McCook Bison wrestlers place 7th at Cozad meet

112-pounder

Nate Morgan

places first

COZAD -- The McCook High School wrestling team placed seventh out of 14 teams at the Cozad Invitational Saturday and sophomore Nate Morgan won the title in the 112-pound weight class.

"The Bison wrestling team competed very well considering we only put eight wrestlers out on the mat for the varsity portion of the tournament," said McCook wrestling coach Nick Umscheid. "We are still trying to get wrestlers healthy and down to their competition weight for the season. However the wrestlers who did perform did very well on the day.

"Out of eight wrestlers, five of them were able to place in the top six of the tournament. For some of these young men it was the first time any of them experienced true varsity competition in wrestling. I was very pleased with the aggressiveness put forth by each of our wrestlers and their willingness to keep competing despite the score of the match.

"It's that type of mentality that we need to have to be able to compete with some of the top teams in the state. We want teams to know that when they step onto the mat with a McCook wrestler their in for a six minute battle.

"Individually the best performance of the day would have to be a tie between Hank Lichtenwaldt at 171 pounds and Nate Morgan at 112 pounds. Both of these wrestlers put together excellent performances. Nate was able to avenge a loss from last years district tournament against a returning state medalist from Alliance.

"Nate left no doubt who the better wrestler was on Saturday as he went out on the mat and performed magnificently. He controlled every part of the match and frustrated his opponent the entire time.

"It was good for Nate to get that win and to win is weight class on the day. This gives him the confidence that he needs going into the rest of the season. He now knows that he can compete in the 112 pounds. weight class and he is ready to start his quest to Omaha once again in February.

"The other top performance of the day came from Hank Lichtenwaldt at 171 pounds. This was really Hank's first varsity competition and he came out blazing. He destroyed his first two opponents with a non-stop in-your-face approach. It didn't matter if it was the first minute of the match or the last minute Hank was going just as hard working for more points.

"Hank's strength is his conditioning. There is no one in our wrestling room who works harder than Hank. He used that conditioning to his advantage on Saturday by mentally breaking down his opponents into exhaustion. He knows that by the third period his opponent is going to be tired and that is when Hank gets that taste of blood in his mouth and goes for the kill. You could see it on Saturday that his opponents were ready to throw in the towel.

"He came up a fraction of a second short of being the champion on Saturday in what was arguably the match of the championship finals. He gave up a reversal right as the time ran out and that was really disappointing. But he is the type of wrestler who doesn't make excuses and will learn from this experience and make sure that next time it does not happen again.

"Other top finishers on the day were Jesus Gauna at 103 pounds. Jesus is only a freshman and is a little undersized for his weight class but that doesn't bother him one bit. I am sure that if I told him to go out on the mat and wrestle a heavyweight wrestler he wouldn't hesitate. That's just the fighter mentality that he has and he isn't going to back down to anyone.

"He ended up finishing fourth in the tournament and picked up some key team points along the way. He knows that there are going to be some wrestlers this year that are maybe bigger and stronger but he is going to go out on the mat and give 100 percent each match. If he can keep that attitude, good things are going to be coming his way this year.

"Another great performance on the day came from sophomore Drew Peterson at 130 pounds. Drew placed third on the day losing only to the top ranked wrestler in class C at his weight. I really like the attitude and physicallness that Drew wrestles with out on the mat. He is a very intense and in your face type of wrestler.

"He definitely gave the top wrestler from Hastings St. Cecelia his toughest match of the day. Drew is still young and needs to work on some things from a technique stand point but when it comes down to toughness and winning attitudes he is right there with everyone else at his weight. As the season goes on I see Drew improving greatly and by the time districts roll around he is going to be dangerous to stop.

The final placer for the McCook wrestling team on Saturday came at 160 pounds. Jeff Phelps bumped up a weight class to help fill an open spot on the varsity team. This was also Jeff's first varsity experience and he competed with everything he had while coming home with a sixth-place finish.

"He ran into some real buzzsaws during the day. He wrestled in the semifinals the top rated wrestler in his weight class and also had some other tough competition throughout the day. Through all of that he was still able to place and help the team out on the day. It shows his willingness to help out the team and his teammates by sacrificing himself by going up a weight class. Once he returns back to his normal weight class I am sure he will bring the same great winning attitude and hopefully place at some other meets along the way.

"The other wrestlers who did not place gave good efforts but made perhaps a mistake or two that cost them in their matches. They need to learn from those mistakes as well do the wrestlers who placed for our team. We were definitely not perfect on the day but for the first tournament of the year I was pleased where we were at.

"We need to get back to the wrestling room and have another excellent week of practice in order to meet our goals next week at the Holdrege Invite."

The McCook JV wrestling team also competed on Saturday and gained some valuable experience, said Umscheid.

"For many of these wrestlers it was there first time wrestling in high school competition or even perhaps their first time wrestling at all," Umscheid said. "I was very pleased with the results from Saturday. Each one of these young men put forth the effort and attitude that we were looking for on Saturday. They will learn from their mistakes and continue to improve as the season goes along.

"Many of these wrestlers are freshmen and sophomores and in a year or two they are going to help our team at the varsity level. If they keep a positive attitude and learn from their mistakes, each one of them will continue to improve and start to see their hand raised more often at the end of the match."

Cozad Invitational Results

Team Finish: 7th out of 14 teams

with 83 points

Individual Results

103 Jesus Gauna 1-2 4th place

112 Nate Morgan 3-0 1st place

130 Drew Peterson 3-1 3rd place

135 Rusty Sullivent 1-2

140 Keldon Osterman 0-2

152 Danten Downing 1-2

160 Jeff Phelps 1-3 6th place

171 Hank Lichtenwaldt 2-1 2nd place

JV Results for Cozad

Wrestling Invite

Individual Results

Kyle Groshong 4-1 3rd

Jake Fahrenbruch 2-1 2nd

Skyler Kalinski 3-0 1st

Austin Swartz 0-2

Luke Mabile 1-2

Ridge Abott 1-2

John Scott 0-2

Devin Jacob 2-1 2nd

Deon Allen 3-1 3rd

Keagan Haarberg 1-2

Tony Brown 0-2

Derek Chancellor 1-2 4th

Shane Buck 1-1 3rd