Boys Dominate at North Bend
By Lawson Zierke
Claiming their first team championship of the season, the boys wrestling team traveled to North Bend on Saturday, December 13. Overall, the team did very well with some good individual finishes there, including Draydin Gossman, Brenden Bolling, and Christian Nordby claiming first-place honors. Kolten Wragge, Cole DeBoer, and Boston Krueger all finished in second, and Keegan Holan, Burkley Collison, Kyle Kuehler, and Xavier Miller got third individually.
“I think we did really well, and I’m proud of how we performed as a team. It was awesome to come away with the win, especially because we were dominant from start to finish. Everyone did their part, and it was great to see our hard work and preparation show on the mats. This game really proved what we’re capable of when we work together,” Kuehler says.
At 113, William Korth lost his first match of the day against Tristan Davis of Aquinas Catholic by a 21-6 tech fall. In Korth’s second match of the day, he had a bye, and in the consolation round two, he pinned Kolton Gabriel of Lincoln Christian. In Korth’s final match of the day, he took a tough loss to Brecken Rader of Aquinas Catholic in sudden victory, 7-4.
Also at 120 Ko. Wragge opened up the day, pinning Bradyn Peters of Arlington and Braxton Hansen of Winside. Moving on in the bracket, Wragge faced Ryan Roche of Tekamah-Herman, whom he beat in a 24-9 tech fall. In the first-place match, Wragge lost in a 5-3 decision to Philip Streff of North Bend Central to take home second place for the Jays.
In 126, Holan started the day beating Zane Meysenburg of Aquinas Catholic by decision, 12-6. During the quarterfinals, Holan fell to Zach Held from Twin River, but wrestling back, Holan pinned Collin Hopkins from North Bend Central and Brock Schole of Logan View. Holan then won in a 17-13 decision over Cade Spahr of Tri-County Northeast. In his final match of the day to earn third place, Holan won in an 18-3 tech fall over Brady McCullough of Lincoln Christian.
Also at the 126 weight class, Karsen Wragge battled hard, winning by a 10-5 decision over Hopkins from North Bend Central. In the quarterfinals Ka. Wragge lost by an 18-3 tech fall to Lawson Taylor from Logan View. Wrestling back, Ka. Wragge won in a 14-2 major decision over Zane Meysenburg from Aquinas and a 5-1 decision over Landon Newton from Tri-County Northeast. In the consolation semifinals Ka. Wragge fell to Brady McCullough of Lincoln Christian.
At the 132 weight class, Gossman took home first place by pinning Trenton Hanson of Arlington. In the quarterfinal, Gossman won by tech fall over Luke Kester of Summerland, 21-5. Gossman beat Aiden Wedekind of Louisville in the semifinal, pinning him in the third period. In the championship, Gossman pinned Cash Stanek of North Bend.
Blaine Anson (138), in his first match of the day, fell to Henry Holtmeier from Tri-County. In his next match, Anson wrestled hard for three minutes before getting pinned by Micah Fong from Lincoln Christian.
At 144, Baiden Neuhalfen won his first match by decision over Brayden Stierwalt of Tekamah Herman, 4-3. In the quarterfinal round, he lost by tech fall, 18-3, to Marcus Foust of Logan View. In his consolation match, Neuhalfen lost to Ashton Raabe of Wisner Pilger by fall.
Also at the 144 weight class was Cooper Hansen. Hansen lost by fall to Kayne Olson of Louisville. In his second match of the day, Hansen lost to Cooper Collins of Pierce by fall.
The final 144 wrestler was Cooper Collins, who lost his first match of the day to Symon Kastl of Aquinas Catholic by fall. In his first consolation match, Collins won over Hansen of Pierce by pin. In the second consolation match, Collins fell to Aden Andel of Twin River.
Claiming second was DeBoer pinned EJ LaTray of Winnebago in his first round. In the second match of the day, DeBoer won by decision over Drake Hegy of Logan View, 9-6. In the semifinal, DeBoer pinned Jager Leichleiter of Tekamah-Herman. During the championship, DeBoer came up just short, falling to Logan Vandenburg of Aquinas Catholic to bring home second place.
At 157, Brenden Bolling claimed his second first place medal of the season. He pinned Sawyer Marshall of Cedar Bluffs and Tayln Hancock of Freeman. In the semifinals, Bolling won by tech fall, 21-6, over Tanner Kylo of Arlington. In the championship, Bolling won by tech fall, 17-2, over Jaedon Welton of Lincoln Christian for the first place finish.
Kaiden Ronnfeldt (165) lost his first match by decision 15-13 to Jacob Lincoln
of Winnebago. In Ronnfeldt’s first consolation match, he won over Carter Cech from Aquinas Catholic by decision, 7-5. In the second consolation match, Ronnfeldt fell to Oliver Aden from Louisville.
Also in the 165 bracket was Cayden Cox. He had a bye in his first match. His second match he fell to Chance Swantek of Twin River. In his first consolation match, Cox pinned Mason Raisch of Lincoln Christian. In the second consolation match, Cox fell to Jacob Lincoln of Winnebago in the third period.
In the 175 bracket, Ethan Claussen lost to Sam Dodge of Lincoln Christian by fall. In his first consolation match, Claussen received a bye. In his second consolation match, Claussen pinned Parker Jones of Louisville, and in his third consolation match, Claussen won by a 5-1 decision over Brandon Rice of Louisville. In the consolation semifinals, Claussen lost again to Dodge of Louisville by fall.
The other 175 wrestler was Burkley Collison. He had a bye in his first round. In the second round, he pinned Jones of Louisville. In the semifinals, Collison lost to Jett Vacha of Logan View by fall. In the consolation semifinals, Collison pinned Bryaden Nath of Arlington. In the third place match, Collison won by decision over Dodge from Lincoln Christian, 12-7.
Charlie Ottis wrestled at 190. He fell to Sean Chase Jr. of Tri County. In Ottis’s first consolation match, he received a bye. In the second consolation match, Ottis came up short to Tate Johannes of Arlington losing by fall.
Kuehler, another medalist for the Bluejays, started his day with a bye, then in the quarterfinals won by a 19-1 tech fall over Sean Chase Jr from Tri County. Kuehler fell to Logan Nelson from Wisner Pilger in the semifinals, but wrestled back in the consolation semifinals to beat Cale Behrens of Freeman, and finally Hayden Meisenbach from Tekamah-Herman.
One of two wrestlers at 215, Miller placed third for the Bluejays. He pinned Tucker Jorgensen from Arlington and Kaleb Maaske of Louisville in the first round and quarterfinals. Miller fell to Nordby of Pierce in the semifinals, but rebounded in the consolation semifinals by pinning Gerardo Becerra from Johnson County Central. In the third-place match, Miller pinned Crew Kaup from Logan View.
“I was happy that we won. I think I did really well. I got third, and I think that we have just been working hard in practice, and it showed. I’m excited for our next meet because I think we could do really well again,” Miller says.
Nordby (215) won all of his matches by fall, first beating Tate Hietbrink of Lincoln Christian, Kaup of Logan View, Miller of Pierce, and finally Nick Sullivan from Tri-County Northeast in the finals.
Wrestling at 285, Krueger grabbed second by pinning Lucas Chappelear from Arlington in 16 seconds in his first round, then pinning Kendrick Mallory of Winnebago in the quarterfinals and Luis Alarcon from Tri County in the semifinals before losing a 5-2 decision to Jared Doxey of Winnebago in the finals match.
The boys wrestle again on Thursday at Elkhorn Valley, where they will be having a dual and again on Friday at the auditorium where they will host the Pierce dual tournament.
