by Colin Pfeiffer (@CP308)

District D2
Host School: Amherst
Top 5 Teams (number of predicted qualifiers)
1. Plainview (10)
2. Amherst (7)
3. Winside(8)
4. North Central (4)
5. Ansley/Litchfield (4)
Other Teams Competing:
Alma
Anselmo-Merna
Arapahoe
Arcadia/Loup City
Axtell
Eustis-Farnam
Friend
Hastings St. Cecilia
High Plains Community
Kenesaw
Laurel-Concord-Coleridge
Meridian
Pender
Red Cloud/Blue Hill
Sumner-Eddyville-Miller
Wilcox-Hildreth

Team Preview:
Plainview and Amherst look to be the team favorites heading into the D2 district
tournament. They met earlier this year at the Amherst Invite, with Plainview coming away as the tournament champion. Both teams suffered some critical upsets at that tournament that they will be looking to avoid, and make for a really good team race. Winside will also be right in the mix, but Amherst and Plainview will to be able to put more guys in the finals and get points from guys that may not qualify to help lead them to the title. I expect to see a couple teams make late moves to maybe sneak an extra guy into the state tournament. Right now, it looks like we will see a couple weights were teams would double up and try and put two guys at one weight in the state tournament.

106
1. Logan Russell, High Plains
2. Eli Lanham, Plainview
3. Jacoby Mann, Winside
4. Layne Sturek, Pender
Defending State Champion Russell is the favorite to win the weight. He has a common opponent win over Lanham. Lanham has beat Mann, and has a head to head win over Mann and Sturek. Mann has a head to head win over Sturek.

113
1. Scout Ashburn, Plainview
2. Kaiden Mrsny, Pender
3. Cayden Ellis, Winside
4. Lane Barton, Meridian
Ashburn is the favorite to win the district title. He has a common opponent win over Mrsny and head to head over Ellis. Mrsny and Ellis have split matches. Ellis won the first match 1-0 while Mrsny won the second match 4-2 in sudden victory. Ellis has a common opponent win over Barton.

120
1. Koby Ellis, Winside
2. Isaiah Shields, Amherst
3. Cyrus Wells, Anselmo-Merna
4. Jaden Sobotka, Plainview
This weight across the state is really deep. We see that again here in district 2, as we get the #2, #3, and #4 guys in the state all out of the same district. Ellis and Shields should battle it out for the district title and either one could win it. Shields has beat Wells twice head to head. Wells has a head to head win over Sobotka. The top 4 here are pretty clear-cut, but to win the district title each wrestler will need to be on their best game.

126
1. Quentyn Frank, Amherst
2. Nate Christensen, Plainview
3. Gabe Escalante, Winside
4. Zak Palmer, North Central
Frank and Christensen could wrestle for the second time in two weeks in the district finals. If the state duals work out correctly, I would expect both coaches to want to see that match happen there as a gauge to where they are at with one another for the coming weeks. Christensen just dropped to 126 last week, so it’s hard to predict other than taking a best guess on what would happen in that match. Escalante finishes in third, as the top 2 guys seem to be a touch better. Escalante does have a head to head win over Palmer from last weeks Ainsworth invite.

132
1. Jared Shaw, North Central
2. Dustin Klingsporn, Axtell
3. Tyler Carlson, Winside
4. Jackson Koller, Arapahoe
This weight is tough to predict, because many of these guys haven’t wrestled each other or have common opponents over each other. Shaw and Klingsporn look to be pretty good bets to finish in the top two spots judging of the quality of records and the quality of opponents they have faced. Carlson and Koller will have to hold off Devon Tunender of Plainview and Josh Klingelhoefer of Amherst for the final two spots. Carlson does have a head to head victory over Tunender. Tunender does have a head to head victory over Klingelhoefer.

138
1. Levi Lewis, North Central
2. Matt Christensen, Plainview
3. Art Escalante, Winside
4. Tryon Calleroz, Arcadia/Loup City
Lewis is the favorite at this weight, as he has a common opponent win over Christensen and a head to head win over Escalante. Christensen has a head to head win over Escalante. Calleroz just dropped from 145 and will be in the mix with Christensen and Escalante for a spot to go to state.

145
1. Sam Florrell, Amherst
2. Will Gunning, Plainview
3. Collin Arehart, Ansley/Litchfield
4. Alex Carlson, Winside
Florell is the favorite as he has a head to head win over Gunning. Gunning has a
common opponent win over both Arehart and Carlson. Arehart and Carlson will battle it out for the final two spots, as neither wrestlers have a head to head or common opponent win over the other.

152
1. Black Racicky Ansley/Litchfield
2. Cole Stokebrand, Amherst
3. Trace Ebert, North Central
4. Hunter Arehart, Ansley/Litchfield
Racicky is the favorite here, as he has a head to head victory over Stokebrand from earlier this season. Stokebrand has a head to head victory over Ebert and Arehart. Ebert has a head to head win over Arehart. Arehart will have to hold off Ayden Molzahn for the fourth spot, who he does have a head to head victory over.

160
1. Dylan Soule, High Plains
2. James Polen, North Central
3. Alizae, Mejia Plainview
4. Riley Gallaway, Amherst
Soule is the favorite here over Polen and Mejia, as he has a common opponent win over both wrestlers. Polen and Mejia looks to be a pretty tight match and either wrestler could win. Both wrestlers have head to head wins over Gallaway. Gallaway, much like a couple other wrestlers, could help his cause by beating Mejia at state duals.

170
1. Jarin Potts, Amherst
2. Tyson McCurdy, Alma
3. Jacob Stieb, S-E-M
4. Branigan Schaben, Arapahoe
Potts is the favorite, as he has a common opponent win over McCurdy. McCurdy has
a couple common opponent wins over Stieb, which makes him a favorite to make the finals. Stieb has a head to head win over Schaben. Don’t be surprised to see a couple 160’s on the outside looking in to move up to 170.

182
1. Edwen Bapstista, Friend
2. Daylan Russell, Alma
3. Micah Noel, Meridian
4. Lucas Hammer Plainview
Baptista is the favorite at this weight based on a head to head win over Russell. Russell and Noel will battle it out for the second spot after Noel dropped from 195 this past weekend. Hammer could be at 170 where he would be in the mix to qualify, but if he’s not he will battle it out with Kaleb Sneff of Axtell for the final spot here.

195
1. Collin Gale, Plainview
2. Drew Bogard, Amherst
3. Michael Jensen, Winside
4. Kolby Larsen, Ansley/Litchfield.
Gale is the favorite to win the weight as he has a common opponent over Bogard.
Bogard could help himself at the state duals this weekend where he could
potentially wrestle Gale if both teams win their first round duals. Gale has a head to head win over Jensen. Jensen and Bogard haven’t met, but as stated before, if Bogard would beat Gale head to head at state duals it would go along ways to sort things out between Jensen and Bogard. Larsen or possibly Blaine Minnick could slide into the final spot if Minnick stays down at 195.

220
1. Jaxon Taubenheim, Amherst
2. Ethan Williams, Laurel Concord Coleridge
3. Blaine Minnick, Red Cloud/Blue Hill
4. Cameron Meyers, Arapahoe
Taubehiem would be the favorite here based on a common opponent win over
Williams. Minnick could be here or at 195. If he enters at 220, he will be in the mix with Taubenheim and Williams for the top 2 spots. Meyers is the probably the next best wrestler at the weight pending no one bumping up from 195.

285
1. Jakob Jerabek, Arcadia/Loup City
2. Gus Ducker, Arcadia/Loup City
3. Cameron Nelson, Plainview
4. Levi Kerner, Arapahoe
Jerabek is the clear favorite to win the district here. Ducker is a question mark, as he has been out since Christmas with an injury. If he is back, he and Nelson will battle for the second spot. Nelson is the next best bet to qualify. Kerner has a head to head win over CJ Graf of Alma who he will have to hold off for the 4th spot.