Kansas squad claims Southwest mat title

Steve Kodad/McCook Daily Gazette Heath Teel (top) of Southwest cranks on the legs of Jesse Hays of Southern Valley in the 112-pound championship matct at the Southwest Invitational last Saturday. Teel won a 12-0 major decision over Hays to claim the gold medal.

BARTLEY -- Many of the Gazette area's high school wrestling teams tuned up for next weekend's district competition with a tough Southwest Invitational.

The Saturday, Feb. 5 meet was held at the Southwest High School gym in Bartley.

Kansas high schools have regional competition a week later than their Nebraska counterparts. Decatur Community of Oberlin appears ready for their regional competition, as the Red Devils won the Southwest meet with a total of 161.5 points. Medicine Valley was second with 135 points, followed by Cambridge at 112 and the host Roughriders with 102.

Steve Kodad/McCook Daily Gazette Justin Romeo (right) of Medicine Valley controls the leg of Jaxen Alstrom of Decatur Community of Oberlin, Kan., during the 189-pound championship match at the Southwest Invite last Saturday. Romeo held on to win a 5-4 decision.

Southern Valley placed sixth with 69 points. The Hitchcock County/Wauneta-Palisades co-op team finished ninth with 45 points, followed by Chase County (36) and Dundy County-Stratton. The McCook junior varsity also competed and the Bison scored 9.5 points.

The Oberlin, Kan. squad placed five wrestlers in the championship finals, and two Red Devils brought home gold medals, including Nolan Peters (130) and Jordan Daniel 160.

Medicine Valley champs

Steve Kodad/McCook Daily Gazette Gus Peterson of Cambridge looks for a way to escape the grasp of Keagan Haarberg of Hitchcock County/Wauneta-Palisade in the 189-pound consolation finals at the Southwest Invitational last Saturday. Peterson pinned Haarberg in the second period to win third place.

Medicine Valley had three championship finalists and two gold medal winners. Hunter Timmons finished first at 135 pounds with a first-period fall of Zach Herrman of Southwest. Justin Romeo won an exciting 5-4 decision over Jaxen Alstrom of Oberlin in the 189-pound final.

Southwest claimed three individual titles, led by the Teel boys. Heath Teel won the 112-pound gold medal with a 12-0 major decision over Jesse Hays of Southern Valley in the the championship finals. Tanner Teel finished first at 119 pounds with a win by fall over Kade Brown of Oberlin in the finals.

Sam Osterman of Southwest also placed first at 145 pounds with an 8-6 decision over Nick Romeo of Medicine Valley.

Osterman scored a takedown and two-point near fall in the final 20 seconds to take an 8-4 lead. Romeo reversed Osterman for two points with 10 seconds remaining, but he couldn't turn Osterman before the clock expired.

Cambridge had two individual gold medalists. Carson Farr won the 125-pound title with a 14-8 decision over Tell Deatrich of Medicine Valley in the finals. Cody Vandergrift nipped Heath Shannon of Franklin, 9-8, in the 171-pound title match.

Cambridge wrestler injured

Another Trojan, Catlin Rice, had to forfeit his 215-pound championship match to Adam Simpson of Hitchcock County/Wauneta-Palisade when Rice suffered an ankle injury during the finals.

Two other area wrestlers won individual titles. Jeremiah Lueth of Chase County was named the meet's Most Outstanding Wrestler with his title at 140 pounds. Lueth won four matches by fall en route to his gold medal.

Molly Glur of Southern Valley won the 103-pound class. Glur pinned Matthew Helm of Oberlin in the first period of their championship match.

District competition this weekend

The Gazette area mat squads will compete in respective Class C and D district meets next Friday and Saturday.

SOUTHWEST INVITATIONAL

Saturday at Bartley

Team Standings -- Decatur Community (Oberlin, Kan.) 161.5, Medicine Valley 135, Cambridge 112, Southwest 102, Franklin 99, Southern Valley 69, Red Cloud/Blue Hill 60, Hershey 55, Hitchcock County/Wauneta-Palisade 45, Chase County 36, Dundy County-Stratton 29, Reserves 24, Gothenburg 13, McCook JV 9.5.

Final Round Results

103 Pounds

1st -- Molly Glur, Southern Valley, pinnd Matthew Helm, Decatur Comm., 1:25.

3rd -- Levi Vogler, Red Cloud/Blue Hill, no match.

112 Pounds

1st -- Heath Teel, Southwest, major dec. Jesse Hays, Southern Valley, 12-0.

3rd -- Jacob Helm, Decatur Comm., dec. Kalen Farr, Cambridge, 8-3.

119 Pounds

1st -- Tanner Teel, Southwest, pinned Kade Brown, Decatur Comm., 3:05.

3rd -- Makay Beck, Hershey, pinned Brandon Trueblood, Southern Valley, 3:35.

125 Pounds

1st -- Carson Farr, Cambridge, dec. Tell Deatrich, Medicine Valley, 14-8.

3rd -- Brent Juenemann, Decatur Comm., pinned Tyler Van Pelt, Southwest, 2:27.

130 Pounds

1st -- Nolan Peters, Decatur Comm., major dec. Cyrus Thomas, Southern Valley, 17-5.

3rd -- Josh Leas, Medicine Valley, major dec. Tanner Rupprecht, Red Cloud/Blue Hill, 10-2.

135 Pounds

1st -- Hunter Timmons, Medicine Valley, pinned Zach Herrman, Southwest, 1:05.

3rd -- Jon Samson, Decatur Comm., pinned James Rundel, Hitchcock Co./Wauneta-Palisade, 2:03.

140 Pounds

1st -- Jeremiah Lueth, Chase County, pinned Taylor Premer, Red Cloud/Blue Hill, 4:16.

3rd -- Tyler Frederick, Hershey, pinned Paul Downey, Dundy County-Stratton, 1:37.

145 Pounds

1st -- Sam Osterman, Southwest, dec. Nick Romeo, Medicine Valley, 8-6.

3rd -- Chris Nicholas, Hershey, major dec. Cale Olson, Red Cloud/Blue Hill, 9-0.

152 Pounds

1st -- Aaron Davis, Franklin, major dec. Jared Krueger, Red Cloud/Blue Hill, 14-2.

3rd -- Logan Huxoll, Cambridge, dec. Trent Good, Gothenburg, 6-4.

160 Pounds

1st -- Daniel Jordan, Decatur Comm., pinned Caleb Wagner, Franklin, 2:11.

3rd -- Austin Shaw, Southern Valley, dec. Alec McCurdy, Cambridge, 5-0.

171 Pounds

1st -- Cody Vandergrift, Cambridge, dec. Heath Shannon, Franklin, 9-8.

3rd -- Morgan Burrell, Dundy County-Stratton, pinned Colton Aspenleiter, Medicine Valley, 2:59.

189 Pounds

1st -- Justin Romeo, Medicine Valley, dec. Jaxen Alstrom, Decatur Comm., 5-4.

3rd -- Gus Peterson, Cambridge, pinned Keagan Haarberg, Hitchcock Co./Wauneta-Palisade, 3:27.

215 Pounds

1st -- Adam Simpson Hitchcock Co./Wauneta-Palisade, won by injury default over Catlin Rice, Cambridge.

3rd -- Kale Schmidt, Franklin, pinned Jacob Larue, Decatur Comm., :54.

285 Pounds

1st -- Derek Fouts, Franklin, pinned Matt Oltmer, Southwest, 5:01.

3rd -- Rulon Taylor, Medicine Valley, pinned Dalton Dolan, Decatur Comm., 2:34.