Muggli, Borges lead Raiders at Mitchell

Despite some high drama in the 145 lbs. class, in which the Raiders' Michael Muggli captured silver, the shorthanded Sidney Red Raiders wrestling squad brought home a top ten finish among the 16 teams competing at the Michell Invite on Saturday.

Wheatland was the team winner with 140 points while Bridgeport (114), Lingle Fort Laramie (88), Bayard (83) and Gothenburg (82) rounded out the top five. The host Tigers were sixth with 78 points.

The Raiders finished with 54 points.

With his second-place finish in the 145 lbs. class Michael Muggli (30-7) was the highest placing Raiders wrestler. For Muggli, his path to the first-place match again had to go through Bridgeport's Brandon Nichols. Twice already this season Nichols (28-3) had gotten the better of Muggli in close matches.

The battles between Muggli and Nichols have been a highlight, and Saturday was no different.

"The coaches told me I could beat him on my feet," said Muggli after the Nichols bout. "On my feet we felt I could get some takedowns and that's what I did."

Muggli picked up three 2-point takedowns during the match. When the final whistle sounded after six minutes, Muggli had outlasted Nichols 7-5.

After taking down the talented Nichols, another huge challenge awaited Muggli in the battle for first place: Wyatt Hagerman of Lingle-Ft. Laramie and his record of 33-0.

"I think I'm going to have to try the same strategy and beat him on my feet," said Nichols before the final match.

Though Hagerman managed to keep his perfect record intact, he did so by the narrowest of margins--a 1-0 win.

Zach Borges also had a good day at 132 lbs. as he finished in third.

Though six scored for Sidney, Muggli and Borges were the only placers. Borges, who won three of his four matches on the day, now has a solid season mark of 16-11.

Borges path to the third-place match began with a split of his first two matches. He first beat Kimball's Justin Mohr by a 17-3 major decision. Joseph Weibert then stopped Borges by a pin at 2:46. Borges recovered by outpointing Bayard's Robert Niezwaag 9-6 to earn a chance at third place.

In his battle to gain third, Borges had to grapple a wrestler he hasn't seen before. Marc Cinocco of Minatare came in with a solid record of 14-10 on the season.

"Early on I wanted to see how he moved and I wanted to try and move him instead of letting him move me around," said Borges.

At one point during his match with Cinocco, he put himself in a very dangerous position with a slip that almost cost him.

"I did a tilt and it went too far and I ended up on my back," admitted Borges.

But he recovered to dominate the match. In the third-place match Borges earned his second major decison of the day by a count of 15-3.

With the season now winding down, Borges feels he is wrestling at his best.

"I would say that's one of the best matches I've had. I feel like I'm getting much faster on my feet," Borges said.

Though they failed to place, several Sidney wrestlers contributed to the team effort by scoring points with early victories. Jack Fedderson (106 lbs.) and Brody McKnight (160) picked up 10 points each, Isaiah Votruba (138) four points and Kane Taylor (195) one point.

The Raiders were hampered by having only seven varsity wrestlers available for the invitational.

The Raiders next challenge comes on Friday when they take on Gering at the Cabela's Athletic Facility in Sidney.

The dual on Friday is senior night and is scheduled to get underway at 6 p.m.