by Dru Kastler
The Broken Bow Invite featured the most class C teams in one location. The team race came down to the final match at 220 for third place, where Treyvon Brooks of Broken Bow beat Shane Luehm of Ord in overtime to give Broken Bow the first place team trophy by half of a point. Kearney Catholic swept the 132-145 finals en route to a fourth place finish without #2 Jack Keating at 152. There were several matches featuring ranked wrestlers and plenty of upsets.
Notable Matches:
106- #6 Koby Brandenburg bested a strong field where freshman Colton Rowse of Ord and Lincoln Krepela from Kearney Catholic finished second and third in front of #4 Caleb Smith.
113- #1 Spencer Gaffney fell in the semis to unranked returning qualifier Talon Petska from Ord. #5 Jacob Paczosa of St. Paul was the tournament champion. #3 at 106 Ryan Zoucha of Malcolm finished fourth at another very strong weight.
160- Kaden Dawe from Ord defeated #5 Andrew Miller in the 160 finals.
170- #2 Hernandez from Mitchell finished second behind 170B #2 Melroy. Ord’s Trompke finished third ahead of #4 Fisher from Chase County.
195- Freshman Ethan Gabriel of Ord won a loaded weight that saw #5 Hunter Kocian finish fourth and #4 Zac Space fail to place.
Other Notable Matches and News from Opening Weekend:
Top teams Valentine and O’Neill among completed at the O’Neill Invite on Saturday. It appeared that Valentine had several wrestlers either out of their lineup or still moving to their projected weights. 152 was an all-Valentine final with #2 at 145 Hudson Pearman besting teammate Caleb Long in overtime. For third place, #6 Cauy Shaw from O’Neill beat #6 Dillon Hupp of Norfolk Catholic. #2 at 132 Caden Moore from O’Neill wrestled up at 145 and scored a quality 13-5 victory over class D #3 Jake Judge.
David City had eight wrestlers in the top four at the York Invite featuring many class A and B teams. Raymond Central and Syracuse also had solid performances. At 126, David City’s Justin White lost a 11-10 nailbiter to returning class A state medalist Adam Kinnaman from Lincoln Southeast. At 138, #1 Melvin Hernandez from David City defeated B #3 Scott Fulsos from York 12-11. 145 was an all class C final where #1 Albrecht won a close 3-1 decision over Keegan Pope from Syracuse.
Aquinas Sophomore and #3 ranked Joseph Reimers won a 4-3 decision over 182B #2 Trevor Walton in the Bennington Invite finals.
Friday’s Ravenna Invite 126 finals saw #2 Wyatt Allen from Wood River best D returning champ and #1 Pawlowski by an 8-0 major decision. 220 saw #5 Bryan McGahan from Hershey defeat #3 at 195 Tyson McDowell of Minden.