Bison eight qualify for state wrestling

McCook's Tate Felber flexes as part of his state-qualifying celebration at the B-4 district wrestling meet in Ogallala on Saturday. Bison teammate Alec Langan (right, near sign with '3) clearly enjoys this moment as he also qualified by winning his 182-pound championship. The Class B state meet starts on Thursday at Omaha where eight Bison will compete. More details throughout the week.

R.B. Headley/McCook Gazette

OGALLALA, Neb. — District wrestling champion Alec Langan and seven McCook teammates will compete at Class B state after delivering a complete reversal of last year's "heartbreaker round" in B-4 tournament action today.

McCook went 7-1 during the crucial qualifying round where several fell one win short of state in 2018.

Freshman Julian Stiver started the fun with a 16-14 OT victory at 106 pounds, and dramatic victories would take most of any potential Bison heartbreaker.

Sophomore Talyn Campbell (126) erased a late 6-2 deficit to win. Senior Kody Hahn held on for a 2-1 thriller at 170 pounds while seniors Jared Cole (195), Colin Giron (220) and Hunter Cunningham (285) all dominated their state-qualifying matches.

Tate Felber (138) also advances to state and finished strong with a consolation finals overtime win. He'll join Giron and champion Langan as the highest seeded among McCook's eight qualifiers.

Langan (34-4) didn't need much drama, winning the 182-pound district championship match 6-0 over 32-4 Clark Reisen from Chadron.

Only Bison senior Carson Richards (17-8 at 120) barely missed what would have been the second state tournament of his wrestling career. A disputed late call erased Richards' late 5-4 lead and lost an overtime heartbreaker, 7-5, to Sidney's Jacob Peckham (30-13).

McCook's eight state qualifiers will have photos and more details about themselves in Monday's McCook Gazette.

As a team, McCook scored 125 points to finish fourth among 12 B-4 district schools.

Lexington (144) outscored Sidney (139.5) and Cozad (131) for the team title.