by Dru Kastler (KastlerDA)

District C3 at North Bend Central

Projected Top 3 Teams (Number of Qualifiers)
1. Logan View (8)
2. #5 North Bend Central (7)
3. Arlington (7)

Other Teams Competing:
Bishop Neumann
Cross County/Osceola
Doniphan-Trumbull
#8 Gibbon
Laurel-Concord- Coleridge
Ponca
Superior
Syracuse
Tekamah-Herman
Wakefield-Allen
Winnebago
Wisner-Pilger
Wood River

Host North Bend and surging Logan View have been duking it out all season long. Earlier this year, North Bend was edging Logan View, but that script has been flipped recently with Logan View finishing ahead of North Bend in the last two meetings by close margins. Arlington should play a big factor in the team race also with seven projected qualifiers. State ranked Gibbon may not even fill half of the fourteen weights, but four of their wrestlers are ranked which should translate to better success at the state meet. Syracuse will try to push as many outside of their big two to Omaha to make a push for a top ten finish. Should be some drama in North Bend as the host school will be right in the mix for a
district title.

106:
With the recent decent of Mueller to 106 this becomes one of the toughest weights in the district in terms of quality. Gilmore has just one loss on the season and his overall body of work should put him in good shape to make the finals. He has a head to head win over Bridgmon, who has a win over Thompson. Zeckser hasn’t had a ton of mat time this year and may be injured so that warrants keeping an eye on. He’s also beaten Thompson head to head. Mueller has only had two tournaments at 106 but has been impressive in both. It should be a very exciting semifinal with Zeckser if all goes according to seed.

1. #4 Hunter Gilmore (Arlington) 36-1
2. Dru Mueller (Logan View) 33-6
3. Landon Zeckser (Doniphan-Trumbull) 16-2
4. Spencer Bridgmon (Syracuse) 21-22

Carson Thompson (Wood River) 29-15

113:
We don’t have the top end talent at this weight, but there are several wrestlers capable of qualifying and they all appears to be evenly matched. Belville and Cooley have common opponent over Witt. Hernandez-Jimenez has two wins over Witt since making the drop to 113. Cooley and Rodriguez both have common opponents over each other, so the seeding will likely come down to record. This weight
could be wrestled several times and see different results each time.

1. Luis Hernandez-Jimenez (Logan View) 24-11
2. Jose Rodriguez (Wood River) 22-12
3. Trevor Cooley (Arlington) 23-18
4. Drake Belville (Doniphan-Trumbull) 24-11

Mason Witt (North Bend) 22-14

120:
Another fantastic weight with six wrestlers who are not only capable of qualifying for state, but getting a medal as well. Schram has a head to head win over Lampman and common opponents over Sandoval and Bond. Sandoval appears to have the seeding edge over Lampman, having two common opponents to one. Beattie and Bond have split matches this year. Lampman has head to head over Valencia, who has common opponent over both Beattie and Bond. Hard to believe that two of these wrestlers won’t be making the trip to Omaha.

1. #5 Brandon Schram (Tekamah-Herman) 28-4
2. Cesar Sandoval (Wakefield) 27-5
3. #6 Gavin Lampman (Wisner-Pilger) 26-7
4. Martin Valencia (Logan View) 31-15

Tyric Beattie (Gibbon) 10-4
Ryan Bond (Wood River) 23-4

126:
The top seed in this district was likely decided in a wild 13-11 match where Carranza defeated Brown this last weekend. Brown has head to head wins over Spike, Bridgmon and Gehle so he’ll be the two seed. McNulty beat Bridgmon by one point earlier this year and Bridgmon beat Gehle. Carranza has head to head over Spike as well. McNulty has beaten Lopez. Looking at past results it looks like there are five evenly matched wrestlers vying for two spots.

1. Cristian Carranza (Cross County) 26-10
2. #6 Lane Brown (Gibbon) 34-5
3. Hunter McNulty (Logan View) 29-9
4. Lane Bridgmon (Syracuse) 28-13

Austin Spike (Doniphan-Trumbull) 26-15
Charlie Lopez Wakefield) 25-9
Seth Gehle (Superior) 24-15

132:
Miller has only one class C loss to #2 Yawn. Smith has yet to lose a match at 132 since moving down from 138 right before the holiday break. Miller has a head to head win over Kaup. Smith and Kaup have head to head wins over Beers. From the looks of it the top four at this weight are pretty well set unless there are any last second weight changes.

1. #3 Josh Miller (Arlington) 38-5
2. #5 Chase Smith (Gibbon) 34-3
3. Beau Kaup (Logan View) 23-10
4. Zachary Beers (Syracuse) 24-14

138:
The top billed match of the tournament between Waddington and Hughes awaits at this weight, in what could be a preview of the state finals the following week. Waddington beat Hughes head to head earlier this season. Hughes has beaten Wardman. Wardman has head to head over Hawkins, Nuttleman and Grefe. Miller has wrestled 138 once this season and has common opponent over Grefe. He’s been at 145 ever since then, so it’s possible that Miller will be there for districts. But for now, we’ll go with his lowest weight wrestled. Nuttelman has been wrestling very well recently. He has common opponent over Grefe and a head to head win over Hawkins. Just a tremendously tough weight that will surely have some close early round battles.

1. #1 Evan Waddington (Wood River) 43-0
2. #2 Max Hughes (Syracuse) 33-1
3. #6 Brandon Wardman (North Bend) 29-10
4. Colton Nuttleman (Cross County) 33-9

Matt Hawkins (Tekamah-Herman) 23-11
Ty Miller (Logan View) 31-16
Blake Grefe (Arlington) 26-10

145:
Mues, Ray and Hohn actually all competed in the same tournament earlier this year, but Ray and Hohn didn’t meet up. Ray and Hohn both have common opponents over each other, but pretty sure the seeding will come down to the fact that Hohn has beaten Mues head to head, and Mues has beaten Ray. Ray has common opponents over Verzani and Morris. However, Verzani had a recent win over Albrecht who has beaten Ray, Hohn and Mues this year so that will make seeding this weight very difficult. Returning state medalist Morris shouldn’t be overlooked at this weight either and Thompson from Wood River could play spoiler.

1. Jacob Ray (North Bend) 35-9
2. Max Hohn (Bishop Neumann) 36-3
3. Talon Mues (Arlington) 38-5
4. Isaac Verzani (Wakefield) 27-5

Chase Morris (Superior) 30-11
Camden Thompson (Wood River) 34-13

152:
Tracy has only one class C loss in overtime to top ranked Cooper Bates. Miller does have earlier season losses to both Mullaly and Strauss but has since avenged the loss to Strauss. Mullally hasn’t wrestled for the last few weekends so it may be Strauss the gets the nod for North Bend. Strauss has beaten Tietjen
head to head. Noticed Sterup from Cross County was up at 152 over the weekend, possibly testing the weight for a better chance at qualifying out of the district. He’d likely match up against Tietjen in the quarterfinals.

1. #3 Jacob Tracy (Gibbon) 33-2
2. Nolan Miller (Logan View) 28-6
3. Ethan Mullally or Joshua Strauss 24-12 (North Bend)
4. Trent Tietjen (Superior) 24-10

Kyle Sterup (Cross County) 29-18

160:
Borer has beaten the likely second seed Wilkins by fall earlier. Outside of Wilkins it’s anyone’s guess who navigates there way to state. Pederson has an above .500 record and appears to be the only other winning record at this weight. Krusemark has a winning record down at 152 and appears to be on the
outside at that weight, so just a guess that he’ll perhaps try 160. Pretty unpredictable weight after the top two.

1. #1 Zachary Borer (North Bend) 36-0
2. Kobe Wilkins (Arlington) 33-9
3. Cody Pederson (Doniphan-Trumbull) 23-16
4. Colton Krusemark (Ponca) 16-12

170:
One of the most interesting weights in the district with four state medal caliber wrestlers competing. Hines has a 4-1 record against Hull this year, with Hull taking the most recent match. Hull has three wins over Hansen and one over Koch. Koch has a head to head win over Hansen on the first weekend of competition in OT which will likely give him the third seed. Very clear-cut top four at this weight.

1. #2 Joel Hines (North Bend) 31-1
2. #3 Brady Hull (Logan View) 37-6
3. #5 Max Hansen (Tekamah-Herman) 26-11

4. Clayton Koch (Arlington) 28-14

182:
Mueller has two head to head wins over Fairbanks this year, the second of which was a one-point match. That’ll likely be the district finals match at this weight. After those two, it looks like a three-man race for the other two spots. French has a common opponent over Snyder. Beale hasn’t had a ton of mat
time but did wrestle Fairbanks within three points. Moore took #4 Deinert to OT earlier this year, but hasn’t been on the mat since before the holiday break. Would probably move Moore up to the third spot if he’s back in the lineup.

1. #3 Dalton Mueller (North Bend) 30-2
2. #5 Luke Fairbanks (Bishop Neumann) 34-7
3. Eric French (Logan View) 19-16
4. Nate Snyder (Syracuse) 17-7

Ethan Beale (Superior) 14-6
Blake Moore (Tekamah-Herman) 11-2

195:
Ray has common opponent over Kee with his win over Gappa since Kee has split with him. Ray has beaten Gay and Hegge by fall this year. Guerrero has been at 220 the last three weekends, so it appears that’s where he’ll be for the district tournament. Hegge has beaten Cone head to head earlier in the season.

1. #4 Wyatt Kee (Gibbon) 23-6
2. #4 @ 220 Brock Ray (North Bend) 28-5
3. Remington Gay (Arlington) 25-7
4. Michael Hegge (Ponca) 19-5

Andrew Cone (Logan View) 23-15

220:
No ranked wrestlers here, but Sanchez could set himself up for a state medal run with a district title. Guerrero qualified at 195 last year and should be in good shape to make the trip again. Chohon has common opponent over Byers. Beaver doesn’t have a winning record, but has wins over both Byers and Miller.

1. Julio Sanchez (Wakefield) 28-8
2. Diego Guerrero (Wood River) 34-12
3. Philip Chohon (Bishop Neumann) 27-12
4. Landon Beaver (Wisner-Pilger) 10-12

William Byers (Arlington) 17-14
Alex Miller (Logan View) 21-17
Michael Logue (Ponca) 6-11

285:
The first of two matches between Lefferdink and Welsh should occur at districts, followed by a rematch in Omaha. Both are undefeated on the season. Welsh has beaten Zagurski, his likely semifinal opponent by fall earlier this year. Williams made the drop to 220 and was beaten by Logue from Ponca. Logue has
a losing record and most of his losses at 220 are to solid opponents. Perhaps he’ll make the jump to 285.

1. #1 Caleb Lefferdink (Syracuse) 34-0
2. #2 Evan Welsh (Bishop Neumann) 44-0
3. #6 Derrell Zagurski (Winnebago) 39-1
4. Ethan Williams (Laurel-Concord) 28-9