Week 1 Class C Recap

By Dru Kastler

@KastlerDA

The 2017-18 wrestling season is officially underway. The beginning of the season introduces newcomers who have burst onto the scene and some teams who have begun the year much improved over last season. Some of the big matches from week 1 didn’t materialize due to injuries and weight decent, which is typical to begin the season. Several wrestlers have begun this season at different weights than projected, both higher and lower. It will remain to be seen if those at higher weights make their way down. Every year there’s usually a big surprise with someone dropping a weight late in the season. Get ready for an exciting year!

Top Ten Teams:

1. Valentine won the O’Neill Invite on Saturday outlasting Chamberlain, SD 193-169. Valentine is open at three weights which could give them some fits in tournaments against teams that have 14 scoring wrestlers. However, all of their ranked wrestlers brought home first place medals to start their season. It appears JJ Ramon will be at 138 and Chase Olson at 145 if the first meet is any indication.
2. Battle Creek defeated Creighton in a Thursday dual and then won the Creighton Invite on Saturday over by 22.5 points over Class D#2 Elkhorn Valley. The Braves were without the services of #3 at 126 Owen Lade, returning qualifier Collin Burton and Weston Johnson. Damien Kersten is down at 126 rather than 132. It remains to be seen if Lade will enter the lineup at 132 or 120. Ty Heimes has also wrestled at 145 to begin the year, but may eventually end up at 138.
3. David City traveled to the York Invite where they finished as runner-up to B#4 GI Northwest. Melvin Hernandez didn’t compete for the Scouts so we didn’t get to the see the battle over #1s at 145. However, freshman Dylan Vodicka had a very solid showing at that weight, his only loss a decision to B#1 Fulsos. Perhaps Hernandez will end up at 152 for the season.
4. North Bend won convincingly (42-18) over D#6 East Butler in Thursday dual action and finished second to host Lakeview in Columbus on Friday without 2^nd ranked Brock Ray in the lineup. Ray did accept two forfeits at 220 in Thursday duals. Joel Hines and Dalton Mueller are at 170 and 182 respectively, the opposite of the preseason rankings. Brandon Wardman at 138 and returning Jacob Ray at 145 should be in line for successful seasons. Mason Witt who was preseason ranked at 106 wrestled 120 so it appears the lowest he will go is 113 this season.
5. Syracuse finished 7^th at York without 3x state champ Max Hughes in the lineup. B#1 Stafursky of York didn’t compete so the matchup against Lefferedink didn’t happen. The Rockets will want to see some of their younger wrestlers improve as the season progresses.
6. Broken Bow put on perhaps the most impressive performance of week 1 besting 2^nd place Ord by over 70 points at their home invite on Saturday after dominating their two Thursday duals. The Indians fill every weight with a quality wrestler and definitely have the depth to compete with any team in class C. Freshman Casey Faulkenberry appears ready to immediately challenge for a title at 113 lbs. Patrick Powers returns to 126 this season rather than 132 where he is ranked 4^th and will certainly figure into the top tier of the lower weight as well. The Indians appear to be ready to challenge the top four teams in Omaha.
7. Aquinas finished second to Iowa 1A #4 Missouri Valley at the Bennington Invite. They entered the season filling 13 weight classes and have added some talented freshman to the lineup this season.
8. Gibbon was defeated by Ord 51-19 in a Thursday dual and finished 5^th at the Lakeview Invite without #2 ranked 120 Daniel Escandon in the lineup. Jacob Tracy wrestled at 152 instead of 160 and Chase Smith is at 138 rather than 132, which is occupied by 2x state qualifier Lane Brown. Wyatt Kee appears to be at 195lbs for the season rather than 220.
9. Sutton won the Harvard Invite in convincing fashion. They are open at 106 and 113 but appear to be very solid in the middle weights. #5 at 126 Anton Carlson is at 132. Freshman Joseph Hinrichs had a few nice wins over a returning qualifier at 126 so that may be how their lineup holds throughout the season.
10. Central City had a nice 37-30 dual win on Thursday over B#10 Adams Central and finished 3^rd at the Broken Bow Invite. Senior Tucker Schneiderheinz appears set for a big year at 160 lbs.

Notable Match Results:

Thursday:

145: #4 @ 138 Ty Heimes over D#4 Derek Wortman 14-5 major

145: Jacob Ray (North Bend) over #5 at 138 Easton Albrecht 8-2

195: #1 Ethan Gabriel over #3 @ 220 Wyatt Kee 8-5

Friday:

106: Hunter Gilmore (Arlington) tournament champ @ Blair Invite

120: Jadden Treffer (Ravenna) over D#3 Isaiah Shields by fall

120: Jadden Treffer over Shaye Wood by fall

126: Tyric Beattie (Gibbon) over #5 @ 120 Cristian Carranza 8-3

138: #2 Evan Waddington over D#6 @ 132 Kaden Guerrero by fall

285: D#1 Thomas Hughes (Burwell) over #6 Jakob Jerabek 4-3 UTB

Saturday:

106: #1 Dyson Kunz tournament champ @ Bow Invite – longest match 35 seconds

113: #1 Caydon McCracken over D#3 Koby Ellis 3-0

113: #2 Seth Styskal over B#3 Collin Quandt 9-5

113: Casey Faulkenberry (Broken Bow) over #5 Ryan Zoucha by fall

113: #5 Ryan Zoucha over #4 Jacob Paczosa by fall

113: #6 Colton Rowse over #4 Jacob Paczosa by fall

113: Casey Faulkenberry over #6 Colton Rowse 19-0 tech fall

120: #3 Spencer Gaffney over Talon Petska (Ord) 2-0

126: #2 @ 132 Damien Kersten over D#1 @ 120 Dillon Stewart 11-3 major

126: #4 @ 132 Patrick Powers over #4 @ 120 Koby Brandenburg by injury default

126: Joe Hinrichs (Sutton) over SQ Chase DeVris (SCNU#5) 8-3 and 9-5

132: Austen Spike (Doniphan-Trumbull) over #5 @ 126 Anton Carlson Sutton 6-2

132: Elijah Green (Nebraska Christian) over Austen Spike by fall

132: #1 Jordan Kelber over #6 @ 126 Wyatt Smydra 12-3 major

132: Jacson Valentine (David City) tournament champ @ York Invite

132: Miguel Alvarado (Ord) over SQ Jackson Tejada (Central City) 11-3 major

138: Cooper Brass (Broken Bow) over Garret Kluthe (Ord) by fall

145: #4 Gavin Avery over SQ Christian Lovan (Fillmore Central) 10-5

152: #2 Joel Myers over SQ Trevor Peterson (Chase County) 11-1 major

152: #3 Blake Heller over D#6 @ 145 Brandon Bloomquist by fall

160: Tucker Schneiderheinz (Central City) over #5 @ 145 Caleb Weiss 6-1

160: Tucker Schneiderheinz over #5 Ryan Haskell by fall

160: #2 Caleb Long over #3 @ 170 Chase Becker 5-3

160: #2 Caleb Long over B#1 Cauy Shaw 6-2

182: #5 Ethan Poppe over D#6 @ 195 Layne Heese 9-4

182: #2 Joseph Reimers over Iowa 1A #4 Nick Haynes 17-5 major

182: D#1 @ 195 Beau Wood over Jacob Lech (Ord) 4-3

195: Caine Haarberg (Chase County) over #5 Noah Carlson by fall

195: #6 Austin Marx over D#6 @ 220 Levi Stacken 10-7

285: Derrell Zagurski (Winnebago) over SQ Noah Shumaker (Louisville) 7-5

285: #2 Evan Welsh over Derrell Zagurski by fall