Pierce High Wrestling
Pierce Boys Take Down Plattsmouth Invite
by Brock Bolling
The Pierce boys wrestling team took down the Plattsmouth Invite January 22, scoring 121 team points and finishing 5th out of 15 teams.
Finishing first were senior Brock Bolling (132), junior Jayden Coulter (145), and senior Michael Kruntorad (160).
At 126, Isaiah Adams finished third and scored 15 team points by getting a pin over Randy Morehead of Plattsmouth. In his second round, Adams defeated Isaac Bruggeman from Nebraska City by a 6-1 decision. In his semifinal match, Adams was defeated by Trev Greve of Waverly by major decision 12-2. In the third place match, Adams defeated Gavin Ienn of Elkhorn by decision, 6-2.
Finishing first at 132, Br. Bolling scored 28 team points by pinning Ashtyn Gillespie of Bellevue East, Caleb Jackson of Seward, and Chase Eggleston of Norris.
Jumping up to 145, Coulter finished first and scored 26 team points by getting pins over his first two opponents–Caleb Vokes of Northwest and Jesse Cruse of Lincoln High. Coulter then got an 11-5 decision win over Westin Sherlock of Lincoln East. In his finals match, Coulter got another decision win over Bayler Poston of Nebraska City, 5-1.
At 152, Blake Bolling placed sixth and scored 9 team points. In his first match, Bl. Bolling lost by decision to Lincoln East’s Cael Demsey 6-1. In his next two matches Bl. Bolling won by pin over Conner Perrigo of Elkhorn and Brant Gulizia of Auburn. Finally in his fifth place match Bl. Bolling lost to Eli Hiser of Seward in sudden victory, 4-2.
Up to 160, Kruntorad finished first and scored 24 team points. In Kruntorad’s first match, he pinned Waverly’s Aden Smith. In his semifinal match, Kruntorad won by a 13-9 decision over Brad Hall of Auburn. In his finals match, Kruntorad got another decision win over Miguel James of Ralston, 7-5.
Receiving third at 170 and scoring 15 team points was senior Matthew Christensen. In his first match, Christensen won by a 9-4 decision over Mason Chandler of Bellevue East. Christensen was then defeated by Nolan Hill of Seward by fall. In his third place match, Christensen pinned Brody Schmielau of Elkhorn.
Christensen states, “It was a really good meet for us to go to because there were teams that we didn't get to see. Our guys that went wrestled really well, and we’re ready to take it to Boone this week.”
Finally at 220, Nicholas Erickson scored four team points. In his first match Erickson won by pin over Zane Ebel of Falls City. In his second and third matches, Erickson lost to Caleb Adkins of Plattsmouth and Dustin Hurley of Seward by fall and 4-2 decision, respectively.
Pierce’s next competition will be Saturday, January 29, at the Boone Central Invite.
Pierce Wrestlers Successful Again
The Pierce girls wrestling team only had tears of joy as they came away with top honors again after taking a resounding first place at the Weeping Water Girls Invite on Saturday, January 22. Pierce had a resounding 154 team points. The next closest team was West Point Beemer with only 124 points.
First place honors were handed out to sophomore Maggie Painter at 132 and senior Makinzie Parsons at 185.
Painter commented, “I feel like our team is definitely prepared, but we still have a lot of work in practice we need to do to get even more prepared.” On a personal level Painter said, “I just feel like I need to keep maintaining weight instead of cutting all the time and just keep working hard in practice.”
Scoring 26 points for the team, Painter (132) won by fall over Charlie Bales of Fremont and Daphne Schramm of Falls City. In the semifinal round, Painter won by a 6-4 decision over Morgan Hensch from Conestoga. She took first place honors with another 6-4 decision, this time beating Jenna Secord of Papillion-LaVista.
Adding 28 team points was Parsons (185) who pinned Kirsten Clark of Papillion-LaVista and Stormy Hampton of Millard South. During her semifinal round Parsons won with a 3-2 decision over Darian Earth from Winnebago. In her final match, she won by fall over Makena Schramm of Fairbury.
Second place honors went to Angeline Skrdla, who added 22 team points for Pierce. In her quarterfinals round she pinned Gabby Phillips of Fairbury, then won by a 6-0 decision over Brooklin Kuester of West Point-Beemer in the semifinals. A. Skrdla lost by fall to Regan Rosseter of Omaha Westside.
Haylee Miller, at 145, placed third for the Lady Jays and added 20 team points. She won by pinned her first competitor, Breanna Smart of Louisville, then in the semifinals, she lost by fall to Avani Wilkie of Winnebago. In the consolation semifinals, she won by fall over Stephanie Rodriquez of Schuyler and then won by medical forfeit over Catalina Jones of Louisville.
Placing fourth for the Lady Jays were Isabelle Skrdla at 138, Katelyn Gubbels at 152, and Mariah Eckert at 165.
At 138, I. Skrdla pinned Taylor Miller of Weeping Water, then lost by fall to Carly Wemhoff of Schuyler. During the consolation semifinals, she pinned Kendall Bauer of Bennington, but lost by fall to Yvette Vargas of Millard South in the third place match.
At 152, Gubbels lost by fall to Jayda Parker of Bellevue East, then in the consolation semifinals, she pinned Heidi Ramos of Fairbury. In her third place match, she lost by fall to Ziomara Ruiz of West Point-Beemer.
At 165, Eckert pinned Bridget Murdoch of Weeping Water. In the semifinals she lost by fall to Kaylee Ricketts of Wahoo. In her consolation semifinals she lost by fall to Alyssa Thieman from Louisville. Then in her third place match she lost by fall to Kennedy Karschner of Platteview.
Placing fifth for the Lady Jays was Callie Arnold (120). She lost by fall to Selena Mccrery of Bennington, then won her next two rounds. She won by fall over NyAsia Jones of Millard South and won by decision over Grace Darling of Wahoo, 3-2. She lost in her consolation semifinals round to Kelsey Moore of Papillion-LaVista, but won by forfeit over Taleah Thomas of Amherst.
Rounding out the wrestling for the Lady Jays were Mia Sackville (100), who lost by fall to Lucie Rougean of Johnson County Central and Arya Erickson of Stanton.
While not placing, Hayle DeBoer at 114 did score seven team points for Pierce. She won by fall over Aniya Williams of Bellevue East, lost by fall to Brisa Figueroa of West Point-Beemer, won by fall over Rhiannon Herman of Omaha Burke, but lost by fall to Maddy Pineda of Schuyler.
Wrestling at 152, Candace Clausen lost by fall to Daysha Jones from Louisville and Heidi Ramos from Fairbury.
Finally, at 185, Kira Vavra won by fall over Alle Boell of West Point-Beemer, but lost by fall to Makena Schramm of Fairbury and Mya Holt of Omaha Burke.
The Lady Jay wrestlers will be at Boone Central on Saturday, January 29.
Pierce’s Tri with Battle Creek and Norfolk Catholic
by Ren Gleason
The Pierce wrestling team had a triangular at the auditorium on January 20 coming away with two wins for the girls team and a split for the boys team. The boys won over Norfolk Catholic with a score of 58-18 and lost to Battle Creek with a score of 45-32. The girls, on the other hand, won against both Norfolk Catholic and Battle Creek.
Senior Matthew Christensen had one thing to say about the duals, “Our guys battled hard and I’m proud of them, but some matches just didn’t go our way. We did everything we could, but had some slip-ups.”
The girls started the night off with Norfolk Catholic.
Mia Sackville won at 100, as Norfolk Catholic was open.
Hadleigh Collison won by fall over Miranda Headly at 107 in :11.
Hayle DeBoer won at 114 and Norfolk Catholic was open.
Callie Arnold pinned Ivy Vu at 120.
Jordan Aschoff won by fall over Angeline Skrdla at 126.
Maggie Painter won a 132 and Norfolk Catholic was open.
Isabelle Skrdla won by fall over Grace Koch at 138.
Haylee Miller won at 145 and Norfolk Catholic was open.
Katelyn Gubbels won at 152 and Norfolk Catholic was open.
Mariah Eckert won at 165 and Norfolk Catholic was open.
Kira Vavra won at 185 and Norfolk Catholic was open.
Makinzie Parsons won by a 6-4 decision over Quinlyn Kennel at 235.
Next, the Pierce boys had a dual with Norfolk Catholic.
Zachary Abler got a bye.
Corbin Pfeil lost to Cart Fisher in a 2-0 decision.
Elijah Streff had a bye.
Pierce was open at 126.
At 132 Isaiah Adams had a fall over Mason Dusek.
Brock Bolling at 138 won in a 14-2 major decision over Kanyon Talton.
At 145 Jayden Coulter pinned Noah Morland.
At 152 Pierce was open.
Blake Bolling was at 160 and Norfolk Catholic was open.
Parker Sackville won by fall over Ashton Cunningham at 170.
Michael Kruntorad had a bye at 182.
Christensen (195) pinned Shaun Clinch in :22 seconds.
Isaac Wilcox won in an 8-1 decision over Nicholas Erickson at 220.
And at 285 Ben Sousek won by fall over Cooper Wachholtz.
After that, the Pierce girls had to wrestle Battle Creek.
Ella Reeves won by fall over DeBoer at 114.
Arnold, at 120, pinned Keira Hestekind.
At 126, A. Skrdla won by fall over Alexis Hoffmann.
Painter won at 132 and Battle Creek was open.
Skrdla won at 138 and Battle Creek was open.
Miller won at 145 and Battle Creek was open.
Gubbels won at 152 and Battle Creek was open.
Eckert won by fall over Kyra Hypes at 165.
Parsons won at 185 and Battle Creek was open.
Vavra won at 235 and Battle Creek was open.
M Sackville won at 100 and Battle Creek was open.
Collison won at 107 and Battle Creek was open.
Later the boys wrestled Battle Creek and fell 45-32.
Coulter (152) pinned Kaleb Kummer.
Bl. Bolling at 160 won over Korbyn Battershaw in a 4-2 decision.
Wyatt Nierdzik had a win by fall over P. Sackville (170).
Wrestling at 182, M. Kruntorad pinned Kaden Warneke.
Christensen at 195 won by fall over Dahkota Zlomke.
Erickson at 220 had a fall against Kase Thompson.
Pierce was open at 285.
Abler lost to Ryan Stusse Jr at 106.
Garrett Finke won by fall over Corbin Pfeil at 113.
At 120 Ayden Wintz won by fall over Eli Streff.
Chase Rasmussen lost at 126 by fall to Jaxson Hassler.
Carter King won by fall over Peyton Kruntorad at 132.
At 138, Boston Reeves won in a 7-2 decision over Adams.
In the final match of the evening, Brock Bolling won by a 15-0 technical fall over Joseph Manthei at 145.
Pierce’s next meet will take place at Boone Central on January 29.
Girls Wrestling Takes Home Second Place at Battle Creek
by Addison Sporleder
The Pierce High girls wrestling team headed to the Battle Creek Invite on Monday, January 17, where they finished as runners-up out of 30 teams.
First placer Makinzie Parsons commented on the meet, “Overall, I thought the team did really well. There definitely are things we can improve on altogether for the next tournament, but I think we did very well for the competition that was there.”
At 100, Icis Sackville placed third after falling to Arya Erickson of Stanton and Gloria Flores of South Sioux City. Also competing at 100 was Mia Sackville. She placed second by falling to Day Paw of Madison, and then pinning Caiti Campbell of Columbus.
Wrestling at 107, Hadleigh Collison received third after falling to Lenora Kester of Summerland and Sinai Sanchez of Schuyler.
Hayle DeBoer placed third at 114, losing by fall to Courtney Briones of Schuyler and Aubrey Jensen of Viborg-Hurley, but then pinning Claudia Vazquez of Grand Island.
At 120, Callie Arnold earned third by falling to Alexis Pehrson of Yutan, then coming back and pinning Madisen Petersen of Crofton, but fell to Diana Cervantes of West Point-Beemer.
Angeline Skrdla wrestled at 126 and won by decision 5-1 over Sydnie Brown of Overton. She then lost to Patricia Arroyo of Red Cloud/Blue Hill in a 6-4 sudden victory and fell to Brooklin Kuester of West Point-Beemer, which gave her a third place finish.
Maggie Painter (132) won by an 8-1 decision over Nancy Lemus of West Point-Beemer and won by pinning Sage McCallum of Grand Island. Painter lost by a 3-0 decision in her final round to Madison Davis of West Holt, giving her a second place finish.
At 138, Isabelle Skrdla won her first match by pinning Adriana Cabello of Grand Island. She then lost by fall to Carly Wemhoff of Schuyler and Koryn Kline of Ord to earn a third place finish.
Haylee Miller at 145 wrestled her way to first place by pinning Liberty Titiml of Wayne. She then received a bye her second round and pinned Haylee Serres of Norfolk Catholic to finish the day.
Katelyn Gubbels competed at 152 and earned second place by pinning Candace Clausen of Pierce and Jildan Harvil of Platteview. Gubbels then fell to Ziomara Ruiz of West Point-Beemer in her last round.
Clausen also wrestled at 152. She fell to Gubbels of Pierce and Ruiz of West Point-Beemer, but then won by medical forfeit to Harvil of Platteview, which gave her a third place finish.
At 165, Mariah Eckert placed fourth by falling to Gia Miller of Viborg-Hurley, then medically forfeited her last two matches to Kennedy Karschner of Platteview and Annabell Poppe of Crofton.
Lastly, at 185, Makinzie Parsons finished on top of her bracket by pinning Madelynn Jakubowski of O’Neill, Bella Brodersen of Boone Central-Newman Grove, and Lila Bloomer of South Loup.
Head coach Les Painter stated, “The team wrestled well, getting second out of 30 teams. The improvements we need to make are being more physical and learning how to finish all of the moves. I could not be more proud of these young ladies. These ladies work hard everyday.”
The girls will be back on the mats on Saturday, January 29, for the meet at Albion.
Pierce JV Wrestlers Battled in Oakland-Craig
by Trina Wetzel
The Pierce JV wrestling team bounded to Oakland-Craig ending with four wrestlers placing. The four medalists for the Bluejays were Corbin Pfeil (106), Elijah Streff (113), Chase Rasmussen (126), and Zachary Meier (152).
At 106, Pfeil placed fourth. In round 1, Pfeil won by fall over Jacob Spencer of Mount Michael Benedictine. Going into the quarterfinal round, Pfeil lost by fall to Jordan Martinez of Schuyler. Moving onto consolation round 2, Pfeil received a bye. Next, in consolation round 3, Pfeil won by decision over Salvador Gomez from Boys Town. In his consolation semifinal Pfeil won by fall over Caelen Wipf of Weeping Water. Finally Pfeil took on his final match and lost by a 7-5 major decision to Jackson Teetor of Mount Michael.
Then at 113, Streff placed third. Starting in the quarterfinal round, Streff pinned Daniel Morales of Schuyler. In the semifinal round, Streff lost by fall to Keaton Busch from David City. Onto the consolation semifinal round Streff won by fall over Josh Hammond of Boys Town. In his final round, Streff won by fall over Chris Estrada of Madison.
Next at 126, Rasmussen placed fourth. In the first round, Rasmussen won by fall over Liam Ostrander of Mount Michael. In the quarterfinal round Rasmussen lost by fall to Jason Ramon of Schuyler. In his next three rounds, he won by fall over Logan Shuff of Gretna, Stanley Allen of David City, and Lukas Gage of Weeping Water. Lastly in the final match, Rasmussen lost to Ike Jarzynka from Gretna.
Rasmussen commented, “I think we wrestled hard, as well as had a lot of determination and met our goal to win more than we lost.” He added, “I think we could improve on finishing our shots and to stay wrestling hard all 3 periods.”
Continuing at 132, Bo Bockelman won by a 12-4 major decision over Devin Hassler of Battle Creek. In the quarterfinal round Bockelman lost to Alex Molina from Madison. Bockelman rebounded in consolation round 2 and won by decision, 9-6, over Zach Mullally of North Bend. Lastly, in consolation round 3, Bockelman lost by major decision to MIqueos Godines of Schuyler, 11-1.
Onward Pierce had Seth Nelsen at 138. Nelsen lost by fall to Josh Parsons of Schuyler in his first round. During his second round Nelsen won by fall over Austin Copeland from Gretna. In consolation round 3, Nelsen lost by fall to Aiden Dart of Gretna.
At 152, Meier placed third. In his first round, Meier pinned Cole Epp of Gretna. In the quarterfinal round, Meier lost by a 4-1 decision to Kaleb Kummer of Battle Creek. Meier finished his day with pins, beating Gerardo Rodriguez of Schuyler, Alex Schuler of Fort Calhoun, and Hunter Kreikemeier of Battle Creek; however, in his final match of the day, he pinned Moises Gomez of Schuyler in :06.
Also at 152, Blayze Meyer lost by fall over Sebastian Ramirez from West Point-Beemer and lost by fall to Gerardo Rodriguez from Schuyler.
Wrestling at 160, Camden Jansen lost by fall over Connor Gorski of West Point-Beemer in championship round 1. In consolation round 1, Jansen received a bye, and in consolation round 2, Jansen lost by fall to Landon Monteith of Tri-County Northeast.
Then at 170, Clayton Carlson lost by fall to Landon Hilliard of Oakland-Craig and to Gabe Stock of Tekamah-Herman.
Next at 195, Zavion Buol lost by forfeit to Joseph Trautman from Mount Michael and William Lopez of Schuyler.
Wrestling at 220, Shayde Semm lost by fall to Preston Scott of North Bend Central and Colton Polson of Boys Town.
The JV wrestlers will be back on the mats on Saturday, January 29, at Boone Central.
