Finally, the season has arrived. Competition officially starts today, with a number of duals getting underway. Then we head to a loaded weekend of wrestling next weekend. It will be our first time seeing a lot of guys at new weights, plus varsity debuts for many wrestlers. On Saturday, we will see three of the top ten teams leaving the state to open their season. Millard South and Papillion LaVista are heading to Iowa for the Seargent Bluff Invite, while Lincoln East heads to the Gardner Edgerton invite in Kansas. One of the better dual tournaments of the weekend will be in York, because as many as 35 ranked wrestlers will be competing. That tournament is featured in the Class B preview.

NEwrestle Top Ten Teams – Where Can You Find Them?

Thursday

#2 Columbus vs #8 Grand Island

#4 Omaha Burke @ #6 Omaha Central

Saturday

Vern Ekfelt Tournament at Omaha North

• Bellevue East
• Omaha Benson
• Omaha North
• Omaha South
• South Sioux City
• Plattsmouth
• Tri-Center/Neola, IA

120

• #1A Garrett Grice-Bellevue East
• #7A Quentin Donald-Omaha Benson

132

• #5A Daniel Derozier-Bellevue East

138

• #4A Peyton Martinez-South Sioux City
• #5A Caelan Hester-Bellevue East

170

• #8A Aden Curiel-South Sioux City

220

• #3A Mikey Vasquez-Omaha South

285

• #3A Jacob Ngeleka-South Sioux City
• #4A Preston Welch-Bellevue East

The tournament doesn’t pack the same punch as last year when they had Millard South and Papillion LaVista. It will be a great tournament though, to see many old faces and new faces. Bellevue East should be the favorite but as we all know in wrestling, nothing is solved on paper.

Kearney Invite

• #5A Kearney
• #8A Grand Island
• #2B Hastings
• Creighton Prep
• Lincoln Southwest

106

• #5A Ein Obermiller-Grand Island
• #6A Francisco Becerra-Creighton Prep

113

• #2A Juan Pedro-Grand Island
• #4A Archer Heelan-Kearney
• #8A Landon McLaughlin-Lincoln Southwest

120

• #3A Hunter Nagatani-Kearney
• #6B Dalton Hanson-Hastings

126

• #3A Blake Cushing-Grand Island
• #4A Rylie Steele-Kearney
• #8B Landon Weidner-Hastings

132

• #8A Jaxon Morrow-Lincoln Southwest
• #3B Bryce Brown-Hastings

138

• #3A Brayden Smith-Kearney
• #7A Brody Arrants-Grand Island

145

• #6A Gage Ferguson-Kearney
• #7A Tyler Salpas-Grand Island

152

• #4A Gauge McBride-Kearney
• #6A Kolby Lukasiewicz-Grand Island
• #3B Mason Brumbaugh-Hastings

160

• #7A Ethan Carstens-Lincoln Southwest
• #3B Izaak Hunsley-Hastings

170

• #3 Carter Abels-Kearney

182

• #1B Damen Pape-Hastings
• #7B Joey Glogowski-Creighton prep

195

• #2A Tony Pray-Creighton Prep
• #4A Daylon Keolavone-Grand Island
• #4B Evan Morara-Hastings

220

• #7A Dario Rodriguez-Kearney

285

• #7B Josh Callejas-Hastings

The Kearney Invite will have plenty of quality compared to the quantity of teams competing. There are 2 or more ranked wrestlers at nearly every weight, which should make for interesting finals matchups. Many of the wrestlers are returning state medalists looking to make an early statement this season. It should be a good preview of the Fracas in two weeks.

Fremont Invite

• Fremont
• Bellevue West
• Elkhorn
• Millard West
• Lincoln High
• Norfolk
• Omaha Gross
• Omaha Roncalli
• Woodbine (IA)
• Sioux City East (IA)

113

• #7B Jackson Franks-Gross

126

• #7A Wyatt Godfrey-Norfolk
• #8A Wyatt May-Millard West

152

• #6A Josh Licking-Norfolk
• #8A Jackson Okereke-Lincoln High

160

• #4A Ethan Valencia-Millard West
• #6A Brayden Splater-Norfolk
• #8A Tommy Wentz-Fremont

170

• #6A Jack McDonnell-Bellevue West

195

• #6A Laikon Ames-Norfolk
• #7A Evan Johnson-Elkhorn

220

• #6A Ben Hazel-Bellevue West

There will be 10 teams competing, all with a shot of taking home the Fremont Invite title. It should be interesting to see which weights some of the Bellevue West wrestlers start at, coming off of a State Championship in football a little over a week ago. With no ranked  heavy weights, it will be a good tournament for some to get their feet wet and make a name for themselves early in the season.

Pius X Duals

• #6A Omaha Central
• Lincoln Pius
• Lincoln Northeast
• #7B Waverly
• #10B Beatrice
• Norris

106

• #4A DJ Bonam-Omaha Central

120

• #2A Emilio Haynes-Omaha Central
• #1B Drew Arnold-Beatrice

126

• #2A Gabe Grice-Omaha Central
• #7B Trae Greve-Waverly

132

• #2B Trevor Reinke-Beatrice

152

• #2A Deon Davis-Omaha Central

160

• #5B Tyler Nelson-Norris

170

• #3A Justin Davis-Omaha Central
• #1B Evan Canoyer-Waverly

220

• #8A Markell Smith-Omaha Central
• #3B Dylan Meyer-Norris

285

• #2A Jacob Frezell-McClinton-Omaha Central
• #1B Trevor Brown-Waverly

There will be a good mix of A and B teams at Pius on Saturday. Central will have already had a dual, and should have some rust knocked off. Haynes and Arnold should be a tremendous match. Haynes was a state runner up last season, while Arnold finished 4th at B120 and had strong summer in Fargo and won Fall Brawl in Kansas City this fall. It should be a high scoring match. Canoyer and Davis will also be another big time battle. Canoyer was the runner up in Class B at 170 pounds while Davis was 4th in the A145 bracket. 

Sergeant Bluff-Luton Invite

by Matt Dyer:

Teams:
Akron-Westfield, IA
Ballard, IA
Bishop Heelan Catholic, IA
Estherville Lincoln Central, IA
Kingsley-Pierson, IA
Lawton-Bronson, IA
A#1 Millard South, NE
A#7 Papillion-LaVista, NE
Riverside, Oakland, IA
Sergeant Bluff-Luton, IA
Sioux Center, IA
Spencer, IA
Storm Lake, IA
1A#3 Underwood, IA
1A#8 Woodbury Central, IA

Individual Ranked Wrestlers:

106

113

120

126

132

138

145

152

160

170

182

195

220

285

A border clash of two great Midwest teams will take place as Underwood, Iowa and Millard South, Nebraska come into this tournament after both having successful 2018-2019 seasons.  Both Underwood and Millard South come into the tournament with highly successful wrestlers who have made noise on the national scene. #7 Papillion-LaVista brings a solid group of wrestlers to this event as well.

This tournament also hosts several number one ranked wrestlers in two states along with several nationally ranked wrestlers.  Which means we’ll likely see some great matches.

Look for Stevie Barnes-Underwood and Adams-Millard South to be a great match at 120 lbs.  Both had freestyle and Greco success this past summer. Barnes is a returning state finalist in Iowa and Adams is a 15U world bronze medalist in Greco.  Look for Adams to make his presence known in high school wrestling at this tournament.

138 should be an exciting weight to watch. The top three seeds will have a ton of experience coming into this tournament. Look for Antoniak-Millard South and James-Underwood to meet in the finals, but getting there will be a tough road with one of them to likely face Niemiec-Papillion La Vista.  

Fans from Iowa and Nebraska wish Taylor-Millard South was 100% healthy so they would be able to see a possible Taylor and Hamilton-Underwood matchup at 145 lbs.  . Don’t sleep on Gaukel-Sergeant Bluff-Luton in this weight class either as he could provide just as good of a match for either Taylor or Hamilton.  

We’ll get our first look at Utah State Champ Robertson-Millard South. He’ll step out on the mat against two talented Iowa wrestlers in Mitchell-Woodbury Central and Thomsen-Underwood at 152 lbs.  

The team race should come down to Millard South and Underwood as the top two teams, but don’t look past Papillion-La Vista, Sergeant Bluff-Luton and Woodbury Central as potential contenders.

What About the Rest of Class A?

Elkhorn South and Omaha Northwest will be at the Bennington Invite Saturday. Read more about that in our Class B Preview. 

Gretna will be at the Dan Hill Invite in Harlan, Iowa Saturday.

Lincoln North Star will be at the Blair Invite Friday. 

Lincoln Southeast and Papillion LaVista South will be at the York Dual Tournament Saturday. Read more about that in our Class B Preview. 

Millard North and Omaha Bryan will be at Friday Night Fracas in Nebraska City Friday.