Roughriders send area's most state wrestlers

Southwest's six state qualifiers won a close area race to see which school would send the most wrestlers into Omaha this week.

Heavyweight champion Logan Kircher (37-9 record) led the Roughriders to third place among 18 D-1 district teams competing at Howells-Dodge High School. All results today are from trackwrestling.com.

Sophomore 126-pounder Kaden Guerrero (37-5) returns to state after taking second at D-1, losing a 15-14 title match to Creighton's Zach Hazen on Saturday.

Other Roughrider qualifers are Cody Downey (second at 182), Anthony Starr (third at 220), Wyatt McConville (fourth at 160) and Tanner Brooks (fourth at 195).

The McCook Bison qualified five wrestlers highlighted on page 11, which matches how many Chase County wrestlers will be competing in Omaha starting Thursday.

The Longhorns took fifth in a 16-team C-4 district with 127.5 points.

Aaron Hinjosa (45-3 at 220) and Bryson Fisher (36-5 at 160) both took home district championships.

Caine Haarberg (33-18) reached the title match at 182 while Caleb Weiss (44-11) won a consolation crown at 145. Trevor Peterson (33-7 at 132) completes the Chase County state contingent.

Southern Valley suffered through a tough two days in that same district.

The Eagles only scored 40 points with only one state qualifier in Brady Dawson (37-12) at 182 as he placed third.

Cambridge, Arapahoe and Medicine Valley all qualified four wrestlers during their district meets.

The Trojans and Warriors both competed in D-1 district featuring 20 teams at Arapahoe.

Cambridge (91 points) finished fourth overall with Matthew Pearson (32-10 at 170) and heavyweight Tyler Schultz (23-16) both wrestling for championships.

Pearson lost his final match to 40-1 Kalen Klingelhoefer because of medical forfeit. No details had been obtained.

Senior Konner Banzhaf captured the 152 consolation title to cotinue his strong 38-6 season as did Trace Doyle (30-7) at 195.

Araphoe's four state qualifiers are district finalist Dalton Shimmin (27-7 at 182), heavyweight Noah Wadleigh (third), Tyler Kapperman (fourth at 120) and Robert Gardner (fourth at 220). The Warriors took ninth among 20 teams.

The Medicine Valley Raiders were busy in D-4 at Sutherland, placing seventh among 21 teams with 81 points.

Dylan Davis-Mack delivered a championship at 145 with three consecutive pins.

R.J. Tutlam-Hazen (30-7 at 132) and Scott Taylor (35-7 at 182) both earned second-place finjishes. Tutlam-Hazen ran into 46-0 Cameron Riggs from North Platte St. Patrick's, who was able to score a 1:05 pin.

Justin Pendleton (26-15) finished fourth at 160 for the Raiders' fourth state qualifier.

Hitchcock County and Dundy County-Stratton both qualified two state wrestlers while competing in Sutherland.

Heavyweight Dakota Ehart stepped up to reach the title match and Jesse Evans (27-17) finished fourth at 132. They will represent the DC-S titlers on the Omaha mats.

Dundy County-Stratton totaled 50 team points.

Hitchcock County's top two wrestlers qualified as expected.

RPAC champ Wyatt Standiford (34-11)was second among 152-pounders while Zach Janousek (29-7) won the 120 consolation title for third overall.

One more area state qualifier was Wauneta-Palisade junior Colton Barrett, who finished fourth at 138 in D-4 competition at Sutherland.