil (106) placed 3rd and scored seven team points. He lost both of his matches by fall against Jakob Booth of Omaha Burke and Keegan Carl of Hartington Cedar Catholic.
Evan Willits (138) placed 3rd and scored 9.5 team points. He lost two of his matches by fall to William Travis of Omaha Burke and Zach Hartl of Elkhorn Valley. He won his match against Jack Miller of Crofton-Bloomfield by decision, 9-8. In his final match, he pinned his opponent Valen Searight of Lutheran High Northeast.
Dawson Raabe (285) also placed 3rd and scored 9 team points. He pinned Jesse Huwaldt of Pierce. He fell to Payton McDonald of Omaha Burke and Paxton Bartels of Crofton-Bloomfield.
Senior Michael Kuntorad stated, “I am happy that the boys and girls team both won. It was good to get two wins at our home invite.”
The Pierce girls wrestling team also took 1st place honors, with nine medalists and three 1st place finishes.
Taking home 1st place honors for the Lady Jays were Maggie Painter at 132, Angeline Skrdla at 138, and at 235, Makinzie Parsons.
Painter won in the first round due to a medical forfeit by Jennifer Najera-Gonzalez of Lexington, then went on to pin Alexi Hoffmann of Battle Creek, Jordan Aschoff of Norfolk Catholic, Rahlonda Britt of Omaha Burke, and Alicia Gubalke of Omaha Westside.
At 138, A. Skrdla pinned her first round opponent, Yesenia Munoz of Lexington in :16. She also pinned Grace Koch of Norfolk Catholic, won by medical forfeit over Isabelle Skrdla and finally received the championship by pinning Andrea Melendez of Lexington.
Parsons, a senior wrestling at 235, won by pinning Quinlyn Kennel of Norfolk Catholic in :32.
Finishing 3rd was Mia Sackville at 100, who lost in round one to Arya Erickson of Stanton and round two to Josalyn Hernandez-DeLeon of Lexington, but finally in her third round she pinned Rose Pearsall of Lexington.
Hayle DeBoer (114) also finished third for the Lady Jays, pinning first round opponent Jesmy Trujillo of Omaha Burke. She then fell to Corah Linnaus of Stanton in round two and Ella Reeves of Battle Creek in round 3. DeBoer then pinned Rhiannon Herman of Omaha Burke in :30. Finally she won in round five over Sandra Velasquez of Lexington due to medical forfeit.
Callie Arnold, wrestling at 120, finished 3rd. She lost in round one to Kytzia Hernandez of Lexington in an 8-6 decision. She then came back in rounds two and three to pin Hannah Jearue of Omaha Burke and Alee Luna of Boone Central in :22.
Junior Isabelle Skrdla (138) finished 2nd for the Lady Jays, pinning Andrea Melendez of Lexington and Yesenia Munoz of Lexington. She lost by medical forfeit to A. Skrdla, and she came back to pin Grace Koch of Norfolk Catholic.
Wrestling at 185, Mariah Eckert finished 2nd for the Lady Jays, by pinning her first four opponents including Kira Vavra of Pierce, Mya Holt of Omaha Burke, Chantal Hernandez of Lexington and Ashlynn Rath of Battle Creek. In round 5, Eckert fell to Belle Brodersen of Boone Central.
Also at 185, Vavra finished 6th, falling to Mariah Eckert. She lost in round two to Ashlynn Rath of Battle Creek. Vavra had a medical forfeit for rounds three, four, and five.
The Pierce wrestling teams will be back in action on Friday, January 7 at Central Community College.
Pierce Boys Wrestling Defeat Elkhorn Valley and O’Neill
by Emma Risinger
On Thursday, December 16, the Pierce boys wrestling team set out for Elkhorn Valley High School and also faced O’Neill in a double dual.
Against Elkhorn Valley, the Pierce team won with a total score of 72 to Elkhorn Valley’s 12.
Michael Kruntorad, wrestling at 170 pinned Jay Halsey, Blake Bolling (152) pinned Chase Klinetobe, Jayden Coulter at 145 won over Reed Bennett, Brock Bolling (132) pinned Zack Hartl and Isaiah Adams at 126 pinned Nathan Halsey late in the third period.
When asked about his thoughts on the team’s performance, M. Kruntorad said, “Overall I feel like we wrestled really well for how short of time we’ve had to prepare.”
At 138, Evan Willits lost by fall to Tristan Smith and Zakary Abler (120) lost to Mason Nitz.
Dawson Raabe (285), Nickolas Erickson (220), Zavien Buol (195), Matthew Christensen (182), Parker Sackville (160), Elijah Streff (113), and Corbin Pfeil (106) all won by forfeit.
In the dual with O’Neill, Pierce won 45-32.
At 285, Raabe won in a 3-0 decision over Tucker Shabram.
Christensen, a senior, wrestling at 195, pinned Matias Jimenez, as well as senior M. Kruntorad at 182 won over Fabian Acevado.
Wrestling at 170, Sackville lost in a 7-3 decision to Levi Drueke, while Zachary Meier (160) fell to Brady Thompson.
Bl. Bolling at 152 pinned Oliver Schluns.
At 145, Coulter fell to Ty Rainforth.
Senior Br. Bolling, wrestling at 138 pinned Pryor Matthews
Peyton Kruntorad (132) lost in a 16-1 technical fall to Joseph Yates.
Finally, senior Adams, who wrestled at 126 won over Ashten Burival, while Abler (113) lost to John Alder.
Elijah Streff (120) and Corbin Pfeil (106) won by forfeit.
Head Coach Tyler Legate remarked on the evening, “The boys wrestled really hard and fought in every position. I look forward to getting better each and every day.”
The wrestlers will be back on the mats on Friday, January 7, at Central Community College.
