McCook Bison grapplers 4th at Scottsbluff Invitational

Sam Frazier

claims title

at 215 pounds

SCOTTSBLUFF -- The McCook Bison varsity wrestling team competed Saturday in the Scottsbluff Wrestling invitational and came away with a fourth-place finish overall as a team.

This was the best finish in any tournament for us so far this year.

There were 13 schools represented from three different states in Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado.

"To finish in the top four of a tournament of this size and competition let's us know that we are improving overall as a team," said McCook wrestling coach Nick Umscheid. "We took 10 wrestlers and came away with five placers with three of those in the top two. It was good to see the progress of the team and to know that we continue to improve every week.

"What really put us over the hump this week was the success of our wrestlers in the middle weights. This is an area of our team that has been struggling so far this year and those guys really picked up the slack on Saturday. For us to continue to place in the top five the rest of the year we are going to need that same energy and results that we saw from them on Saturday.

"Individually our guys put on an excellent performance. At 103 pounds, Nate Morgan had two very difficult matches on the day. His first opponent was from Alliance and was a returning state qualifier from the year before. Nate went out on the mat and put together a good solid match winning 9-4 in convincing fashion.

"I was pleased with how he wrestled. Nate hadn't been feeling 100 percent throughout the week but he managed to suck it up and focus on the task at hand. In the finals he faced another returning state qualifier from Sidney. Both of these wrestlers went back and forth attacking and countering each others moves. It just so happened that Nate came out on the wrong side of the score this time around.

"This match could have gone either way and Nate will have a couple more opportunities to avenge this loss later in the year. I know that this loss will motivate Nate to work harder and he will be ready next time he steps out on the mat with him.

"Another placer on the day for the Bison wrestling team came from Andy Smith at 140 pounds, This was Andy's first ever placing in the top four of a varsity competition. He had a tough day competing in five matches overall but he kept fighting and clawing his way to the medal stand.

"This was a good confidence booster for Andy. He had been struggling at the varsity level and hopefully this win will show him what the coaching staff has seen in him all along. We have known that Andy posseses the capabilities and tools necessary to place at these tournaments, he was just missing that confidence in himself. This is just the first of many medals that Andy will be bringing home from tournaments.

"Another first time placer for the Bison was Deon Allen at 160 pounds, Deon's story is much like Andy's in that he has always possessed the talent and skills to place in many of these tournaments but he had just been lacking the confidence in himself. Deon is only a sophomore like Andy and competes in a weight class that consists mainly of juniors and seniors.

"It can be difficult at times matching up strength-wise with other wrestlers that are one or two years older than you are, but Deon is an exceptional athlete who is very quick on his feet and is always on the attack. He has a fireman's carry takedown that has been very successful for him and he has scored a lot of points with it. When he can get that move early in a match it puts him in the driver's seat the rest of the match and usually he comes away with the victory.

"The lone champion on the day for the Bison came from Sam Frazier competing at 215 pounds. This was Sam's second tournament title of the year and he cruised his way to the top of the medal stand with three convincing pins over his opponents. Sam looked very solid out on the mat controlling the pace of the matches and staying on the attack for the whole six minutes.

"Sam has gotten to the point where most of his opponents are just trying not to get pinned. In most of his matches the opponent isn't trying to win the match so much as he is just trying to stay off his back. Sam is very good at controlling his opponents and what I like to see is that he constantly works for the pin.

"He could very easily just score some points and coast to a victory, but he keeps the pressure on his opponents and picks up much needed bonus points for the team. He needs to keep this going the rest of the season and hopefully we will see him again on the medal stand at the state tournament in February.

"The final placer for the wrestling team on Saturday came from Matt Bair at heavyweight. It was good to see Matt bounce back with a good performance on Saturday earning a second place finish for himself. He struggled a bit on Thursday night losing two close matches but didn't let that affect him going into Saturday.

"The key to Matt's success comes from whether he gets the first takedown or not. If he is able to score the first takedown that puts the pressure on his opponent to score and lets Matt control the match. On Saturday he looked pretty good on his feet for most of his matches. In the finals he wrestled a returning state placer from Valentine that was very quick and strong on his feet.

"Matt struggled against his opponents attacking style. You don't normally see wrestlers at Matt's weight able to move like this opponent did. Matt wasn't able to come away with a victory in the finals, but he learned a few things about his opponent that he will take with him and be better prepared the next time they face each other at Districts later in the year.

"Overall the team put on a very good showing considering we were a little short handed with only ten wrestlers and some of our regular varsity wrestlers healing up. It was good to see some of the younger wrestlers and guys in the middle weights start to come along. We know that the success of our team will rely on how well these guys can continue to improve from week to week.

"I feel that we are pretty solid in the lower and upper weights. If we are to continue placing in the top five of these tournaments we are at we need the same type of performance that we saw on Saturday. Next week we travel to Oberlin for another grueling tournament. Hopefully we will be back at full strength and put on another great performance."

Scottsbluff Invite results:

Team finish-4th out of 13 teams

Individual results

103 Nate Morgan 1-1 2nd place

119 Rusty Sullivent 1-2

140 Andy Smith 3-2 4th place

145 Danten Downing 0-2

152 Justin Gessleman 2-2

160 Deon Allen 2-2 4th place

171 Kendell Foster 1-2

189 Hank Lichtenwaldt 2-2

215 Sam Frazier 3-0 1st place

Hwt. Matt Bair 2-1 2nd place