Six Medicine Valley wrestlers qualify for state

What a weekend it was for the Medicine Valley wrestling team who continued their area dominance with a 5th straight District Championship. The Raiders finished the day five individual champions as the team championship came down the wire.

The two-day Class D-4 District meet took place in Sutherland on Friday and Saturday. Medicine Valley, who entered the meet as a top five team in the state, had high hopes entering Districts. But, knew that they would need several wrestlers to be at their best if they were going to finish the weekend with an unprecedented five championships in a row.

The Raiders began the meet wrestling well as even the younger wrestlers were contributing to the team results. Medicine Valley sent six wrestlers to finals, with all six making the trip to Omaha for the State Wrestling Meet this week as well. The Raiders leaders all came through as Josh Leas, Hunter Timmons, Jacob Brennemann, Rulon Taylor and Jason Conklin all came away as champions. Sophomore Quinten Chancellor also stepped up for the Raiders as he came away with a fourth place finish and a trip to Omaha.

The team title came down to the final match of the day as Medicine Valley trailed by half a point to North Platte St. Pats. Jason Conklin came through against North Platte St. Pats’ Bryan Shurigar with a 2nd period injury default as Shurigar went down with a shoulder injury. Conklin’s victory gave Medicine Valley enough points for the team victory.

The Raiders finished the day with 145.5 points followed by North Platte St. Pats with 140 points. Mullen, Garden County and Dundy County- Stratton rounded out the top five. Southwest, who looked to be one of the teams vying for a District Championship, finished 8th after several of their top wrestlers were not with the team after off the mat issues the week leading up to Districts.

Josh Leas began the Raider’s run to a championship as he won a 6-4 decision over Greg McKain of Sutherland in the championship match. Leas finished the day 3-0 with a pin and a technical fall at 138lbs. #1 rated Hunter Timmons dominated the 145lb weight class after defeating Paul Downey of Dundy County- Stratton 9-2 in the championship match. Timmons pinned his first opponent and won a major decision over his second.

Jacob Brennemann finished his senior season on a high note as he won the 152lb weight class with a pin in the second period over Duell Puttergill of Mullen. Brennemann pinned all three of his opponents. Rulon Taylor rounded out his season with a 1st place finish at 220 lbs. Taylor also pinned all three of his opponents, including a pin in the third period of the championship match over Tyler Jensen of Dundy County-Stratton.

Quinten Chancellor finished his day 2-2 at 182lbs. Chancellor pinned his first opponent before falling in his semi-final match. He then went on to win a major decision to make it into the 3rd place match and a trip to the State Meet. He finished the day with a tough loss to North Platt St. Pats’ Henry Aufdenkamp.

Also scoring for the Raiders were Thomas Foster, Ty Contrerez and Cory Merrigan. Foster, after a trip to the state meet last year, fell just short this season after finishing his day 2- 2 at 120lbs. Contrerez finished 1-2 at 160lbs as he fell one win short of a trip to the state meet. Merrigan also fell just one win short of a trip to Omaha as he finished his day 2-2 at 195lbs.

Freshmen Wayne Wills and Rodger Farr saw their season come to an end. Wills finished 0-2 at 106lbs and Farr finished 0-2 at 126lbs.

The Raiders, after a town pep rally, leave for Omaha on Tuesday. The State Meet begins on Thursday and will finish Saturday. Head Coach Barry Mraz had these comments, “It was nice to send the seniors out with another district title. They put in a ton of work during the summer to get to where they are. They are a group of not only good wrestlers but great individuals as well. I have to give credit to my assistant coach (Alan Taylor) and volunteer coaches (Joe Brown, Keithan Cochran, and Brandan Salpas) for giving us the edge in the upper and middle weights.

When the team scores are so close like they were, it truly is a team championship. Everyone’s points made the difference. We got solid performances from the underclassmen who didn’t qualify, but they helped make the difference, without them we don’t win. The “4 horsemen” Hunter, Josh, Jacob and Rulon all put in solid performances throughout the year and are great leaders. Jason Conklin has been a surprising addition to the team who continues to improve and shows us what fun wrestling really is. We have high hopes for the team and individuals at state. A top five finish and medals are the goal from the upperclassmen.”

Other Sports Results in this week's paper

Knights Send Four to State

Lady Tigers fi nish regular season with a win

Raiders fall to #4 Eagles, defeat Wildcats

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Six Medicine Valley wrestlers qualify for state

Other Sports Results in this week's paper