The Sidney Sun-Telegraph - Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper

Sidney's Red Raider Wrestling team traveled to Lexington on Saturday to compete in the annual John Higgins Invitational Tournament. Many of the regions top teams were represented, and the Sidney team finished ninth out of field of 16 with 92 total points.

Junior Brady Robb won the gold in the 170lb weight class, besting Beatrice's Brody Nelson by Fall at 1:36 in the first place match. Senior Hayden Hofrock earned second place in the 285lb weight class, losing a close 6-to-4 Decision to Scott Community's Gabriel Bowers in the first place match. Junior Hunter Ahrendt took fourth place in the 195lb weight class, losing a 7-to-1 Decision to Bennington's Hunter Thompson while sophomore Austin Munier took fifth place in the 113lb weight class by defeating Holdrege's Brayden Schmalz by Fall at 1:57.

Sidney Head Coach Beau McConnell said after the tournament, " The John Higgins Invite is always a solid tournament and this year was no exception with 52 ranked wrestlers competing. It is a nice mix of schools from all over Nebraska as well as teams from Kansas and Colorado. Our guys wrestled tough all day long and earned 4 medals. Our wrestlers that did not medal battled hard each match with most coming up just short of the medal rounds. This tournament is a good gauge to see how ready our team is for districts, and after the way we wrestled I believe we are in a good position to finish out the season the right way and send some wrestlers to Omaha for the state competition."