Bison matmen face tough test at Kansas meet

Steve Kodad/McCook Daily Gazette McCook's Rusty Sullivant (left) and Rory Little of North Platte go toe-to-toe, so to speak, in their 135-pound match at North Platte earlier this month. Sullivant defeated Little 4-0. Sullivant and his Bison teammates will be in action Saturday at the Decatur Community Invitational at Oberlin,Kan.

It's a good bet that sometime early Saturday morning, McCook wrestling history will be made in Oberlin, Kan.

Bison senior Nate Morgan is unbeaten so far this season and a favorite to win the 119-pound state championship at the Class B state meet in Omaha next month. Barring a shocking upset Saturday, Morgan will record the 100th win of his McCook wrestling career in first-round action at the Decatur Community Invitational.

Morgan and his Bison teammates will compete with eight other teams at the Oberlin, Kan. tournament. Opening matches at the Decatur Community High School gym are set to begin Saturday at 10 a.m.

Morgan is a two-time state meet medalist. He finished second at 103 pounds as a sophomore, and third at 112 last year. He enters Saturday's action with 99 career match wins.

"That's a pretty big milestone -- I think there's been four guys in McCook history that have gotten 100 career wins, and he'll be the fifth," said McCook head coach Nick Umscheid. "That's a pretty big achievement."

Stuart Frazier, a four-time state meet medalist who completed his Bison career in 2003, holds the all-time McCook career record with 149 wins.

Tough competition

Coach Umscheid expects a tough tournament field Saturday. Perennial Nebraska Class A power Kearney will enter the Oberlin meet, joining the Bison as the only Cornhusker State teams at the meet. Wray, Colo., is also expected to enter along with several strong Kansas squads.

"Kearney has to be the top team," Umscheid said. "Oakley (Kansas), we saw them last week (at Norton, Kan.), they're got a pretty solid team. Smith Center has a pretty solid team, Goodland always brings a great team. Even though there's only nine teams, the competition's still going to be pretty tough."

Umscheid feels like his team can finish among the top four teams Saturday.

"I think that if we can finish in the top half we've done our job," he said. "I don't know if we have quite the depth that it takes (for first). Some of these teams, they have some pretty good depth. We saw two of them last week (at Norton) with Oakley and Smith Center. We only had eight guys out on the mat. This week we're hoping to have all 10 guys that we normally put out there.

"Two of the guys that weren't out there last week (Skylar Kalinski and Rusty Sullivant), they score quite a few team points for us, and we weren't that far behind Smith Center and Oakley. If we can sneak up and knock those two teams down, it could be just as good, maybe a top three day. Or maybe Goodland isn't as strong as they have been in the past and maybe we can get the runner-up spot, you just never know."

Kalinski and Sullivant missed the meet at Norton last Saturday due to illness and injury. Umscheid expects both to be ready to go at Oberlin.

The McCook coach said Morgan, Kalinski, Sullivant and Jesus Gauna -- all four are state meet veterans -- are McCook's front runners in the lineup.

"They have proven to be our most consistent wrestlers this year," Umscheid said. "All 10 guys that we're going to put out there, they've proven throughout the year that they've got a chance of placing in the top four in this meet."

Bison lineup

Here is McCook's lineup for Saturday's Oberlin Invite:

103 pounds -- Clayton Korus;

112 -- Jesus Gauna;

119 -- Nate Morgan;

125 -- Jake Fahrenbruch;

130 -- Kyle Groshong;

135 -- Rusty Sullivant;

140 -- Keldon Osterman;

145 -- Skylar Kalinski;

160 -- Jeff Phelps;

285 -- Ross Stewart.

The Bison will be open at 152 pounds, 171, 189 and 215.

Pin to win

Umscheid said one key for the Bison's final team standing Saturday is to pick up as many bonus points as possible throughout the day.

"With us only having 10 guys, we can't have any of our guys slip," he said. "We usually need to pick up as many pins as we can along the way. Those extra bonus points really add up at the end of the day. We really stress that a lot in the practice room and on the day of competition -- if you can get the pin, get it. Get the win first, but if the pin's there definitely, go after it."

Umscheid can fill two more weights, but he hesitates to send those inexperienced Bison matmen against veteran wrestlers in tournament competition. Instead, he opts to have his younger wrestlers gain experience this season in junior varsity competition.