Area teams prepare for new district wrestling format

Thursday, February 8, 2018
Kaden Guerrero, left, and the Southwest Roughriders will participate in the D-1 District Meet at Weeping Water High School this Friday and Saturday. Guerrero is one of many Gazette wrestlers expected to qualify for next week's Nebraska state wrestling championships in Omaha.
Gabe Gauthier/McCook Gazette

District wrestling will have a different look this year in Nebraska. With the smaller classes adopting a serpentine districting format, some area teams will be making long treks for district meets, which begin tomorrow (Friday) and end Saturday.

Below is a quick glance at who may qualify from the Gazette area for next week’s state meet at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha.

C-4 at Bridgeport: Chase County, Southern Valley

Chase County is projected to have at least three wrestlers qualify for the state meet. Aaron Hinojosa, Class C’s top-ranked wrestler at 220, will carry the Longhorns’ banner, but also look for Caleb Weiss at 145 and Evan Fisher at 170 as other qualifiers.

Caine Haarberg will also have a shot at qualifying, but he is part of a deep 182 weight class that includes four other wrestlers with at least 22 wins this season.

Southern Valley will most likely only qualify one wrestler with Chase Becker at 160.

The team title is expected to be a two-horse race between Valentine and Broken Bow. These two Southwest Conference rivals occupy the top-two spots in the latest Class C state ratings.

D-1 at Weeping Water: Arapahoe, Southwest

Arapahoe will likely see Tyler Kapperman advance to state in the 120 weight class. John Lee (138) and Isaac Goshert (106) should also be in contention for the Warriors.

Southwest could have a handful of state qualifiers from its group. Kaden Guerrero is the favorite to win the 126 weight class, while Cody Downey and Anthony Starr will likely qualify at 195 and 220, respectively. Wyatt McConville (170) and Logan Kircher (285) are two more names to watch for the Roughriders. Both will look to secure one of the final spots in their respective weight classes, but will need good performances to do so.

D-2 at Oakland-Craig: Cambridge

The Cambridge Trojans will be the lone Gazette team at the D-2 District Meet, but expect them to fare very well. Matthew Pearson and Seth Andrews are the favorites to win the 182 and 220 weight classes, respectively, while Tyler Schultz is also a likely state qualifier at 285.

Bobby Evans (160), Zack Miller-Sickels (126) and Shane Horwart (106) are also expected to be in the running for one of the final state qualifying spots in their weight classes.

D-4 at NP St. Pat’s: DCS, Hitchcock County, Med Valley, Wauneta-Palisade

Dundy County-Stratton will likely qualifying Brenden Warman at 113 and Dakota Ehart at 285.

Hitchcock County is expected to do the best out of the Gazette schools at North Platte St. Pat’s. The Falcons are projected to have three state qualifiers, led by Zach Janousek at 120. The Standiford brothers, Noah (138) and Wyatt (152), and Joel Priest (126) are also expected to contend for state-qualifying spots in their weight classes.

Medicine Valley and Wauneta-Palisade will look to qualifying one wrestler each. Austin Wolfe is expected to qualify at 195 for the Raiders, while the Broncos’ Evan Nordhausen will contend for a spot at 106.

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