C3 @ Aquinas

Projected Top 4 Teams:
#5 Aquinas (11)
#6 Arlington (8)
Pierce (7)
Milford (6)

Other Teams Competing:
Centura
Fillmore Central
Freeman
HTRS
Lincoln Christian
Lincoln Lutheran
Norfolk Catholic
North Bend Central
Palmyra
Ravenna
Shelby-Rising City
Syracuse

We should see good team race here between Arlington and Aquinas. Aquinas could nearly qualify their whole lineup with a good tournament on their home mats. Aquinas did beat Arlington by 33 points in a tournament the second week of the season. Both teams’ lineups look a little different now so we’ll see if Arlington can close the gap. Pierce has had a great year and should push Arlington for the runner-up trophy. Milford has a good shot of qualifying their first six weights.

There are a total 20 ranked wrestlers in the C3 district. There are four top ranked wrestlers competing in the district. 106 and 138 are very tough with several state medal contenders.

TEAM RACE UPDATE: Arlington and Aquinas squared off in the state dual semifinals so that helps clarify things a little bit and should point to Aquinas being the favorite to win the district title on their home mats.

106:
Schluckebier pinned Bolling in an earlier season meeting. Bolling won by tech fall over Vandenberg a few days ago. Fushia has a win over Vandenberg and Goebel has a win over Fushia so it’s possible that Vandenberg will be the 5th seed as the 5th ranked wrestler in the state. It was Vandenberg however that gave Schluckebier his closest match of the season. This one will be interesting to watch play out.

UPDATE: Fushia hasn’t wrestled since the January 12th. Teammate Trowbridge has made 106 but has remained at 113 so that indicates Fushia should be back in the lineup for districts.

1. #2 Konner Schluckebier (Milford) 41-0
2. #4 Brock Bolling (Pierce) 31-8
3. #5 Hunter Vandenberg (Aquinas) 29-10
4. Jace Goebel (Syracuse) 23-13

Dillon Fushia (Fillmore Central) 29-10
Isaac Wegrzyn (Lincoln Christian) 31-11

113:
Zitek’s health has been a bit of a question mark the second half of the season. He has been out of action since December. Haven’t heard anything indicating he won’t be ready for districts so he should come in as the top seed. Bridgmon has a common opponent over Vondra. Cooley hadn’t wrestled 113 since the middle of December until last weekend. He could potentially be the second seed based on record and will likely see Bridgmon in the semis. Vondra has a win over Wegrzyn head to head.

UPDATE: Zitek is back on the mat and went 3-0 at the state duals. Cooley is now back to 113.

1. #2 Zach Zitek (Aquinas) 20-0
2. #4 Spencer Bridgmon (Syracuse) 26-14
3. Trevor Cooley (Arlington) 24-9
4. Eli Vondra (Milford) 27-16

Eli Wegrzyn (Lincoln Christian) 25-10

120:
Gilmore’s lone loss is to B#1 Nielsen. He’s beaten Scott head to head. Since Scott is a state qualifier he should have criteria over Schmit for the second seed but that should be a good semifinal matchup. Schmit has common opponent criteria over Chapman.

UPDATE: Gilmore beat Scott for a second time at the state duals.

1. #2 Hunter Gilmore (Arlington) 37-1
2. #6 Noah Scott (Aquinas) 30-14
3. Wyatt Schmit (HTRS) 38-7
4. Jack Chapman (Milford) 31-12

126:
Zegers and Schrad both have wins over Jensen head to head. Schrad is down from 132 where he was at most of the season. After the top three it appears as if Ackley has the best remaining record and could capture the fourth spot.

UPDATE: Schrad obtained common opponent criteria over Zegers with his win over #4 Harris. Ackley has been out the last few weekends.

1. Cameron Schrad (Aquinas) 35-10
2. #6 Ethan Zegers (Milford) 26-8
3. Carter Jensen (Pierce) 30-16
4. Quenton Ackley (Ravenna) 18-12

132:
Scdoris is peaking at the right time with recent wins over #2 Graham and #4 Valentine. He has head to head wins over Kruntorad and Thiem. Nickolite beat Kruntorad 5-1 last weekend. Scdoris has a common opponent over two-time qualifier Treffer.

UPDATE: Nickolite won 5-2 over Thiem in their dual matchup. Treffer looks like the third seed because he’s a qualifier. Will be a good quarterfinal matchup with Kruntorad and Thiem with the loser of that match likely meeting loser of Treffer/Nickolite in the heartbreak round.

1. Jeaven Scdoris (Milford) 38-7
2. Christopher Nickolite (Aquinas) 7-4
3. Jeremiah Kruntorad (Pierce) 33-16
4. Jadden Treffer (Ravenna) 26-13

Jacob Thiem (Arlington) 22-8
Allan Olander (Norfolk Catholic) 23-13

138:
Copley made a January move from 145 down to 138 and beat Mues in OT. Smydra has a head to head win over Kruntorad. Kruntorad and returning qualifier Redler have split. Belt won over Redler 4-2 in their only meeting. Smydra took #2 McNeill into OT earlier this season up at 145 so he could make things interesting at this weight. Belt has been out of the linup in recent weeks so that is something to monitor. Probably the deepest weight up to this point.

UPDATE: Mues did not wrestle at the state duals. Smydra notched another head to head win over Kruntorad. Belt hasn’t wrestled since January 5th.

1. #4 Sam Copley (Milford) 40-5
2. #5 Talon Mues (Arlington) 24-3
3. Wyatt Smydra (Norfolk Catholic) 41-7
4. Grady Belt (Shelby-Rising City) 17-9

Michael Kruntorad (Pierce) 27-15
Creighton Redler (Aquinas) 25-13

145:
Returning medalist Miller should grab the top seed. If seeds hold then he’ll have a ranked matchup against Schleis in the finals. Schleis has head to head wins over Schweitzer and returning qualifier Helgoth. Schweitzer has a 10-7 win over Mendez and two wins over Helgoth. Helgoth beat Mendez by fall. Mendez was up at 152 this past weekend so perhaps he’s planning on wrestling up for the district tournament. Another development at this weight is the return of Ethan Mullaly. He had a very good season last year at 152 as a freshman. Schweitzer and Mendez have common opponent over Mullaly.

UPDATE: Mendez wrestled last weekend at 145 so expect him to remain here for districts.

1. #3 Josh Miller (Arlington) 33-3
2. #6 Mason Schleis (Shelby-Rising City) 28-4
3. Ashton Schweitzer (Pierce) 32-16
4. Logan Helgoth (Aquinas) 23-19

Francisco Mendez (Norfolk Catholic) 40-12
Ethan Mullaly (North Bend) 8-2
Jesse Drahota (Ravenna) 33-13
Dedrick Dowding (Palmyra) 25-13

152:
Lindsley has common opponent criteria over Bentley with his recent win over Thompson from Wood River. He also has a head to head win over Eller. Luttig has a win over Nabity. Keep an eye on whether Mendez is up at this weight or not.

1. #5 Grant Lindsley (Shelby-Rising City) 19-2
2. Kile Bentley (Centura) 36-6
3. Nolan Eller (Aquinas) 26-11
4. Alex Luttig (Arlington) 28-11

Tommy Nabity (Lincoln Lutheran) 20-14

160:
Ray has common opponent criteria over Hinrichs and Tinker. Tough to figure out the seeding from the point but Tinker is the returning qualifier so that probably will get him second seed. Would expect a very tight semifinal matchup against a tough Hinrichs. Lenners has just a few losses since making it down to 160 and seeding might come down to record between him and Hinrichs.

1. #4 Jacob Ray (North Bend) 28-4
2. Gavin Hinrichs (Fillmore Central) 28-9
3. Brett Tinker (Pierce) 36-9
4. Garrett Lenners (Freeman) 30-6

Nelson Emerson (Pierce) 20-11

170:
Borer has pinned two of the top competitors here in Brandt and Wilkins. Brandt beat Wilkins head to head a few weeks ago. No common denominator between Wilkins and Chapa, but Chapa looks like he will get the 2nd seed based on record and would potentially have Brandt in the semis. Wilkins has a head to head win over Kment who he may meet in the quarterfinals.

UPDATE: Wilkins beat Kment by fall at the state duals in what could be the 4/5 quarterfinal at this weight.

1. #1 Zach Borer (North Bend) 41-0
2. Burton Brandt (Syracuse) 30-9
3. Kobe Wilkins (Arlington) 35-6
4. Alex Chapa (Ravenna) 20-1

Ben Kment (Aquinas) 28-15

182:
Unbeaten Reimers hasn’t wrestled any of the other top guys in the district head to head this season. Schwaninger and Worthey both recently went down from 195. Marrero beat Worthey head to head. Meyers from Ravenna has had a mixed bag of results this season, but his recent win over #6 Hawthorne shows he’s ready to make a run at qualifying. It wouldn’t be a shock to see someone go up to 195.

1. #1 Joseph Reimers (Aquinas) 39-0
2. Hunter Schwaninger (Lincoln Christian) 33-10
3. Jeremy Marrero (Syracuse) 18-18
4. Aiden Worthey (HTRS) 32-11

James Meyers (Ravenna) 26-15

195:
Fuchs beat Gay 6-1 early in the season. Gay surely has his sights set on making the state finals as he should be opposite of Fuchs at the state tournament. Schultz looks like the third seed here as Schwaninger moved down to 182. Otero is the lone remaining winning record at the weight. It’s noteworthy that both Fuchs and Gay have each wrestled up at 220 at least once during the month of January. Fuchs does own a win over #1 Merten at that weight and Gay has a win over #2 Bailey.

1. #1 Ryder Fuchs (Pierce) 40-0
2. #5 Remington Gay (Arlington) 37-2
3. Nolan Schlutz (Aquinas) 26-13
4. Joey Otero (Norfolk Catholic) 22-21

220:
Simmons notched a statement win over #3 Marx last weekend that will vault him up the next set of rankings. It looks like he’ll be in contention for a state title in Omaha. Simmons has common opponent criteria over Naiberk. Both Naiberk and Duarte have head to head wins over Kuehler. Naiberk won by injury forfeit over Kline in December and Kline has been out of the linup since then. If he’s back, then he should be the 5 seed.

UPDATE: Kline is back in action for Fillmore Central.

1. #6 Austin Simmons (Centura) 39-1
2. Tad Naiberk (Aquinas) 24-13
3. Gustavo Duarte (Arlington) 24-13
4. Dylan Kuehler (Pierce) 29-8

Tanner Kline (Fillmore Central) 14-6

285:
Moses pinned Schramm in their only meeting of the season. Returning qualifier Schramm looks to be the only other seedable wrestler at the weight. Burr may not have a winning record, but he has recorded some good wins this year and should be able to punch his ticket to Omaha. Expected to see Clayton Watts from Shelby-Rising City this season where he would have had a good chance of qualifying here, but he hasn’t seen the mat yet. Hate to speculate too much but Wilcox has wrestled a tournament up at 285 this year and could potentially qualify up a weight.

UPDATE: Norfolk Catholic has Jalen Robinson at 285. His 6-2 record should be good for the 3rd seed unless someone is being overlooked.

1. #1 Riley Moses (Fillmore Central) 37-2
2. Owen Schramm (Aquinas) 26-14
3. Zach Burr (Syracuse) 13-17
4. Jalen Robinson (Norfolk Catholic) 6-2