Broncos place three in top four at RPAC meet

    Wauneta-Palisade wrestlers Conner Bryner, Cody Holmes and Cole Hamilton placed in the top four of their weight divisions at Friday’s RPAC meet.
    Bryner led the way with a first place finish at 170 lbs. Bryner was seeded third in the tournament and went 1-1 in his pool, pinning Arapahoe’s Carrick McCorkle in 18 seconds, but falling to second seeded Alek Molzahn of Alma in a 7-2 decision.
    From the two pools, wrestlers were seeded into brackets. Bryner faced top seeded Kolyn Gaston of Hitchcock County in his first match. Last week’s match between the pair went to Gaston, but this week Bryner came out on top and advanced to the finals with a third period pin.
    Bryner squared off with Molzahn once more in the finals and once more the match went the distance. This time Bryner came out on top, taking the conference title with a 5-2 win.
    WP Coach Danny Schluckebier was impressed with Bryner’s toughness after losing to Gaston last week.
    “This week he came prepared and wrestled like he wanted to win,” Schluckebier said, adding Bryner got right to work in the championship match and did what he needed to in the win.
    Holmes was seeded eighth out of eight in the 195 pound division at the start of the tournament.
    After losing his opening pool match to 25-2 Keegan Shuler of Hitchcock County, Holmes pinned the fourth seed and the fifth seed. Those wins earned Holmes a spot in the championship bracket. Holmes lost to the second seed, Alma’s Jeremy Felix (27-6), in his first match and the third seed, Maxwell’s Jaycob Young (20-11), in the third place match.
    Hamilton also faced an eight-man group at 220 lbs.
    As the fifth seed, Hamilton beat fourth seeded Trey Broeker of Southern Valley in their first pool match. Hamilton lost to top seeded Kayden Stubbs (28-2) in his second pool match, but took down eighth seeded Gabe Toole in his final pool match.
    Seeded into the championship bracket, Hamilton lost his first match to Southwest’s Clayton Hardy (25-7) before losing to Nolan Edgren of Loomis/Bertrand in the third place match.
    Schluckebier said the wins Holmes and Hamilton got gave them a good shot of confidence that he hopes will carry over to future tournaments.
    “They both are in weight classes that have some pretty solid wrestlers all the way around and was great to see that we can compete with them,” Schluckebier said.
    Hitting the mat for the first time this season was Hunter Miner. The senior returned from an ankle injury to finish sixth at 145 lbs. Miner lost his first two matches of the day, but bounced back to win his final two pool matches.
    Schluckebier said Miner still needs some time to heal, but was ready to get back on the mat. With the postseason quickly approaching, Schluckebier said it was important to get an official weigh in under Miner’s belt.
    While Miner’s conditioning was a concern heading into the meet, Schluckebier said Miner wrestled well and coaches expect him to improve over the coming weeks.
    At 160 lbs., Trey McCrumb was one of 12 wrestlers spread across four pools. McCrumb lost his two pool matches, but won two out of three matches by pin in the consolation pool.
    In other action, Coleman Chism went 0-5 at 106 lbs. and Derik Kennicutt went 0-5 at 285 lbs.
Up next
    Schluckebier said he and fellow coach Shad Wiese are very pleased with progress their wrestlers have shown this season so far and will keep pushing them to improve themselves.
    The Broncos will head to Curtis Thursday night for the Medicine Valley Duals, then return the next day for the MV Invite.

RPAC Meet at Alma Jan. 21, 2022
Team Results
1. Arapahoe, 186.5; 2. Maxwell, 172.0; 3. Southern Valley, 170.0; 4. Alma, 157.0; 5. Hitchcock County, 139.0; 6. Cambridge, 135.5; 7. Southwest, 127.0; 8. Loomis/Bertrand, 78.0; 9. Wauneta-Palisade, 64.0; 10. Dundy County-Stratton, 26.0; 11. Medicine Valley, 12.0; 12. Paxton, 4.0.
Individual Results
106—Coleman Chism (3-24) lost by fall to Carter Brandyberry (Alma), fall 0:14; lost by fall to Angel Rodriguez (Cambridge), fall 0:53; lost by fall to Wyatt Heessel (Maxwell), fall 0:55; lost by fall to Clayton North (Arapahoe), fall 4:38; lost by fall to Chase Hamilton (Southern Valley), fall 1:22.
145—Hunter Miner (2-3) lost by fall to Rafe Hill (Arapahoe), fall 3:15; lost by decision to Adam Corbett (Cambridge), dec 5-2; won by fall over Justin Seybold (Loomis/Bertrand), fall 0:49; won by fall over Braxton Williams (Maxwell), fall 3:00; 5th Place Match - lost by fall to Riley Miller (Maxwell), fall 1:29.
160—Trey McCrumb (5-19) lost by fall to Gabe Huntley (Cambridge), fall 0:42; lost by fall to Trevor Brown (Southern Valley), fall 0:30; won by fall over Tryston Edwards (Loomis/Bertrand), fall 0:49; won by fall over Laken Wissink (DCS), fall 3:00; lost by fall to Nate Grilli (Southern Valley), fall 4:32.
170—Conner Bryner (27-9) won by fall over Carrick McCorkle (Arapahoe), fall 0:18; lost by decision to Alek Molzahn (Alma), dec 7-2; won by fall over Kolyn Gaston (Hitchcock County), fall 4:54; 1st Place Match - won by decision over Molzahn (Alma), dec 5-2.
195—Cody Holmes (6-9)  lost by fall to Keegan Shuler (Hitchcock County), fall 2:41; won by fall over Gabe Grove (Southern Valley), fall 2:48; won by fall over Aspen Henderson (Medicine Valley), fall 1:28; lost by fall to Jeremy Felix (Alma), fall 1:46; 3rd Place Match - lost by fall to Jaycob Young (Maxwell), fall 1:23.
220—Cole Hamilton (6-11) won by fall over Trey Broeker (Southern Valley), fall 1:32; lost by fall to Kayden Stubbs (Maxwell), fall 0:55; won by fall over Gabe Toelle (Maxwell), fall 0:27; lost by fall to Clayton Hardy (Southwest), fall 0:52; 3rd Place Match - lost by fall to Nolan Edgren (Loomis/Bertrand), fall 1:41.
285—Derik Kennicutt (4-14) lost by fall to Jacob Copper (Maxwell), fall 0:55; lost by fall to Levi Kerner (Arapahoe), fall 0:11; lost by fall to Riggin Ludeke (Loomis/Bertrand), fall 0:33; lost by fall to Keithen Huntley (Cambridge), fall 2:48; 7th Place Match - lost by fall to John Fricke (Paxton), fall 1:49.