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McCook's Smock, Korus 2nd at GNAC wrestling tournament
NORFOLK -- Richard Smock and Dallas Korus led the McCook Bison wrestling team with second-place finishes at the Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference on Saturday.
Kearney claimed the team championship with 171 points and former Bison Andrew Baumgartner collected his 100th win in the semis for the Bearcats.
Columbus was a close second with 166.5.
McCook finished eighth with 39 points.
Dallas Korus was able to avenge a loss to Alfredo Gomez from Scottsbluff in the semis with a 5-4 decision.
"This will help Dallas get a better seed in districts next week," said McCook coach Dean Reicks.
In the finals, Korus lost to Shane Castillo from Kearney 15-5. Castillo is rated in the top six in Class A.
Richard Smock pinned his first opponent Chris Saunders from Lexington in 0:39. He received an injury default in the semis.
In the finals, Smock lost a close match to Doug Michalak from Columbus.
"This was a tight match," Reicks said. "I felt Richard was the aggressor. The official did not force the action and allowed the wrestlers to waste time on the edge of the mat.
"We can't let the official decide the match. Richard has had several close matches and he knows what he needs to do.
"We'll refocus this week and be ready for districts (Friday and Saturday at Cozad)."
Jon McCart posted a fourth-place effort.
He lost to Matt Skiles in the semis by fall, but came back and beat Sam Gnagy from Hastings 14-5, before losing to Jordan Wiemann of Norfolk by fall.
"Jon wrestled a lot better today," Reicks said. "He came out on the offense and set up some good shots. He just got out of position a little and got overpowered.
"If he wrestles like he did today, he could surprise some people next week."
Also wrestling well for the Bison was Derek Sailors. Derek finished the day 1-2 at 275.
"All of Derek's opponents were well over 230 pounds, but he went out and wrestled well against them," Reicks said.
Saulors' first loss came was a 5-1 decision to Kearney's heavyweight Sam Icenogle.
In the consolations, Sailors had an exciting victory over Dustin LeMay of Scottsbluff 2-1.
Then he lost an 8-5 decision to Anthony Sjuts of Columbus.
Ahren Hays, Clayton Pierson, James Huffman and Dan Banda also competed in the GNAC tournament, but did not win matches.
"All four of these wrestlers chose to go, even though they knew the level of competition," Reicks said. "That says a lot about their character and willingness to gain experience."