What: 2019 Flatwater Fracas
When: 12/19-12/20 2019
Where: Pinnacle Bank Expo Center – Grand Island, NE
Watch: Trackwrestling

The Flatwater Fracas kicks off on Friday at the Pinnacle Bank Expo Center in Grand Island. Out of the 25 total teams competing, there are 15 ranked teams from three states. There are eight out of the top nine teams from Class A and four out of the top six from Class B, in addition to ranked teams from Kansas and Wyoming. There will be big matches early and often. Below we break down each pool from the first day and predict the championship pool for Saturday. The event will be cast on Trackwrestling right here.

In case you need a refresher on the rankings: Class A Rankings | Class B Rankings

Day One Schedule:

Screenshot 2019-12-18 at 12.45.03 PM

Pool A

Teams: Fairbury, B#4 Northwest, Lincoln Southwest, A#1 Millard South, Blair
Pool Winner Prediction: Millard South

Pool A will pit returning A champions Millard South and B champions GI Northwest. The highlight of that dual will be a nationally ranked match between A#1 Isaac Trumble and B#1 Grady Griess. Millard South simply has too much firepower for the field in this pool and will likely advance. Northwest and Blair should be an exciting dual. Last season, Northwest won the Class B individual state tournament, while Blair won the state duals. Blair might have the edge in that one with their overall depth. Lincoln Southwest has some good young talent which will make for some exciting lower weight matches. 113 and 138 should make for some great individual match-ups.

113:
A#2 Caleb Coyle (MS)
B#3 Grady Arends (NW)
A#6 Landan McLaughlin (LSW)

120:
A#4 Joel Adams (MS)

126:
B#4 Landon Templar (B)

132:
A#1 Conor Knopick (MS)
A#6 Jaxon Morrow (LSW)

138:
A#1 Tyler Antoniak (MS)
B#3 Collin Quandt (NW)
B#8 Hank Frost (B)

145:
A#1 Scott Robertson (MS)
B#6 Owen Friesen (NW)

152:
B#5 Austin Cooley (NW)

182:
A#7 Ian Byington (MS)

195:
B#2 Seth Firmanik (F)
A#6 Chris Wortman (MS)

220:
A#1 Isaac Trumble (MS)
B#1 Grady Griess (NW)

285:
B#4 Brady Soukup (B)

Pool B

Teams: Bellevue West, 5A#3 Great Bend (KS), B#5 Bennington, A#8 Kearney, Lincoln Northeast
Pool Winner Prediction: Kearney

On paper it looks like Kearney and Great Bend should be a fantastic dual. There could be at least five ranked matches. Can Bennington pull off a minor upset of either team? They just had a nice win over Omaha Central on Tuesday. 113, 126, 145 and 152 all have three ranked wrestlers.

106:
B#2 Kael Lauridsen (Ben)
5A#3 Kaden Spragis (GB)

113:
A#3 Archer Heelan (K)
B#5 AJ Parrish (Ben)
5A#5 Avery Wolf (GB)

120:
5A#5 Wyatt Weber (GB)
A#7 Hunter Nagatani (K)

126:
5A#4 Drew Liles (GB)
A#6 Rylie Steele (K)
A#8 Grant Moraski (BW)

132:
5A#1 Carsyn Schooler (GB)

138:
A#2 Brayden Smith (K)

145:
5A#2 Gage Fritz (GB)
A#5 Gage Ferguson (K)
B#8 Robert Greenwood (Ben)

152:
A#3 Gauge McBride (K)
5A#3 George Weber (GB)
B#6 Colby Puck (Ben)

160:
5A#4 Alex Randolph (GB)

170:
A#5 Carter Abels (K)

182:
B#6 Luke MacDonald (Ben)

220:
B#2 Garrett Menke (Ben)

285:
A#6 Jayden Schrader (LNE)

Pool C

Teams: Gretna, 4A#3 Cheyenne East (WY), Lincoln Southeast, A#2 Columbus, Papillion-LaVista
Pool Winner Prediction: Columbus 

Wyoming large school #3 Cheyenne East brings 10 ranked wrestlers to the event. However, they had a similar lineup last year and dropped duals to Hastings and Lincoln East. Look for Columbus to emerge from this pool. Papillion-LaVista could present some problems for Cheyenne East. Lincoln Southeast is building some momentum with some wrestlers moving into and up in the rankings. If Gretna is healthy they could have upset potential. 182 and 195 each have four ranked wrestlers, so plenty of must watch matches in store.

106:
A#2 Adrian Bice (C)
4A#6 Kane Mihalek (CE)
A#8 Dominic Martinez (PLV)

113:
4A#2 David Stice (CE)
A#8 Blake Cerny (C)

120:
4A#5 Landon Trujillo (CE)
A#6 Clay Cerney (C)

126:
4A#1 Amos Solano (CE)
A#4 Ian Rudner (PLV)

132:
A#2 Tanner Kobza (Col)
4A#4 Noah Gallegos (CE)
or 6A#6 Bryson Vasquez (CE)

138:
A#8 Alex Korte (C)

152:
4A#3 Jackson Hesford (CE)

160:
A#2 Brogan Zegers (LSE)
A#3 Cole Price (PLV)

170:
4A#1 Blaise Ronnau (CE)
A#2 Blayze Standley (C)
A#8 John Friendt (LSE)

182:
A#1 Anthony DeAnda (C)
4A#2 Bradley Whitright (CE)
A#4 Carson Maas (PLV)
A#6 Max McClatchey (LSE)

195:
A#1 Kasten Grape (C)
4A#2 Lucas Mizel (CE)
A#3 Jackson Arend (G)
A#8 Dyllon Bell (LSE)

220:
A#6 Breken Heiman (G)

Pool D

Teams: A#5 Papillion-LaVista South, 6A#8Manhattan (KS), A#3 Lincoln East, B#2 Hastings, Norfolk
Pool Winner Prediction: Lincoln East

Lincoln East and Manhattan are familiar with each other as they were both at the opening weekend Gardner-Edgerton tournament. The Spartans finished ahead of Manhattan so we’ll give them the nod there. This pool is probably the deepest out of any as four of the five teams are ranked and Norfolk has seven ranked wrestlers and are a likely top-ten dual team. Norfolk already has an 11-0 dual record on the season. Hastings is strong throughout nearly their whole lineup and could play spoiler to all of the other ‘large class’ teams in this pool. They certainly have momentum on their side as they just beat B#4 Northwest 60-18. Papio South has rocketed up the team rankings so far as well. Expect several close duals in this pool, but Lincoln East’s trio of top-ranked wrestlers and overall depth should push them through to the championship pool. 11 out of the 14 weights in this pool have multiple ranked wrestlers. Should be plenty of fireworks!

106:
A#1 Keith Smith (LE)
A#4 Tyler Durden (PLVS)
6A#6 Jantzen Borge (Man)
B#8 Markus Miller (H)

113:
A#1 Brandon Baustert (LE)

120:
6A#1 Easton Taylor (Man)

126:
6A#4 Tate Sauter (MH)
A#7 Weston Godfrey (N)
B#7 Landon Weidner (H)

132:
B#3 Bryce Brown (H)
6A#3 Blaisen Bammes (Man)
A#7 Aaron Dittmer (N)
A#8 John Enzolera (PLVS)

138:
A#5 Stone Sindelar (PLVS)

145:
A#2 Alex Irizarry (PLVS)
A#3 Breckin Sperling (LE)
A#7 Jake Licking (N)

152:
A#1 Maxx Mayfield (LE)
B#3 Mason Brumbaugh (H)
A#4 Caleb Connor (PLVS)
A#6 Josh Licking (N)

160:
B#3 Izaak Hunsley (H)
A#6 Brayden Splater (N)
6A#6 Darius Island-Jones (Man)

170:
A#1 Grant Lyman (LE)
A#6 Austin Miller (N)

182:
B#1 Damen Pape (H)
A#3 Trace Marco (PLVS)

195:
B#4 Evan Morara (H)
A#5 Laikon Ames (N)

220:
A#3 Tyler Robinson (PLVS)
A#7 Brayden Heffner (N)

285:
6A#3 Damian Ilalio (Man)
B#7 Josh Callejas (H)

Pool E

Teams: Smith Center (KS), A#4 Omaha Burke, B#6 Beatrice, A#6 Grand Island, A#9 Bellevue East
Pool Winner Prediction: Grand Island

Omaha Burke currently has a slight edge in the tournament team rankings, but it will be tough for them to overcome Grand Island on their ‘home mats’. That should be a great dual to watch. Burke has been getting creative in the lighter weights moving Burks up to 132 to strengthen their lineup. Bellevue East has some high quality individuals, but is better built for tournament competition. Beatrice brings a tough squad looks like a good bet to finish 3rd in the pool. Smith Center brings some good individuals from KS small class 321A. This pool will feature a possible battle of A#1 Grice and B#1 Arnold along with a 1 vs 2 matchup at 126 between Burks and Cushing.

106:
A#3 Ein Obermiller (GI)

113:
A#4 Julio Reyes (OB)

120:
A#1 Garrett Grice (BE)
B#1 Drew Arnold (Bea)
321A#2 Colton Shoemakers (SC)
A#3 Juan Pedro (GI)

126:
A#1 Jakason Burks (OB)
A#2 Blake Cushing (GI)

132:
B#2 Trevor Reinke (Bea)
A#3 Daniel Derozier (BE)

138:
A#3 Caelan Hester (BE)
A#4 Jayden Looney (OB)
A#6 Brody Arrants (GI)

145:
B#3 Cole Maschmann (Bea)

152:
A#5 Blaine Miller (OB)
A#8 Dalton Flibotte (BE)

160:
A#1 Deson Stapleton (OB)
321A#4 Jacob Conrad (SC)
A#7 Kolby Lukasiewicz (GI)

170:
B#8 Brody Nelson (Bea)

182:
B#8 Dakota Adams (Bea)
321#6 Brell Spiess (SC)

195:
A#4 Daylon Keovalone (GI)

220:
A#8 Muminjon Mirzoev (OB)

285:
A#3 Preston Welch (BE)
A#4 Nolan Olafson (OB)
A#5 Michael Isele (GI)

FINAL POOL

Teams: A#1 Millard South, A#2 Columbus, A#3 Lincoln East, A#6 Grand Island, A#8 Kearney
2019 Flatwater Fracas Champion Prediction: Millard South

The five pool winners from Friday will compete in the championship pool. The final pool teams are pure speculation at this point. Lincoln East, Grand Island, Kearney and maybe even Columbus will need to be on their A games to emerge from their respective pools as there is fierce competition throughout the tournament. Until proven otherwise and although upsets can happen, Millard South is the team to beat. Expect some highly competitive duals throughout the final pool.

We won’t have any shortage of highlight matches, especially in the lower weights. 106 and 113 have the top three wrestlers in Class A. 132, 138 and 170 have the top two. 145 and 152 have potential top three matches.

106:
A#1 Keith Smith (LE)
A#2 Adrian Bice (C)
A#3 Ein Obermiller (GI)

113:
A#1 Brandon Baustert (LE)
A#2 Caleb Coyle (MS)
A#3 Archer Heelan (K)
A#8 Blake Cerny (C)

120:
A#3 Juan Pedro (GI)
A#4 Joel Adams (MS)
A#6 Clay Cerney (C)
A#7 Hunter Nagatani (K)

126:
A#2 Blake Cushing (GI)
A#6 Rylie Steele (K)

132:
A#1 Conor Knopick (MS)
A#2 Tanner Kobza (C)

138:
A#1 Tyler Antoniak (MS)
A#2 Brayden Smith (K)
A#6 Brody Arrants (GI)
A#8 Alex Korte (C)

145:
A#1 Scott Robertson (MS)
A#3 Breckin Sperling (LE)
A#5 Gage Ferguson (K)

152:
A#1 Maxx Mayfield (LE)
A#3 Gauge McBride (K)

160:
A#7 Kolby Lukasiewicz (GI)

170:
A#1 Grant Lyman (LE)
A#2 Blayze Standley (C)
A#5 Carter Abels (K)

182:
A#1 Anthony DeAnda (C)
A#7 Ian Byington (MS)

195:
A#1 Kasten Grape (C)
A#4 Daylon Keovalone (GI)
A#6 Chris Wortman (MS)

220:
A#1 Isaac Trumble (MS)

285:
A#5 Michael Isele (GI)

3 thoughts on “2019 Flatwater Fracas Preview”

Leave a Reply