Falcon wrestlers take third in 19-team Franklin meet

FRANKLIN, Neb. — Hitchcock County’s wrestlers piled up 151 points for third among 19 teams at Saturday’s Franklin Invitational.

The Falcons trailed only champ Thayer Central with 218.5 and Class A Kearney Gold’s 180.

North Platte St. Patrick’s (118) and Hastings JV (101) completed the top five.

Senior Keegan Shuler’s 195-pound title topped the Hitchcock efforts.

Shuler (14-1 record) took down two 22-match winners in Thayer Central’s Cole Vorderstrasse (2:27 pin) and an 11-2 final over Alma’s Jeremy Fox (22-3 record).

The Eight-Man all-state linebacker delivered two earlier pins for 29 total points.

Heavyweight Taylor Hubl reached 20 wins (20-8) as he took second at Franklin with two pins.

Ben Melton (22-3) of North Platte St. Pat’s stopped Hubl in the finals.

Senior Kolyn Gaston claimed second among 182-pounders while raising his record to 21-3.

Gaston crushed 15-5 semifinal foe Rhett McFadden from Sandhills-Thedford, 11-0, before falling to Central’s Cameron Shulte during that title match.

Senior Tanner O’Brien also claimed second at 160. He conquered two foes who owned 30 combined wins.

O’Brien went three periods against 29-1 Taaron Lavicky of Axtell but lost a 10-3 decision.

Freshman Karson Shuler was a fifth Falcon finalist at 145 and tallied 20 points thanks to three consecutive pins. He conquered Class A Kearney Blue’s Trey Goodenow in 3:09.

His lone loss was to tough 13-2 Jarret Mader of Ellis, Kan.

Blake Devitt (16-11 at 120) and Tanner McClain (14-7) both scored more than 10 points en route to sixth places.

Devitt beat RPAC rival Tucker Brandyberry of Alma (13-9) with a 15-6 major decision.

McCLains cored a 2:10 pin of Kearney Gold’s Brody Rouse, who had won 10 of 14 matches this season. More results can be seen on trackwrestling.com.