D3 @ Southern Valley

Top 5 Teams:
1. #7 Maxwell (9)
2. Axtell (6)
3. #8 Weeping Water (4)
4. Ansley Litchfield (5)
5. Elm Creek (5)

Other Teams Competing:
Franklin (1)
Harvard (1)
Hastings St. Cecilia
High Plains Community (2)
Kenesaw (2)
#9 Nebraska Christian (2)
Pleasanton (2)
Red Cloud/Blue Hill (1)
Shelton (4)
South Loup (Callaway/Arnold) (1)
Southern (2)
Southern Valley (3)
Sumner-Eddyville-Miller (1)
Superior (2)
West Holt (2)
Wilcox-Hildreth(1)

Maxwell comes in as the heavy favorite in the team race with 9 projected qualifiers. This may be the most interesting individual district on paper, as there isn’t much that separates some of the ranked and unranked wrestlers. 25 wrestlers come into the D3 district ranked in the top 8. Weights with three or more ranked wrestlers are 113, 152, and 195. The best weight of the entire district though might be 120 pounds. Although only two guys are currently ranked, three others have been in the rankings and two others are returning state qualifiers. Another interesting thing in the district might be the battle for second in the team race as Weeping Water and Ansley-Litchfield could pile up top end points while Elm Creek and Axtell could pull through more wrestlers to make the race for second quite the battle.

Class D Rankings

Please send any suggestions, updates or corrections to dru.kastler@gmail.com, KastlerDA on Twitter, or simply comment on this post. We will update these predictions the week of districts to include the next few weeks of competition

106
#8 Neeman has been solid all year long and is projected as the favorite in the district. Spotanski and Norton have both made the mid-season drop to 106. The match between them in the semifinals would be a coin flip as they both have similar records. Hessel has the next best record to project 4th.

Projection:
1. #8 Hayden Neeman, Superior
2. Alex Spotanski, Shelton
3. Ethan Norton, Maxwell
4. Wyatt Hessel, Maxwell

113
#2 Sauceda has battled through an injury to have a really solid season to this point. He has a head to head wins over #5 Peterson and Piel to make him the favorite. #5 Peterson and #6 Fox haven’t met this year, but have similar results against the same opponents. Piel gets the 4th spot based on record.

Projection:
1. #2 Jesse Sauceda, Shelton
2. #4 Logan Peterson, South Loup
3. #5 Jacob Fox, Axtell
4. Aiden Piel, Red Cloud/Blue Hill

120
Probably the deepest, if not the best weight in the district. #2 Smith looks like the favorite to win the district with two wins over Medina. #8 Melton missed the early portion of the season sitting out because of the NSAA 90-day transfer rule, but has impressed since his return to the lineup. Medina and Kuehn both have been in the rankings this year with a bunch of quality wins. Contenders Hadwiger and Fisher are both returning state qualifiers as well.  Sam Tourney of Shelton could also be in the mix here as he wrestled 120 must of the season but bumped up to 126 this past weekend.

Update: This weight became harder to project this weekend. Kuehn beat Smith 2-1 and Medina. Medina and Kuehn are now split. Melton showed at the state duals that he can pin anyone at any time at the state duals when he pinned Kester on Neligh Oakdale. Melton also suffered an injury at state duals though as well so it may be interesting to see how healthy he really is while competing at districts.

Projection:
1. #6 Koby Smith, Elm Creek
2. #7 Nickolas Kuehn, Kenesaw
3. #8 Oscar Medina, Harvard
4. Sam Melton, Maxwell

Contenders:
Riley Hadwiger, Pleasanton
Chet Fisher, Southern Valley
Ethan Atkins, SEM
Manny Consbruck, Hastings St. Cecilia

126
#7 Rainey has a common opponent win over Gholson which makes him the district favorite. Gholson has a head to head win over Bertrand. Tourney has spent most the year at 120, but most recently wrestled 126. Marino from High Plains has beat a few returning Class C qualifiers in recent weeks so he’s building momentum as well. Beck, Huenfeld and Cover make this a pretty deep weight.

Projection:
1. #5 Doug Rainey, Southern
2. #8 Jacob Gholson, Maxwell
3. Quinn Bertrand, Axtell
4. Sam Tourney, Shelton

Contenders:
Cole Becker, Southern Valley
Gabe Huenefeld, Nerbaska Christian
Matt Cover, Weeping Water
Javier Marino, High Plains

132
#4 Blevins looks like a heavy favorite on paper to win this district. Blevins has a head to head win of Brown. Gruntorad looks to be the next best bet after Blevins. Brown dropped mid-season from 138 and has been tough since doing so. He wrestled Blevins to a 9-6 match like mentioned before. Kuehn, Mason and Racicky will battle it out for the final spot. Lambert hasn’t wrestled since the first 2 weeks of the season but if he was to come back, he would be right in the mix for a spot. Lambert and Gruntorad split matches the opening weekend of the year.

Projection:
1. #4 Nolan Blevins, Weeping Water
2. Carson Gruntorad, Elm Creek
3. Trevor Brown Southern Valley
4. Trevor Kuehn, Kenesaw

Contenders:
Carson Mason, South Loup
Chase Racicky, Ansley Litchfield

138
#3 Klingsporn has a head to head win over #6 Perez. Pagel has a head to head win over Dack, but hasn’t competed a lot this season. Jensen, Noel, and Lambrecht will be in the mix for those final 2 spots.

Projections:
1. #3 Dustin Klinsporn, Axtell
2. #8 Xavier Perez, Elm Creek
3. Klayton Pagel, Maxwell
4. Ethan Dack, Shelton

Contenders:
Brenden Jensen, Superior
Cody Lambert, Southern Valley
Riley Lambrecht, Red Cloud/Blue Hill

145
#5 Pawloski has a common opponent win over #7 French and a head to head win over Ogden. Pawolski projects as the district favorite. French has a common opponent over Ogden. Ogden has a head to head win over Quintana. Schnell, Frisbie and Haussermann will battle it out along with Quintana for the final spot.

Update: Lieb dropped to 145 at looks to have the best shot to be the fourth guy there.

Projection:
1. #6 Chase Pawloski, Pleasanton
2. Joseph French, Axtell
3. Jaegher Ogden, West Holt
4. Lane Lieb Wilcox Hildreth

Contenders:
Travis Quintana, Elm Creek
Jacob Tobey, Maxwell
Brooks Armstrong Red Cloud/Blue Hill

152
#2 Green leads the pack at 152. #5 Whisenhunt has just a few matches under his belt this season due to injuries. Burch will be right in the mix for one of the top two spots at this weight even if Whisenhunt is fully healthy. The fourth spot is pretty wide open. Lieb, Messersmith, Ruyle, Striet, and Grossnicklaus will all be right in the mix for it. Messersmith has wrestled matches at 152, 160, and 170 this season, so he could be at any of those weights. If Whisenhunt doesn’t compete its hard to imagine he doesn’t enter at 152.

Update: Maxwell has enter Messersmith as the varsity guy at 152 and bumped Whisenhunt to 170. Also Lieb dropped to 145. Ruyle is the next best guy at 152.

Projection:
1. #4 Elijah Green, Nebraska Christian
2. #8 Jason Burch, Weeping Water
3. Caden Messersmith, Maxwell
4. Castor Ruyle, Shelton

Contenders:
Skyler Grossnicklaus, Southern Valley

160
The district final here could very well be a preview of the state finals. Not much seperates #1 Gibson and #2 Racicky. It’s possible they meet up today at the Ord Invite with the top seed for districts on the line. Arehart and Parsons will have to hold off contenders Kunkee, Swantek, and Young for the final two spots.

Update: Parsons Slides up one spot with Arehart moving up to 170. Slingsby dropped from 170 and moves into the final spot.

Projection:
1. #1 Derek Gibson, Maxwell
2. #2 Blake Racicky, Ansley-Litchfield
3. Jarrett Parsons, High Plains Community
4. Cooper Slingsby, Ansley-Litchfield

Contenders:
Dalton Kunkee, South Loup
Stone Swantek, Nebraska Christian
Colby Striet, South Loup

170
Soule is the favorite to win the district as he has a head to head win over #4 Slaymaker. Slaymaker has a head to head win over #6 Arehart. Arehart has actually split matches with his teammate Slingsby, but does have a common opponent win over him. One of the contenders will need to pull an upset to crack the top four.

Update: Whisenhunt is entered in at 170, so he slides into the third spot which bumps Arehart down to the fourth spot.

Projection:
1. #1 Dylan Soule, High Plains Community
2. #4 Ben Slaymaker, West Holt
3. Dalton Whisenhunt Maxwell
4. #8 Hunter Arehart, Ansley-Litchfield

Contenders:
Sean Duffy, Kenesaw
Kole Brack, Weeping Water
Collin Arehart, Ansley-Litchfield

182
Larson is a heavy favorite with a head to head win over Senff. Senff has a head to head win over Kahrs and Warner. Kahrs has a common opponent over Warner. Warner has a head to head win over Smith to give him the 4th spot.

Projection:
1. #4 Kolby Larson, Ansley-Litchfield
2. Kaleb Senff, Axtell
3. Joseph Kahrs, Franklin
4. Bryson Warner, Southern Valley

Contenders:
Ashton Smith, Maxwell
Langdon Kohn, Weeping Water

195
Mundt has steamrolled through his opponents so far this season. Expect him to do the same here to win the district. #5 Stubbs just beat #4 Hargett in sudden victory this past weekend, so expect another great battle there. Swartwood missed the middle part of the season but is now back competing and takes the 4th spot.

Projection:
1. #1 Carl Mundt, Nebraska Christian
2. #4 Kayden Stubbs, Maxwell
3. #5 James Hargett, Southern Valley
4. Chase Swartwood, Elm Creek

Contenders:
Corbin Hoit, Red Cloud/Blue Hill
Zyruss Fauss, Ansley Litchfield

220
#4 Baier has had a really solid season and projects as the district champion. #7 Howitt and Kirby could have a really good semifinals match. Hall, Klover, and Moore are probably a coin flip for the final spot.

Update: Klover got over looked in the first projection and has moved into the third spot. Hall and Kirby have split matches so that will be a quarterfinal match to keep an eye on. Wenninghoff and beck shouldn’t be overlooked for the final spot either. Still don’t be surprised if one of those contenders bumps up to 285.

Projection:
1. #4 Trenton Baier, Weeping Water
2. #5 Luke Howitt, Maxwell
3. Braden Klover, Southern
4. Brendan Hall, SEM

Contenders:
Thomas Kirby, Axtell
Lane Wenninghoff, Franklin
Kolby Beck, High Plains Community

285
#2 Cave is the clear favorite at this weight and Christiancy is the frontrunner to meet Cave in the finals. After that this weight is really wide open. Hokpins has a head to head win over Pugh. Pugh has the next best record currently and is the projected in 4th. Maybe some 220 guys bump up who are on the outside looking in to shake this weight up.

Update: We thought maybe there was a chance that Moore would wrestle 220 but he has entered at 285 slides into the third spot which moves Hopkins down to fourth.

Projection:
1. #2 Marcus Cave, Weeping Water
2. Peyton Christiancy, Superior
3. Karter Moore, Ansley Litchfield
4. Evan Hopkins, Southern

Contenders:
Brody Fisher, Red Cloud/Blue Hill
Jason Rumery, Maxwell
Jayseann Pugh, Pleasanton