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McCook Bison wrestlers capture Gothenburg crown
GOTHENBURG -- The McCook High School wrestling team brought home the team title from Friday night's Gothenburg dual tournament.
"It was a very intense evening with many close duals all throughout the night," said McCook wrestling coach Nick Umscheid. "Dual tournaments are very exciting to watch because you constantly have somebody from your team out on the mat competing. It's also exciting because you are competing not only individually but also as a team and the tension seems to rise at these events.
"To come away from this tournament with first place is a great accomplishment for our team. We have come a long way in one year. Last year we came away from this tournament with only one dual victory against Gothenburg. This year we brought home the championship and that is credited to the wrestlers' hard work throughout the season.
"It was also great to see the team rebound after Tuesday night's dual with Hastings. We were disappointed with our team's performance and knew that we were capable of better things. We had two good days of practice and the wrestlers worked really hard at fixing their mistakes and it paid off. It has been some time since we have brought home a team title and we couldn't be happier.
"This team only has one senior and many underclassmen filling spots on the varsity line up. Everybody had to do their part on Friday night and pull together to win this title. You could see the team feed off each others victories and they didn't want to let their teammates down."
Umscheid said two of the more exciting duals were against North Platte St. Pats and Ainsworth. Both teams are ranked in the top 10 in their classe.
"We knew we had to wrestle our best in every match," Umscheid said. "I was very pleased with how our guys went out their focused and hungry for a victory. Ainsworth had been undefeated in duals this year up to this point and they have some very solid wrestlers in their lineup.
"The match that got things rolling for us was when Eric Chalupa came from behind in the last few seconds and threw his opponent to his back and picked up the victory. The team went crazy and it really fired up our team from that point on. Eric in the last week has been great for our team in showing the other wrestlers that as long as you keep fighting anything can happen.
"He has had a couple of wins against very good competitors lately where the win came down to who wants it more and he has been victorious in those matches. Those are the matches that you remember years later. Our upper classmen really stepped up Friday night and took care of business out on the mat."
Ahren Hays came away with four wins, Sam Frazier went undefeated, Matt Bair (who was feeling a little under the weather) also picked up three much needed wins for the Bison.
"Matt really impressed me Friday with gutting it out for the team and not only competing but picking up three wins," Umscheid said. "He is a total team player. He could have easily sat out but he knew the team needed him out there and he came through."
Sophomores Chris Schleeman and Eric Chalupa aso came away on the night with undefeated records. Umscheid said Tyler Brown may be the most underrated wrestler on the Bison team.
"He is surrounded by great competitors on our lineup and it has really improved his technique and toughness all around," Umscheid said. "He goes out on the mat every match and gives it his all for the full six minutes. He probably doesn't get as much credit as he should because much of the attention goes to the guys around him. But he really came through for us on Friday night and picked up four wins. All around I am very pleased with how the team performed."
Umscheid said the first-place finish will be displayed in the new wrestling building.
"It will be there to show the wrestlers what they accomplished and what can happen when they all compete together and work hard for the same goal. The team is now 6-2 in duals with two of those wins coming against top ten competition.
"We don't have much time to savor our accomplishment because this week the competition gets even tougher with six more duals. On Thursday night the team will travel to Imperial with a dual with Chase County. This could be a very close dual with both teams matching up very nicely on paper."
McCook host its own dual tournament in McCook with North Platte, Grand Island Northwest, Scottsbluff, Alliance and Wray, Colo., competing.
"We need to have another solid week of practice and hopefully carry this momentum we have throughout this next week," Umscheid said. "We have proven to ourselve that anything is possible when we all come together and compete as a team.
"It's going to need to be a total team effort once again if we plan to do well but I know that the wrestlers are up for the challenge."
Results of Gothenburg
Dual Tournament
Team Finish: 1st place
Dual Results
McCook 46 Holdrege 34
McCook 43 North Platte St.Pats 34
McCook 37 Gothenburg 26
McCook 28 Broken Bow 39
McCook 40 Ainsworth 28
McCook Individual Results
103 Nate Morgan 4-1 1st place
112 Austin Edwards 1-4
125 Alex Smith 2-3
130 Andy Smith 1-4
135 Ahren Hays 4-1 2nd place
145 Nick Kenny 0-5
152 Deon Allen 2-3
160 Eric Chalupa 5-0 1st place
171 Chris Schleeman 5-0 1st place
189 Sam Frazier 5-0 1st place
215 Tyler Brown 4-1 2nd place
Hwt. Matt Bair 3-2 3rd place