Twenty-one area wrestlers qualify for Class D State Tournament

Twenty-one wrestlers from the five schools in the Valley Voice coverage area qualified for the Class D State Tournament in Omaha, which begins Wednesday, by medaling in the top four at Saturday's District Tournaments.

Conner Schutz of Hi-Line was the Bulls' lone qualifier, but dominated again Saturday and remained unbeaten on the season when he took first at the Class D3 District Meet's 170-pound weight class. Schutz, the State's top-ranked wrestler at 170 pounds, met perhaps his biggest challenge to date this season in the finals against second-ranked Jestin Bayer from Howells-Dodge. Schutz lat-dropped Bayer for a 5-0 lead in the first, then cradled Bayer on a switch in the second for a pin at 2:51.

Arapahoe's Levi Kerner, ranked first in the State at 285 pounds, needed just 73 seconds total to pin the competition at the D1 District Meet at Weeping Water as he remained unbeaten at 33-0 and finished first.

Kerner helped the Warriors to a runner-up finish at the meet with 103.5 team points. Plainview, a favorite at next week's State Meet, took the team title with 143 points. Arapahoe had another champion Saturday as Wyatt Jenkins took first at 160 pounds. Other finalists for the Warriors included Isaac Goshert, who finished runner-up at 120 pounds, Jordan Smith, who took second at 170 pounds. Tristian White (145) also qualified for Arapahoe with a third-place finish and Wayne Lee took fourth at 113.

Southwest had the most complete team performance of the weekend as the Roughriders qualified eight wrestlers and took the team title at the D2 District Tournament in Tilden, scoring 120 points to top Twin Loup with 112 and Elkhorn Valley with 180.5.

The Roughriders had a pair of champions in Garrett Latimer (138) and Matt Van Pelt (152). Brett Tryon finished runner-up at 160 and Bryson Shoemaker finished third at 285. Carter Van Pelt (120), Jacob Kerns (126), Tyler Ellis (145) and Clayton Hardy (220) each finished fourth to qualify.

The final individual champion was Cambridge's Bobby Evans, who took first at 195 pounds at the District D3 Meet in Greeley. Teammate Julien Grindle finished fourth after a hard-fought 2-1 overtime win over Hi-Line's Syrus Snow in the consolation semifinals.

Southern Valley may not have had any individual champions, but the Eagles qualified four wrestlers for the State meet, led by Cole Broeker, who finished second at 132 pounds. Mason Noel (145) and Trevor Brown (152) each finished third for Southern Valley and Bryson Warner took fourth at 195.

Southern Valley took sixth at the D3 District Meet with 57 points while Cambridge was 11th with 34 and Hi-Line was 12th with 30.