Three SHS Raiders grapplers earn state-tournament berths

Sidney wrestling coach John Ganser will take some company with him this weekend to the state finals in Omaha, but he came really close to needing a bigger vehicle.

Advancing three qualifiers from their own Class B-4 District held at Cabela’s Athletic Facility, the Raiders darned-near had all but one of their entries reach the final round.

Senior Tanner Wintholz (195 pounds) and sophomore Michael Muggli (132) repeated as state qualifiers for the Red Raiders, and senior 220-pounder Scott Kelsey also earned a trip.

Even though Wintholz, Muggli and Kelsey are state-bound, Sidney’s efforts through the consolation brackets made Saturday morning’s wrestlebacks all the more exciting.

“We came awfully close to getting eight of our nine wrestlers to the medal round,” Ganser said. “Even then, we had a tremendous morning-round on Saturday.”

Wintholz and Kelsey worked their way through the championship bracket.

Wintholz pinned Christian Pester of Gering and Kyson Schnell of Alliance to get to the title bout against top seed Alex Boryca of Cozad, where he was pinned late in the opening period.

“Tanner just got himself in a bad position,” Ganser said.

Kelsey also worked his way to the finals by sticking his foes, Jacob Baldwin of Alliance and William Latter of Holdrege (after trailing most of the way) to meet Lexington’s Edwin Perdomo for the championship. Perdomo pinned Kelsey early in the second period.

“Scott held in there as long as he could,” Ganser said.

The Raider with the toughest trail was Muggli, who had to go through wrestlebacks after losing in the championship quarterfinals against defending 126-pound state champ Colton Adams of Scottsbluff.

Muggli scrapped in the consolation quarters and managed a couple takedowns against Holdrege’s Hayden Logsdon.

That was good enough for Muggli to post a 4-0 win and gain a berth in the third-place bout opposite Lexington’s Dakota Hernandez.

Muggli grabbed an early takedown and held the 2-0 lead after a period. Hernandez returned the favor in the second period, but Muggli picked up a reverse late and that was it: Muggli earned a 4-2 win.

“The 132-pound bracket was a tough bracket,” Ganser said. “The really nice thing about it for Michael was that he had lost earlier in the year to (Hernandez).”

While Wintholz, Muggli and Kelsey celebrated their state-qualifying efforts, several other Raiders came oh-so close.

Depsite a sub-.500 record, junior 145-pounder Lukias Higer was on the verge of advancing to the medal round – and thereby earning a trip to state. In the consolation semifinals, Higer was ahead of Alliance’s Manny Cabello 8-3 late in the second period.

That’s when Cabello was able to make a move, get Higer on his back, and record the pin.

“Lukias ran into bad luck,” Ganser said. “He got caught in a bad spot and wound up getting pinned. Thing of it was, he was ahead and was going to score more points. It was an interesting turn of events.”

Like Higer, Sidney’s Nathaniel Votruba (138), Tanner Wernsman (152), Kane Taylor (170) and Tucker Wintholz (heavyweight) also made it to the consolation semifinals, but fell short.

Sidney (79 points) finished seventh in the 12-team field. Scottsbluff (177.5) nipped Lexington (173) late for the team title, with Alliance (163.5) finishing a close-up third

All three Sidney wrestlers will compete Thursday in the first-round bouts at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, which begins at 4:30 p.m. CST.

“The goal of every wrestler is to make it to Saturday’s medal round,” Ganser said.

Wintholz (19-3) is seeded seventh at 195 pounds and will meet 10th seed Eric Engler of Beatrice (32-3); Muggli (26-8) is the ninth seed at 132, and takes on Northwest’s Noah Lau (eighth seed); and Kelsey is a fifth seed and meets Karston Runge of Columbus Lakeview (12th seed).

Sidney B-6 District Wrestling

Team standing

Scottsbluff 177.5, Lexington 173, Alliance 163.5, Chadron 140, Cozad 132, Holdrege 122, Sidney 79, Gering 66, Gothenburg 49, McCook 48, Ogallala 44, Broken Bow 23

Sidney results, by weight, with record, finish and final bout result:

132 – Michael Muggli (26-8) finished third, decisioned Dakota Hernandez, Lexington, 4-2

138 – Nathaniel Votruba (20-12) eliminated in wrestleback semifinals, was pinned by Luke Tinnon, Ogalalla, 2:27

145 – Lukias Higer (7-16) eliminated in wrestleback semifinals, was pinned by Manny Cabello, Alliance, 3:44

152 – Tanner Wernsman (23-13) eliminated in wrestleback semifinals, was decisioned by Willy Cogdill, Chadron, 11-3

170 – Kane Taylor (5-9) eliminated in wrestleback semifinals, was pinned by Matthias Wirges-Becker, Holdrege, 1:46

182 – Brandon Lulf (6-10) eliminated in wrestleback quarterfinals, pinned by Cameron Presher, Scottsbluff, 4:16

195 – Tanner Wintholz (19-3) finished second, was pinned by Alex Boryca, Cozad, 1:42

220 – Scott Kelsey (26-8) finished second, was pinned by Edwin Pedromo, Lexington, 2:23

Heavy – Tucker Wintholz (17-15) was eliminated in wrestleback semifinals, was pinned by Luis Nunez, Lexington, 3:15