The Sutton Mustangs wrestling team entered action in the loaded Wood River Invite Friday, Dec. 12, with traditionally rich wrestling teams such as Aquinas Catholic, Amherst, St. Paul and O’Neill, and handled their day well, placing ninth in the field of 17 teams with 83.5 team points and five individual medalists.
Doniphan-Trumbull claimed the team title, outscoring second place St. Paul 201-161.5, while Aquinas Catholic placed third with 157 points.
Junior Connor Hinrichs paced the Mustangs with a third-place finish in the 150-pound weight class, winning three of four matches on the day.
Hinrichs began with a 1:14 pinfall win over Hastings St. Cecilia’s Jonathan Carpenter, before Logan Vandenberg of Aquinas Catholic knocked Hinrichs into the consolation bracket with a 3:13 pinfall loss.
Once in the consolation bracket, however, Hinrichs dominated, pinning Mason Seger of O’Neill in 1:37, and gaining the third-place finish with a 2:22 pinfall win over Mitchell Sheldon of Amherst.
Three varsity wrestlers and a junior varsity grappler for Sutton placed fourth at the end of the day.
On the varsity front, Korey Poppe’s run in the 132-pound class opened with a 2:54 pinfall win over Elijah Moulten of Aquinas Catholic, before Hayden Smith of Doniphan-Trumbull earned a 3:16 tech fall win over Poppe.
A 1:25 pinfall win over Gibbon’s Giovanni Ramirez moved Poppe into the battle for third place, but Kearney Catholic’s Grant Rogers pinned Poppe in 4:22 to place Poppe fourth.
Landon Scheidemann’s day earned him three wins in five matches in the 144-pound weight class.
Scheidemann opened with a pair of pinfall wins, the first over Talen Watson of Amherst, coming in 1:52, and the second, a quick 17-second pin over Sebastian Gomez of O’Neill.
Doniphan-Trumbull’s Owen Sawicki gained a third-round 5:13 pin over Scheidemann with the match tied at seven.
Once in the consolation rounds, Scheidemann bounced back in the semifinals with a 1:19 pinfall win over Atticuas Vance of Grand Island Central Catholic, before Gibbon’s Reuben Reyes gained a 7-0 win over Scheidemann in the third and fourth place match.
Aydin Banta’s day in the 285-pound weight class was much like that of Scheidemann’s day.
Banta earned wins in his first two matches, pinning St. Paul’s Jacob Stroup in 58 seconds, and gained a medical forfeit win over Kyser Tiede of Gothenburg.
Round three gave Doniphan-Trumbull’s Asher McKenna a 4:55 pinfall win over Banta, Banta quickly bounced back to pin St. Paul’s Garrett Gass in just 46 seconds to advance to the consolation finals, where Jaydon Frejo of Ord gained a 9-2 decision over Banta to place the Mustang fourth.
Billy Meyer earned a fourth-place junior varsity finish in the 126-pound class, but fell in all three of his matches for the Mustangs.
Brody Schelkopf and Griffin Bergen both earned a pair of wins, but fell short of medal contention in the meet.
Schelkopf, in the 175-pound class, gained a 2:47 pinfall win over Tavin Morrow of O’Neill and a 12-4 major decision win over Amherst’s Gavin Knajdt.
For Bergen in the 190-pound class, his wins came over Parker Magiera of Ord, winning by tech fall in 1:35, and by way of another tech fall, Bergen defeated Colton Kuszak in 2:14. Unfortunately, Bergen was unable to finish the day and dropped medical forfeit losses to Kyler Boyles of Superior and Kevin Brewer of Ord.
Jose Aranda (120) and Aaron Sanchez (215) both earned one win at Wood River. Aranda pinned O’Neill’s Silas Spicer in 4:20, while Sanchez pinned Superior’s David Hodges in 2:49.
Falling short of wins for Sutton were Lane Shore (126) and Brayden Griess (190).
TEAM SCORES- Doniphan-Trumbull 201, St. Paul 161.5, Aquinas Catholic 157, Amherst 137, Kearney Catholic 120.5, Gothenburg 115, Gibbon 108.5, O’Neill 95, Sutton 83.5, Ord 63, Superior 59.5, Wood River 42.5, Shelton 36, Kenesaw 30.5, Grand Island Central Catholic 25, Hastings St. Cecilia 20.5, Hershey 13.
