Medicine Valley nips Cambridge for RPAC mat crown

Steve Kodad/McCook Daily Gazette Adam Simpson (top) of Hitchcock County/Wauneta-Palisade works hard as he tries to roll Catlin Rice of Cambridge in the 215-pound championship match at the RPAC meet at Southwest High School Jan. 22. Simpson won the RPAC title when he pinned Rice in the second period. [Click to enlarge]

BARTLEY -- The Medicine Valley High school wrestlers thought they had finished second in the 2010 Republican Plains Activities Conference wrestling meet.

The standings had the Raiders trailing Cambridge by two points for the team championship at the conclusion of the Friday, Jan. 22 competition at the Southwest High School gym in Bartley. But when the announcer read off the final team points and Cambridge was announced as the runner-up, Medicine Valley was surprised but happy to learn that the Raiders had won the title.

Meet officials made an error in calculating the team points, and after the corrections were made, Medicine Valley won a close race with the Trojans for first place. Medicine Valley scored 173 points, with Cambridge second with 170. The Loomis/Bertrand coop squad finished third with 151 points, just ahead of Southwest with 145.

Steve Kodad/McCook Daily Gazette Cody Vandergrift (right) of Cambridge controls Southwest's Dylan Helberg in the 171-pound championship match at the RPAC meet. Vandergrift won a 6-3 decision. [Click to enlarge]

"I honestly didn't know the results at all, I was getting a kid an ice bag," Medicine Valley head coach Barry Mraz said after Friday's meet. "Coach Painter from Cambridge came and talked to me and told me first. That was real nice of him.

"Southwest ran a nice tournament. I was worried that they were going to win the whole thing, they're a tough team. Cambridge is tough and deep. I'm just surprised as all heck that we even pulled it out. I was thinking we were fighting to hold on to second and maybe even got third.

"I don't want them to re-figure (the team standings)."

Steve Kodad/McCook Daily Gazette Dexter Becker (top) of Southern Valley looks to his coaches for advice as he controls the arm of Justin Romeo of Medicine Valley in the 189-pound RPAC title match. Romeo pinned Becker in the third period. [Click to enlarge]

Each weight class was contested in a round-robin format. The classes with seven or more wrestlers competed in a pool format followed by finals determined by pool results. The classes with six or fewer contestants were wrestled in a round-robin format.

Raiders have four champs

Medicine Valley had four individual champions, including Josh Leas (130), Hunter Timmons (125) Nick Romeo (145) and Justin Romeo (189). Cambridge had two individual champions in Carson Farr (125) and Cody Vandergrift (171).

Cambridge head coach Les Painter said Farr avenged earlier-season losses to Tell Deitrich of Medicine Valley and Toby Thompson of Loomis/Bertrand to win his conference meet title.

Coach Painter said the Trojans missed Anthony Rodriguez at 130 pounds, who is sidelined with a shoulder injury.

"He would have been the top seed at RPAC, that's a big loss for us," Painter said. "But he should be back at districts, so hopefully that will help our team a lot, too."

Painter was pleased with his team's effort.

"We did a great job as a team, I'm proud of my boys," he said.

Southwest claimed gold medals by Heath Teel (112), Tanner Teel (119) and Sam Osterman (152). Arapahoe finished sixth in the team standings. The Warriors claimed one gold medal, with Wyatt Kipp winning the 103-pound title. Kipp won a 4-2 decision over Molly Glur of Southern Valley to win the title.

Hitchcock County/Wauneta Palisade's coop team finished seventh and had one individual champion, Adam Simpson at 215 pounds. Dundy County-Stratton was eighth in the team standings. The Tigers had one champion, Paul Downey at 140.

Third RPAC title

Coach Mraz said his team won their third RPAC wrestling title. He expects more tough battles with Cambridge and Southwest down the road this season.

"We're really excited about that (third conference title)," Mraz said. "It was one of our goals this year as a team, it was great to see our boys battle through and get that. It was nip-and-tuck and it's going to be nip-and-tuck come districts, with almost the same teams (at the RPAC), and add in (North Platte) St. Pat's and Mullen and Maxwell. It's going to be that mental toughness aspect that's going to make the difference."

Medicine Valley, Cambridge, Dundy County-Stratton, and Southwest will be among the field at the Southwest Invitational at Bartley Feb. 6.