Big win over Viking tops Bison state round

Friday, February 15, 2019
McCook senior Colin Giron (right) made his first state wrestling match one to remember when he handled 45-7 Cooper Kiser of Grand Island Northwest in his Class B 220-pound opening match Thursday night.
R.B. Headley/McCook Gazette

OMAHA, Neb. — They faced off before when McCook trailed 21-0 and rallied to beat Northwest 35-21 during football season.

The rematch on Nebraska’s state wrestling mat wasn’t any more fun for Cooper Kiser against McCook senior 220-pounder Colin Giron Thursday night.

Giron didn’t care about Cooper’s 45-7 record or his higher Class B seed entering their first-round match.

Instead, he scored enough points to tally a touchdown (seven) while only allowing harmless Kiser field goal.

The resulting 7-3 Giron victory was certainly a highlight for McCook’s great eight wrestling at state.

Senior Kody Hahn almost joined Giron and sophomore Alec Langan (182) in the quarterfinals.

Hahn didn’t permit a single point through more than two periods vs. district champ Zachary Serna of Norris.

Sadly, Hahn also couldn’t quite score any as the match remained 0-0. Serna finally earned one point and held off Hahn just enough to finish his 1-0 win.

McCook’s other openers were against opponents with records of 44-0, 46-1 and 43-3 among this group.

All were smart enough not to overlook their Bison foes.

Aurora’s Caden Svoboda (43-3) was able to Bison freshman Julian Stiver (17-14) just past the midway point of their second period (3:12) at 106 pounds.

Grady Greiss (46-1) — another Northwest Viking from Grand Island — finished Bison senior Jared Cole at 1:23 in their 195-pound match.

Wahoo heavyweight Jack Sutton (44-0) was most efficient, pinning Bison senior Hunter Cunningham (30-17) in 23 seconds.

Hastings’ Bryce Brown (23-3) was also able to stop sophomore Talyn Campbell (29-18) 24 seconds into their second period.

McCook’s other first-round match was sophomore Tate Felber (16-13) falling in 1:53 to Schuyler’s Miguel Roman (14-4) at 138.

Giron later dropped a frustrating 10-7 quarterfinal vs. Blair’s Gabe Rand (33-13).

However, all seven of these Bison still have state matches today as they begin wrestling through the consolation rounds.

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