Broncos earn runner-up finish at South Loup Invite
CALLAWAY - The Mullen wrestling team finished second with 111 points at the South Loup Invite on Jan. 22 behind five different medalists and one first-place finisher. Plainview who scored 183.5 points won the meet.
“We were very happy with the high level of competition at the South Loup tournament,” Mullen Coach Russ Monette said. “Our guys certainly grew and improved this weekend and we found some areas that we need to work on. A second-place finish at a tournament of this caliber is great, but we are not content; we must work harder.”
Finishing in first for Mullen was Spencer DeNaeyer at 152 pounds. He received a buy in the first round of the tournament and then pinned Colby Streit of South Loup in the semifinal in 0:33.
He followed that up with a pin of Gaven Nutter of North Platte St. Patricks in 0:59 and then ended the day by pinning Devon Tunender of Plainview in 2:57.
Eli Paxton at 113 pounds and Chase Gracey at 126 pounds were second, Sean Simonson was third at 160 pounds, and Isaac Welch was third at 285 pounds.
Right behind the Broncos in third with105 points was Ansley-Litchfield.
According to Spartans Coach Mitchell Sloggett, this was one of the best meets they have had all year. He believes the work the team is putting in on the mat during practice is starting to show.
“South Loup was one of the hardest class D meets of the year,” Sloggett said. “My wrestlers wrestled the best they have all year. We are starting to peak at the right time. Practice last week was the best week of practice we have had all year so I am not surprised how well we did overall. We didn’t have Cooper Slingsby in the line up due to a cut above his eye that took place in practice on Thursday. (He will be back this week). Cooper has been a valuable wrestler all year and if he was there it is likely that we would have finished second behind Plainview.”
Both Colin Arehart at 160 pounds and Kolby Larson at 195 pounds finished in first place.
Collin Arehart’s first match against Layton Linder of Broken Bow JV resulted in an 11-3 major decision. From there he defeated Sean Simonson of Mullen 8-4 to reach the finals where he defeated a one-loss Will Gunning due to an injury 3:05 into the match.
Larson improved to 35-1 on the year, by defeating his teammate Kaden Stunkel in the first round by pin in 0:40.
In the semifinals and finals, it was a battle of one-loss wrestlers. Larson was victorious in both matches, defeating Gavin White of Sutherland 9-4 in the semifinal and Gunner Reimers of Palmer 2-1 in the final.
Other medalists for
A-L, were Hunter Arehart who finished second in a tough 170-pound weight class, Gavin Barela who was third at 220 pounds, and Owen Hartman who was fourth at 106 pounds.
Despite only having four wrestlers competing at the meet, Sandhills-Thedford ended up with two first-place finishes. They were Reece Zutavern at 182 pounds and Brayton Branic at 285 pounds.
Zutavern breezed through the quarterfinals pinning Jonathan Rubalcaba of Palmer in 0:36.
He found his toughest match of the tournament in the quarterfinals against Lucas Hammer of Plainview. Despite a good effort from Hammer, Zutavern found a way to get the points he needed as he earned a 6-2 decision.
In the championship, he won by a major decision over Justin Scholl of North Platte St. Patricks and improved his record to 25-0 on the season.
In the first four rounds at 285 pounds, Branic won by pin over Brodi Moss of Wilcox-Hildreth, Carsen Reiners of Hi-Line, Jacob Stromberg of Palmer, and Brendon Hall of S-E-M. In his last match, he won a 9-3 decision over Welch of Mullen.
The Knights had one other placer in the tournament. That was Reed McFadden at 195 pounds, who despite losing two matches completed very hard in arguably the toughest weight at the meet.
Nolan Osmond led Twin Loup at the tournament with a second-place finish at 106 pounds. He defeated Isaac Shaner of Brady with a pin in 1:41 and then won a 6-0 decision over Kaden Thompson of Hershey who came into the match with a record of 27-4.
In the championship, Osborn was overpowered by 28-0 Eli Lanham of Plainview. He ended up losing the match by a major decision 12-1.
Shawn Quandt at 145 pounds and Slate Micheel at 170 pounds both finished third, while Hector Estrada at 113 pounds and Garrett Keith at 126 pounds were both fourth.
South Loup and S-E-M had a combined three medalist on the day.
Leading the Bobcats was their lone state qualifier from a season ago in Logan Peterson. He finished third at 120 pounds
and knocked off Ethan Kipp of Twin Loup with a 5-4 decision and Cauy Morgan of Sutherland 2-1 to get a sport on the podium.
Witthuhn went 2-2 on the day and finished fourth at 220 pounds. His biggest win came against Kvanvig of Mullen who he pinned in a 1:35.
“We wrestled very well at a very tough tournament,” South Loup Coach Todd Phelps said. “Logan Peterson beat two of the top kids in the state. Clay Witthuhn lost two very close matches to good kids, he also beat a couple of good kids. All of my wrestlers went out and wrestled very well, they continue to get better every time they step on the mat.”
Brendon Hall was the lone medalist for the S-E-M Mustangs at 285 pounds. He earned second place by starting the tournament with pins over Welch of Mullen in 5:16, Moss of Wilcox-Hildreth in 0:16, and Reiners of HiLine in 3:00.
In round four he suffered a loss to Branic of Sandhills-Thedford and was pinned in 0:52.
He rebounded from that loss against Jacob Stromberg of Palmer in his final match. He was able to pin him in 1:41.
The area teams will be spread out this week with Mullen, South Loup, and S-E-M wrestling at the Central Valley Invite, while S-T and A-L will be at the Ord Invite on Jan. 29. Twin Loup will travel to the Ainsworth Dual Meet on the same day.
For complete results from this meet and all the area wrestling meets, check out the sports tab at custercountychief.com.