Previous Class C Recap: Weeks 1-3
#1 Valentine – Valentine finished runner-up to A#3 Columbus at the High Plains Invite. They outpaced B#2 Wahoo by 30 points and beat C#3 David City by 55 and C#4 Battle Creek by 62. Clearly the top tournament team at this point, we’ll get to see who the top dual team is this week as they take on #2 Broken Bow on Thursday.
#2 Broken Bow – The Indians finished 32 points ahead of tournament host Aquinas on Saturday to capture the team title. Huge dual on Thursday against Valentine.
#3 David City – The Scouts move up into third in the team standings based on standout wins at 152 by Styskal and Spencer Allen entering the rankings at 182. They finished 4th at High Plains and they did so without a few of their lower weight wrestlers. Big dual at home on Thursday as they take on #5 Aquinas.
#4 Battle Creek – The Braves were right on David City’s heels and finished 5th at High Plains. They host their home tournament this weekend where they will be the favorite to win the team title.
#5 Aquinas – finished runner-up to #2 Broken Bow at their home invite on Saturday. Big dual on Thursday against #3 David City before heading to the very tough Schuyler Invite on Saturday.
#6 Arlington – The Eagles finished runner-up to B#7 Lakeview at Ashland on Friday. They host their home invite Saturday that also features B#2 Wahoo, C#8 Logan View and D#1 Bergan.
#7 Malcolm – Malcolm keeps climbing the rankings this season. They don’t have the numbers to have small tournament or dual success, but they are built to have a great state tournament with three wrestlers ranked in the top four. Gavin Zoucha at 138 and Adam Stewart at 160 are also potential state qualifiers/medalists.
#8 Logan View – Logan View won the Central City Invite on Saturday. The Raiders have four ranked in the top six. They have a winning record at every weight except 220 and it appears as if the majority of those 13 wrestlers will qualify for Omaha. As our team rankings only account for the top six individual point scorers at state, Logan View is certainly one of the teams that could score way more points in Omaha, especially if they wrestle higher than their rank and get a few medals from some of their wrestlers right on the edge of being ranked.
#9 Wood River – The Eagles remain in the top ten with four ranked wrestlers. They finished runner-up at the Burwell Invite last Friday and head to Gibbon this week.
#10 Ord – Ord reenters the rankings after beginning the season in the top ten. They have three ranked wrestlers in the top four and have potential medalists at several other weights. Navigating the tough C4 district will be key for the Chanticleers. They head to Gibbon this weekend.
Contenders: North Bend, Sutton and Pierce each have a 1st and a 4th ranked wrestler which leaves them just two ranking points behind Ord. Pierce and Sutton have nice supporting casts and could qualify over 5 wrestlers to Omaha. Milford isn’t far behind and is very strong in the lower weights. Kearney Catholic has three ranked wrestlers now and is nearing the top ten.
106: This weight remains unchanged in the rankings. #1 Benavides had a win over the #1 ranked wrestler in Colorado 2A over the weekend. #2 Schluckebier had a close win over #6 Vandenberg and then won by fall over #4 Bolling. Both #3 Reyes and #5 Ancheta have close wins over Vandenberg as well. It should be noted that although both Battershaw from Valentine and Schoepf from Centennial are outside of the rankings they are still firmly in the hunt for a medal. Syracuse freshman Jace Goebel has notched some nice wins in recent weeks including a win at High Plains over formerly ranked Arlt.
113: #1 Williams lost his first match of the season to B#2 Obermiller in the finals at High Plains. He’s still the wrestler to beat at this weight in class C though. #2 Zitek has been out of the lineup in recent weeks for Aquinas, but assuming he’ll be back soon enough he remains in the second spot. Zitek owns a 6-0 win over #3 Mueller early in the season. Mueller has a major over #5 Bridgmon in December. A few weeks later Bridgmon notched an OT win over now #6 Thompson. Jordan Cluff from Kimball, who started the year at 126 and then moved to 120, enters the rankings at #4 after making it all the way down to 113. He was one match away from placing at this weight last season. He dropped a 9-5 decision to D#4 Murillo over the weekend.
120: McCracken remains the top ranked wrestler. He won the High Plains Invite with a 7-2 win over A#3 Kobza. In a Friday dual, #3 Zoucha won in OT over then #2 Gaffney. Gilmore moves up to the #2 spot after beating Eliker from York, who beat Zoucha the next day. Hernandez and Scott stay in the #5 and 6 spots respectively. The Arlington Invite this weekend should help further clarify this weight as Gilmore, Hernandez and rankings contender Patak will all be at 120. Gilmore does own one victory over Hernandez already this season by fall. At the Schuyler Invite this weekend #3 Zoucha and #6 Scott could also meet up. Ord state qualifier Kaden Boyce has made it down to 120 this season and should be considered a medal contender at this weight as well. Schmit out of HTRS has only one in state loss this season.
126: Carlson and Faulkenberry remain the top two at this weight as they’ve been the entire season. Tekamah-Herman’s Schram made the drop from 132 and enters the rankings at #3. He had wins over #5 Harris and D#1 Reimers en route to a tournament title. Another new addition to the rankings at this weight is Colton Rowse from Ord. He has been out with injury, but an early season win against #5 @ 132 Feldner by fall indicates he is rankings worthy. It has been confirmed Rowse will be at 126 when he comes back. #5 Harris finished 5th at High Plains losing only to Schram and D#1 Reimers. #6 Zegers lost to D#3 Casey at the Aquinas Invite and finished 3rd with a 1-point win over rankings contender Jensen of Pierce. Several other wrestlers at this weight have been competitive so far this season and could break through with a solid ending to their season: Carter King (Battle Creek), Martin Valencia (Logan View), Gaven Schernikau (Centennial), Tommy Lokken (Wilber-Clatonia), Ben Shonka (Aquinas) and Tyson Haddix (Boone Central). Many of these wrestlers have met throughout the year with varying results.
132: #1 Krolikowski beat A#2 Kucera by fall in the High Plains finals. He’s clearly the top guy at this point in the season. After him it gets very difficult to sort this weight out. Cross County freshman Cameron Graham has only one loss this season to #1 @ 126 Carlson. He has a 14-2 major decision win over #5 Feldner. Feldner knocked off former #2 Lade at High Plains as he built up and 8-2 lead and got the fall in the second period. #3 Powers won the Aquinas Invite with a 7-0 win over contender Scdoris from Milford. Powers only class C loss was to unranked Schrad from Aquinas. Schrad has had an up and down year, but some of his better wins indicate he could compete with the best in this weight. #4 Valentine didn’t compete at High Plains. This weight has had several unpredictable results this year so keep an eye on how things change as the season continues to progress. From a body of work standpoint, the top six seem pretty clear at this point. However, there are plenty of other wrestlers capable of a medal at this weight including Talon Petska (Ord), Hunter McNulty (Logan View), Jacob Thiem (Arlington), Jeremiah Kruntorad (Pierce), Caleb Eggleston (Johnson County) and Jadden Treffer (Ravenna).
138: Top ranked Waddington suffered his first loss of the season to D#1 Ostrom, but still holds the top ranking so far. #2 Kersten outlasted #3 McNeill in OT in the High Plains finals. McNeill won over #4 Mues in a dual earlier that week. #5 Widener was at 145 earlier this season so he didn’t see #6 McGinley. McGinley won by fall over formerly ranked Shiers from Kearney Catholic and lost 5-3 to McNeill so he’s right there with the best at this weight. Twin River’s Jaxson Jones had a really nice week last week beating fellow rankings contenders Smydra from Norfolk Catholic and Ambler from Broken Bow. He also notched a win by fall over D#6 Sonderup last night as did Cross County’s Bryce Reed. Logan View’s Beau Kaup won the Central City Invite. Malcolm freshman Gavin Zoucha has a win over Reed but dropped a match to Ambler. Should be fun to watch this weight class down the stretch.
145: #1 White notched his second OT victor over #2 Olson this season in the High Plains finals. #4 Rogers finished 5th at High Plains, but only lost one match. #3 Miller remains undefeated on the season. #5 Copley and #6 Schleis have split 1-point matches this year. Ord’s Garret Kluthe made it down to 145 for the first time this season and finished 3rd at the Central City Invite. Kluthe, Rogers and Southern Valley’s Anderson will all be at the Gibbon Invite on Saturday.
152: Styskal claimed the top ranking with a win over Heimes in the High Plains finals. Wakefield state medalist Isaac Verzani made the move to this weight class and is undefeated on the season. #4 Hinrichs is also undefeated this season. Both Hinrichs and #5 Ulmer both have notched two wins over #6 Thompson. Thompson has multiple wins over Smith from St. Paul. Hinrichs has a common opponent over rankings contender Hohn from Bishop Neumann. The C4 district is shaping up to be a great one at this weight with Shoemaker from Ord and Warren from Bridgeport both making the drop from 160. Others in C4 in addition to Ulmer are, Daake from Kearney Catholic, Hoos from Gordon-Rushville and Battershaw from Valentine. Battershaw finished 5th at High Plains with a 4-0 win over Daake.
160: #1 Long won a great OT match over B#3 Yrkoski to capture the High Plains title and remain unbeated on the season. #2 Hull made the move down from 170. Hull since dropped to 160 won the Newman Grove Invite with a win over #6 Dozler and finished 3rd at Central City. #3 Vodicka had a 1-point win over #4 Ray at High Plains. #5 Jones went unbeaten in dual action last week with a nice win over rankings contender Stone from Sutton. Dozler won over Borgmann from Stanton who also made the drop from 170. Borgmann notched an 8-4 win over formerly ranked Tinker from Pierce. Malcolm’s Adam Stewart is having a great season and may have the best case of anyone to break into the rankings with a common opponent over Hull.
170: #1 Borer has been on a tear this season. He has wins over two of the top four wrestlers in class B up a weight at 182. He also has wins by fall over #5 Knott and B#4 Hernandez. Malcolm’s Zoucha moves up to #2 after notching a 5-2 win over #4 Duda from Broken Bow. By comparison #3 McGinley had an OT win over Duda. Duda owns a win by fall over #6 Peterson. The loss to Borer remains Knott’s only loss on the season and he has two wins over rankings contender Brandt from Syracuse and one over Wilkins from Arlington. A few other names to watch at this weight Chapa from Ravenna, Smith from Minden and Rasmussen from St. Paul.
182: Reimers has taken on all comers this season and has walked away with pins or tech falls in all of his matches. He most recently won by tech over #2 Brooks to win his home invite. Deinert and Feldner have made their way home to 195 where they will attempt to win a state title at that weight. Ord’s Ulrich moves up to #3 in the rankings. He has a win over B#5 Riesen and a narrow loss to B#6 Langan and most recently won #6 Booth 6-2. Ulrich also won 7-3 over #4 Spencer Allen who moves into the rankings after pinning #5 Hawthorne at High Plains. One of the remaining questions is will Tekemah-Herman’s Moore wrestle this season or not?
195: Fuchs had his closest match of the season a few weeks ago at the Pierce Invite, winning a 3-1 decision over D#3 Gale. He also notched a few wins over C rankings contenders Schwaninger from Lincoln Christian and Schultz from Aquinas to win the Aquinas Invite. Schultz had a nice win over Duda of Broken Bow to make the finals. #2 Wood won two close matches last week against D#1 Hunter. #3 Feldner moves up from 182 ahead of #4 Deinert based primarily over his win over Deinert in the 3rd/4th match at state last year. #5 Gay won the Ashland Invite over the weekend and still just has the one loss on the season to Fuchs (6-1). Fisher from Chase County remains in the 6 spot as Marx from Battle Creek seems to be set at 220 after making 195 earlier in the season.
220: What a wide-open weight class 220 is turning out to be. Merten will stay at the top as he didn’t meet #3 Marx or #4 Bauers at High Plains. Merten finished 4th while Marx notched a 2-1 win over Bauers to finish 5th. #2 Payne collected his second win over D#2 Hassett this year but received a stern challenge from Coley of Mitchell prior to that, winning in OT. #5 Bailey is still unbeaten on the season. #6 Simmons claims the last ranking position based on his early season 1-point win over Scheer from St. Paul.
285: #1 Moses, #2 Hale and #3 Drake have yet to lose to any class C competitor this year. #3 Drake has a win by fall over #4 Hoevet. Hoevet has a win over #5 Schramm who has a win over #6 Gilpin. Drake and Schramm didn’t meet at the Aquinas Invite because Broken Bow’s other heavyweight Bumgarner won over Schramm in the semifinals. Hoevet also has notched wins over Miller of Logan View and Padrnos from St. Paul. Sutton’s Tyler Ohrmann only has one loss to a class C opponent in Schramm. Still not sure if Escobar or Uden is the top guy for Wilber-Clatonia, but both are having solid seasons. Boone Central’s Dalton Rasmussen has been wrestling well as of late, finishing 5th at High Plains with a win over D#4 Simonson.