State wrestlers discover their first foes

Southwest’s Logan Kircher (above right) is one of the Gazette-area district champions entering Class D state competition at Omaha on Thursday.

R.B. Headley/McCook Gazette

OMAHA, Neb. — Pairings have been set for all 32 Gazette-area state wrestling qualifiers representing nine high schools this weekend.

Competition begins at 9:30 a.m. with Class A and D first-round matches followed immediately by quarterfinals.

Southwest’s five qualifiers lead the Class D area with Hitchcock County sending four to those HCI Health Center arena mats.

They’ll be some great tests like freshman heavyweight Levi Kerner of Arapahoe facing 55-3 Marcus Cave from Weeping Water.

McCook’s area-best eight state qualifiers hit the mats for Class B competiton at 4 p.m. Quarterfinals follow Thursday night.

The Bison take on four wrestlers in their eight matches who own 41 wins over more.

Class C brings seven area qualifiers.

Wrestling continues through Friday night’s all-class semifinals, medal rounds on Saturday morning and then the championship finals starting at 2 p.m.

Class B McCook

106 pounds — Julian Stiver (17-13) vs. Caden Svoboda, Aurora (41-3)

126 — Talyn Campbell (29-17) vs. Bryce Brown, Hastings (22-2)

138 — Tate Felber (16-12) vs. Miguel Roman, Schuyler (13-3)

170 — Kody Hahn (17-20) vs. Zachary Serna, Norris (29-11)

182 — Alec Langan (34-4) vs. Dakota Adams, Beatrice (9-24)

195 — Jared Cole (19-16) vs. Grady Greis, Northwest (44-1)

220 — Colin Giron (16-7) vs. Cooper Kiser, Northwest (45-6)

285 — Hunter Cunningham (30-16) vs. Jack Sutton, Wahoo (42-0)

Class C

Cambridge

126 — John tenBensel (24-8) vs. Ethan Zilgers, Milford (29-9)

182 — Drew Sprinkle (34-10) vs. Eric Hoesing, Hartington Cedar Catholic (29-9)

Chase County

170 — Trevor Peterson (41-4) vs. Dustin Stone, Sutton (41-4)

195 — Evan Fisher (42-6) vs. Tucker Alexander, Twin River (35-18)

Southern Valley

106 — Chet Fisher (28-17) vs. Konner Schluckebier, Milford (44-0)

145 — Shawn Anderson (32-13) vs. Max Hohn, Bishop Neumann (48-5)

182 — James Hargett (27-11) vs. Luke Fairbanks, Bishop Neumann (17-1)

Class D

Southwest

126 — Garrett Latimer (32-9) vs. Cal Janke, Fremont Bergan (41-10)

138 — Brett Tryon (30-13) vs. Tryon Calleroz, Arcadia-Loup City (33-13)

145 — Kaden Guerrero (30-4) vs. Prestin Vondra, Elkhorn Valley (36-5)

285 — Logan Kircher (27-9) vs. Kyle Pickhinke, Howells-Dodge (26-19)

285 — Bryson Shoemaker (20-16) vs. Kein Martin, Overton (35-4)

Arapahoe

106 — Tristan White (33-10) vs. Dalton Hansen, Harvard (26-9)

138 — John Lee (28-17) vs. Jade Lovitt, Mullen (32-2)

285 — Levi Kerner (39-11) vs. Marcus Cave, Weeping Water (53-3)

Hitchcock County

126 — Joel Priest (31-8) vs. Cole Reedy, Tri County (24-16)

132 — Seth Hare (30-13) vs. Clay Church, High Plains Community (38-14)

220 — Remington Hodges (32-12) vs. Blaine Minnick, Red Cloud/Blue Hill (21-11)

285 — Gage Petersen (14-14) vs. Eli Simonsen, Fremont Bergan (31-14)

Dundy County-

Stratton

120 — Brendan Warman (41-5) vs. Adam Miller, Elkhorn Valley (35-8)

220 — Delton Haines (26-13) vs. Jacob Taubenehim, Amherst (30-18)

Medicine Valley

138 — Jaden Henderson (31-14) vs. Art Escalante, Winside (35-8)

170 — Dylan Davis-Mack (27-9) vs. Tyson McCurdy, Alma (45-6)

195 — Austin Wolfe (31-6) vs. Drew Bogard, Amherst (34-8)

Watch for results throughout the tourney.