Seven Ram wrestlers advance to district tournament

By SUE RIEDER
sports@beeherald.com

Greene County had seven wrestlers qualify for the district wrestling tournament in Atlantic on February 15. Champions were Dylan Forkner at 126 pounds, Jordan Challen at 132 pounds,Tommy Bradshaw at 138 pounds, and Tray Binkley at 182 pounds. Second place finishers who will also advance to district competition were Jacob Challen at 120 pounds, Jeremy Scheuermann at 152 pounds, and Rene Guzman at 285 pounds. Abe Yoder was third in an extremely tough 145 pound weight class that featured Kuemper Catholic senior Jared Eischeid who placed seventh at the state meet last year in Class 1A 126 pounds and senior Kelly Broghan from Harlan who entered the sectional with a 38-7 record. Daric Whipple placed fourth at 160 pounds, and Hunter Ruth was the fourth place finisher at 170 pounds.

Perry won the team competition with 205.5 points followed closely by Kuemper Catholic with 204. Other team scores at Perry were Harlan 202, Greene County 187, West Central of Stuart 62, and East Sac County 41. Since Perry and Kuemper were the first and second place teams, they both competed in dual meet competitions on Feb. 11. Kuemper was defeated by Sergeant Bluff-Luton 64-6, and Perry lost to Webster City 60-16.

There are some very good wrestlers in this week’s district at Atlantic. Two wrestlers from each weight class will advance to the state tournament Feb. 20-22 in Des Moines. If a wrestler wins both of his district matches, he is the champion in his weight class and earns the trip to state. If a wrestler loses one match and wins the next one, he may have a chance to wrestle again for second place.

Jacob Challen (34-6) will face fifth ranked Blake Luna (35-3) from Clarinda in his first match. The other match in the 120 pound  weight class will feature fourth ranked Dillion Cox (43-4) of Atlantic versus Gisaveri Niyibizi (22-9) of Perry. Eighth ranked Dylan Forkner (35-3) will face William Fargo (15-12) from Creston-Orient Macksburg in his first match at 126 pounds. The other match in that weight class pits third ranked Darian Schwenke (44-1) Atlantic against Ivan Garcia (16-18) from Perry. At 132 pounds Jordan Challen (34-5) will face Tanner Mertz (35-10) from Red Oak. The other match in that weight class is between ninth ranked Alex Schmitz from Kuemper Catholic and Spencer Wray (35-9) from Creston/Orient-Macksburg. Challen has faced Schmitz twice this year and has won close matches against him both times.

Ninth ranked Tommy Bradshaw (38-2) will face Trey Stickler (28-17) from Clarinda in one of the 138 pound matches. Joey Huntington (31-10) Creston/Orient Macksburg will wrestle Perry’s Jacob Thompson (14-20) in the other bout. Tenth ranked Jeremy Scheuermann (40-4) will face Creston/ Orient Macksburg’s Gavin Leith (18-5) at 152 pounds. In the other 152 pound match, Seth Stetzel (34-5) of Perry will take on Luke Strong (36-10) from Clarinda. At 182 pounds, Tray Binkley (16-12) will wrestle Cain Johanns (28-14) from Clarinda, while Adam Baker (40-8) from Creston/ Orient Macksburg will meet Nathan Becker (14-19) from Kuemper Catholic. Rene Guzman (22-19) will represent the Rams in the 285 pound class. He will wrestled tenth ranked Dakota Calfee (35-6) of Clarinda. Joe Olvera (19-25) from Perry will face Jezidiah Phippen (32-20) from Atlantic in the other heavyweight match.

Upsets are common in the sport of wrestling. A wrestler can be trailing by 15, and win seconds later by pinning his opponent. Matches are never over until the final whistle blows. Good luck to the Rams at district                     competition.