Boys Take Six to State
by Brock Bolling
The Pierce boys wrestling team competed at districts in Minden on February 11-12, scoring 121 team points and finishing 4th and qualifying six for the state wrestling tournament.
Pierce’s six qualifiers include Brock Bolling (132), Jayden Coulter (145), Michael Kruntorad (160), Matthew Christensen (170), Nicholas Erickson (220), and Dawson Raabe (285).
Coach Tyler Legate has this to say about his team, “I am proud of all the guys who competed over the weekend. We would like to have had more qualifiers, but we are also grateful for the qualifiers we got.”
Starting at 106 for the Bluejays, Zakary Abler lost in his first match by pin to Cameron Brumbaugh of Hastings. Fortunately Abler was able to bounce back and defeat Brody Epp from York 10-6. However, in the blood round Abler lost by a pin to Jude Kohl of Omaha Skutt Catholic.
At 113, Elijah Streff lost by major decision to Luke Frost of Blair 16-3 and Eric Sutton of Elkhorn 14-5.
Wrestling at 120, Corbin Pfeil lost by fall to Eli Pilakowski of Columbus Lakeview and Hudson Holoch of York.
Competing at 126, Isaiah Adams won his first match by pin over Lesnier Gomez of Crete. In his second match he lost by fall to Koltdyn Heath of Minden. Adams also lost his final match by pin to Gavin Ienn of Elkhorn.
Finishing second at 132 was Br. Bolling. In his first match Br. Bolling got a pin over Jayden Boyle of Crete. In his second match Br. Bolling got a 10-2 major decision win over Markus Miller of Hastings. In his semifinal match Br. Bolling won 2-1 over Caden Smart of Wahoo. Finally, Br. Bolling dropped his finals match to Omaha Skutt Catholic’s Zach Ourada in a 6-2 decision.
At 138, Peyton Kruntorad lost to Owen Bargen of Columbus Lakeview by pin and Conner Lomax of Crete by pin.
Finishing third at 145 was Coulter. In Coulter’s first match he won by pin over Ashton Sundling of Crete. Coulter then went on to pin David Smolik of Minden. In Coulter’s semifinal match he lost to Blair’s Landon Templar in an 11-0 major decision. Coulter then bounced back and pinned Hayden Johnston of Columbus Lakeview. In the third and fourth place match Coulter won by pin over Blake Kile of Hastings.
Wrestling at 152, Blake Bolling lost his first match to Cade Ziola of Omaha Skutt Catholic 15-4. Bl. Bolling then went on to pin Weston Welch of Elkhorn and Hayden Richards of Norris. Unfortunately, in the blood round Bl. Bolling lost 3-2 to Evan Smith of Minden.
Finishing third at 160 was M. Kruntorad. In M. Kruntorad's first match he won by pin over Emmanuel Valdovinos of Crete. In his second match M. Kruntorad lost 10-9 to Benidetto Aburumuh of Omaha Skutt Catholic. Kruntorad then got four consecutive pins leading him to third over Jasper Birkestrand of Minden, Brandon Hasenkamp of Wahoo, Sean Stara of Elkhorn, and a revenge match over Benidetto Aburumuh of Omaha Skutt Catholic, where he captured the third place medal.
Senior M. Kruntorad says, “Although we were in the toughest district in the state most of us guys accepted the challenge and fought the entire match. Wish we could’ve had more guys go, but I know we’ll fight even harder in Omaha.”
Finishing second at 170 was Christensen. In Christensen’s first match he won by pin over Miguel Cullum of Columbus Lakeview. In his semifinal match, Christensen won by major decision, 14-4, over Seth Erickson of York. Finally in his finals match Christensen lost to Cooper Spaulding of Norris 8-4.
Wrestling at 182, Parker Sackville lost his first match by pin to Keagyn Linden of York and in his second match Sackville lost to Fabian Recinos of Columbus Lakeview by pin.
At 195, Zavien Buol lost by pin to Gabriel Moyao from Schuyler and Cooper Schenck of Elkhorn.
Placing third was Erickson. Erickson won his first match over Jim Rasmussen of Blair 5-1. Erickson was then pinned by Landon Ternus of Columbus Lakeview. Erickson then went on to win in the blood round over Blaine Hamik of Hastings 3-1 after a one tiebreaker. Finally in his final match Erickson won 5-3 0ver Dominek Rohleder of Wahoo.
Finally, finishing second for the Bluejays at 285 was Dawson Raabe. Raabe won his first match by pin over Lyle Kudron of Columbus Lakeview. Raabe then went on to win his semifinal match 1-0 over Ivery Hoyos of Crete. In his finals match Raabe lost in a tie breaker to Kadence Velde of York 4-3.
The boys who qualified will be taking their chances to the CHI Health Center in Omaha starting in the morning of February 17.
