2015 STATE WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS: Robb advances to semifinals

"He came right after you, didn't he," said Sidney High School wrestling' head coach John Ganser to freshman Kaden Vowers after his opening round win.

"He really did," replied the young, 106-pound Red Raider wrestler after his state debut.

"They all come after you here," said Ganser concluding the lesson.

OMAHA – With two wins on the opening day of the 2015 Nebraska State Wrestling Championships, Sidney High's Derek Robb is halfway to a state championship. But it only gets tougher from here.

While Robb upped his season record to 43-0 after two wins at 138 pounds, the three other Raiders' qualifiers finished day one at the Century Link Center in Omaha with mixed results. Vowers opened his championships at 106 pounds with a second-period pin and later dropped a major decision to one of the favorites of his weight class.

Senior Michael Muggli – making his fourth appearance at state – got involved in a scoring fest in his opening match at 145, and dropped a 15-11 decision.

Colton Peckham had the misfortune of opening his championship run against one of the favorites for a gold medal at 113 and was pinned in 27 seconds.

Robb wasted little time getting himself to the quarterfinals after pinning Levi Heilig (15-13) of Boys Town in just 49 seconds. Robb was credited with a takedown 45 seconds into his match and four seconds later sealed the deal with the fall.

Robb's quarterfinal match was considerably tougher as he battled District B-2's third place medalist Cody Lambert (37-3) of Ashland Greenwood. District B-2 is particularly deep at 138 pounds with its top three at districts having an average 38 wins on the season. Class B-2 had two of its grapplers reach the semifinals. Thursday was the first time Robb had faced Lambert.

"The coaches told me he had a quick takedown and to watch out for that," said Robb. "He was a real strong kid too."

In his match against the Ashland Greenwood junior, Robb fell behind early as he yielded a two-point takedown 17 seconds into the match. Though he gained an escape point shortly thereafter to get within 2-1, Robb ultimately took the shortcut to victory with a fall at 3:29. For his efforts, Robb ended the match with a bloody lip and nose.

"Right now, it's just focus up for [Friday]," Robb said. "If I win [Friday] I'll just have one match so I want to be ready to go."

Robb will face another of the dangerous wrestlers from District B-2 in the semis. He'll meet Kyle Francois (40-4) of Nebraska City who finished runner-up to Andrew Null at districts. Null (37-6) has also reached the semifinals and will meet Salem Harsh of Scottsbluff. It was Harsh that Robb defeated for the District B-4 championship.

While Vowers (35-9) was facing a known adversary in Jacob Kubicka (31-15) from Adams Central in his state debut, he found this time around a little different.

"I pinned him in my second match of the year, but this was a whole other match," Vowers said. "I was so nervous before the match and he was really ready to go this time. He's really improved since the last time I faced him."

Vowers took a 2-1 lead early in the match with a takedown while surrendering an escape. Shortly before the pin at 3:07, Vowers earned another two-point takedown. In his second match against Omaha Skutt Catholic's Van Schmidt, Vowers was on the defensive the entire match. Vowers lasted the distance, however, as he dropped an 18-4 major decision.

In Friday's consolation round, Vowers lost to Devin DeLancey of Bennington, 4-2.

Though a little disappointed with his final match, Vowers said, "It was fun. I've never beaten (DeLancey) before but this is the closest I've come so maybe it's a sign I'm improving. Maybe I'll get him at the Midwest Classic (Federation Tournament)."

Meanwhile, Kole Gray (27-17), third at Class B-2 districts, scored a takedown against Muggli (39-6) after 30 seconds had elapsed in the first period and soon had a 6-1 lead in the opening-round match. Muggli managed to trim the deficit to 7-4 after the first period, but was fighting from behind the entire match.

By the end of the second period, Muggli had gained a point on Gray with three escapes and a takedown to trail 11-9 after four minutes. Though the Sidney senior earned a takedown in period three, Gray doubled him up with a takedown and a pair of escapes.

"We needed to defend our takedowns better," said Ganser. "Michael will just have to bounce back [Friday]. He'll have to mentally do it ."

And he did just that, posting two wins in Friday's consolation round.

He won by forfeit over Bailey Vanderpool of Omaha Skutt Catholic, and then proceeded to decision Jake Fox of Ashland Greenwood, 7-2.

With his 123rd career win, Muggli is now alone in second place on all-time career Raiders' wins list passing Ryan Roach. Steven Vach is first with 139.

Muggli (41-6 this season) was next scheduled to face Karson Sok (39-9) of Grand Island Northwest later Friday in the consolations.

After Peckham's loss to Berg, the Red Raider freshman was pinned by Brendan Doyle of Seward in the consolation round on Friday.

Peckham finished the season with a 26-16 record.

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