Untitled Document
Rockets rush state meet
BYKIRTMANION
Journal-Democrat
This year’s edition of the state wrestling
tournament at Omaha’s Qwest Center will have a distinctly Syracuse
feel.
That’s because the Rocket wrestling team
qualified 11 grapplers to the state meet while completing a perfect
tournament schedule with a district championship during Friday and Saturday
action at Crete High School.
Seven Rockets made the championship finals at
districts and two of those wrestlers walked away with gold medals in Derek
Rowe, 140, and Ben Lierman, 171.
It all added up to 193 team points for the Rockets,
17 better than rival Auburn.
With the tourney first place finish, the Rockets
completed a season where they scored first place team finishes at each and
every tourney.
Wrestlers who secured a top four position in the
final rankings to join Lierman and Rowe at the state tournament are Josh
Bennett, 103, third; Quentin Danner, 119, second; Kody Rich, 130, third;
Ben Johanns, 135, second; Jacob Manley, 145, second; Nathan Kimbell, 152,
second; Jake Hinrichsen, 160, fourth; Andy Neels, 215, fourth; and
Alex Caples, 285, fourth.
Wrestlers who competed but fell short of state were
Dylan Bartling, 189, and Ben Bishop, 125.
Of the fourth place competitors, Caples might have
been the most noteworthy in that he wrestled at the 285-pound class, while
weighing 199 pounds.
What Caples lacked in size, he seemed to make up with
determination, and, really, that was a trait that seemed to permeate the
entire S-D-A roster.
Rowe was locked in a tough finals battle late against
Auburn’s Keifer Coatney, but simply refused to lose, scrambling for
late match points that keyed his district title.
Rowe had done something similar in a previous win
over Coatney earlier this season.
State wrestling action begins Thursday at the Qwest
Center in Omaha with Class B first round matches beginning at 8:30 a.m.
Action continues Friday and culminates with the state finals beginning at 2
p.m. on Saturday.
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