McCook, Chase County, So. Valley send six to state wrestling

Thursday, February 19, 2004
Betsy Kohmetscher/McCook Daily Gazette McCook High School's Dallas Korus, shown here competing in the 119-pound weight class at the Class B-4 district tournament, is one of two Bison wrestlers competing at the Nebraska State Wrestling Tournament.

LINCOLN -- A year ago, McCook finished in the Class B top 10 and had two state champions.

A year ago, Chase County's Jay Wood repeated as a state champion and had a shot at the Class C team title.

This year, the two schools and Southern Valley have few representatives and you can throw out the team score at the Nebraska State Wrestling Championships, which started Thursday morning at Lincoln.

McCook's Dallas Korus and Richard Smock will be the Bison representatives.

Korus fell just one win shy of a medal last year. This year the 26-12 119-pounder looks to improve in one of Class B's toughest weight classes.

His first match is against Tony Novotny of Omaha Gross. Novotny has a 25-17 record this year.

If Korus and Seward's Ryan Hurst (29-3) win their openers, the two will meet in the second round.

That would also give the class four 30-match winners.

The bracket also includes Omaha Skutt's Kellen McKim (30-8) and a potential finals showdown with Springfield Platteview's Jason Katusin (33-0). Katusin is a three-time state champion.

Smock (33-6) has no easy task in front of him either at 215 pounds.

His first match is against Aaron Bierman (22-3) of Gretna. By the end of the meet, there could be as many as 10 30-match winners.

The match to watch would be the final. If both Smock and Aaron Ide reach, it would be the second year Ide and a McCook 215-pounder reached the finals.

Last year, Stuart Frazier won a medical default over Ide, giving him a state title and the career record in wins.

Chase County qualified Brandon Spickelmier (130), Ben Brophy (140) and Tyler May (160).

Spickelmier (23-10) will have a difficult first-round match against Fort Calhoun's Jake Welchert (28-3). He would then have to face either Brian Smith of Neligh-Oakdale or Tyler Fraser of Red Cloud-Blue Hill.

Brophy (15-11) is going to have a chore in Thayer Central's Craig Degenhardt (28-3).

The winner will wrestle against Perry Rucker of Louisville (34-0).

Rucker is a two-time state champion. His only state loss was in last year's semifinals. His brother Jake was a four-time state champion.

As one of four top seeds in the 160-pound class, Taylor May (31-3) opens against Trevor Dunkin (25-7) of Centennial, and his second match would have him against either a 29 or 30-match winner.

For Southern Valley, the hopes of a medal rest on Tyler Linner (119). Linner (21-6) drew Matt Jacobson (29-4) of Oakland-Craig.

There is, however, a lot of parity in his weight class.

In addition to the Class B and C wrestlers, there is one name to watch in Class A with local ties.

Kearney High School senior Andrew Baumgartner has a 34-0 record at at 145 pounds.

Baumgartner's grandmother Shirley lives in McCook and he and his parents lived here through eighth grade, and then they moved to Kearney.

Andrew won the state title as a sophomore, presumably at a lower weight. He sat out his junior year because of knee surgery.

He is the son of Mike and Theresa Baumgartner, Kearney.

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