Bison coach talks about Higgins, host dual invite Friday

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

LEXINGTON, Neb. — All the McCook Bison wrestling victories and best results from last weekend’s John Higgins Invitational.

Coach Nick Umscheid provided these insights about his boys:

“Saturday, we had six wrestlers compete in the varsity tournament at Lexington.

Three of those wrestlers placed in the top six, with one other wrestler coming very close to placing in the top six.

This was by far the toughest the Lexington tournament has been in quite some time.

Many of the brackets could be argued were tougher than what the state tournament brackets will be later in the season.

I was very pleased with the effort and fight our wrestlers showed on Saturday.

It was a meat grinder of a tournament and if you placed in the top six you are a stud.

Sophomore Tristan Campbell was our highest placer, placing fourth at 144 pounds.

Sophomore Gabe Roberts placed sixth at 190 pounds and soph Spencer Steinbeck placed 5th at 285.

Junior Davien Hanson at 215 pounds also came one win away from placing in the top six.

Our guys went through a gauntlet on Saturday and showed lots of improvement which is what you are looking for at this point of the season.

They basically wrestled an entire state tournament bracket in one day which is not an easy task for any wrestler.”

Top five teams of 16: 1. Millard South 184.5, 2. North Platte 151.5, 3. Beatrice 140, 4. Bennington 136.5, 5. Scott City (Kan.) 13.5; 14. McCook 46.

144 pounds: Tristan Campbell (31-5 season record) placed fourth and scored 16 points. He pinned K. Kraus, Holdrege, in :38; won 6-0 over B. Peacher, Bennington; lost 3-1 in OT to D. White, Cozad; pinned B. Oschner, HAST, in 2:39; and lost 8-4 to Peacher.

285: Spencer Steinbeck (19-10) placed fifth and scored 11 points. He pinned B. Hamik, Hastings, in :46; was pinned by K. Linden, York, in :30; lost 4-0 to T. Chappell, Wray (Colo.) and won 6-1 over J. Halverson, North Platte.

190: Gabe Roberts (21-12) placed sixth and scored nine points. He won 4-3 over M. Moravec, Gering; lost 11-1 to B. Janda, Minden; pinned B. Winter, Gothenburg, in 3:25; won 3-0 over B. Ostdiek, Beatrice; was pinned by P. McCartney, Sidney, in 4:45; and lost 7-0 to Z. Lockling, Hastings.

215: Davien Hanson (3-2) scored seven points. He pinned J. Jansen, Bennington, in 3:15; lost 9-3 to T. Smith, Cozad; pinned E. Ayala, Lexington, in 4:09; lost 9-5 to W. Rathjen, North Platte.

120: Tyce Hammerlun (15-15) scored three points. He won 9-1 over A. Kadvavy, York.

The McCook Bison now prepare for their annual Bison Dual Tournament at McCook Community College’s Graff Events Center on Friday.