Peterson places third at state wrestling

Chase County sophomore Jaret Peterson is well on his way to becoming the school’s next three time state wrestling medalist after a third place finish at last week’s state tournament.
Before leaving for Omaha, CCS Head Coach Matt Vlasin said Peterson has big goals for his Longhorn career.
Peterson went 2-2 last year and lost his first round match.
This year a first-round win set Peterson off on the right foot.
Although he went the full six minutes with Milford’s Ethan Buchli (35-17), Vlasin said it went how they had expected.
“We knew it wouldn’t be easy, but we liked that he got a full match in,” Vlasin said.
The 12-5 decision moved Peterson on to the quarterfinals were he faced Archbishop Bergan’s Clay Hedges.
Hedges won his first match of the tournament by medical forfeit.
Without a chance to watch a match, Vlasin said they didn’t know much about the sophomore.
Hedges gave CCS fans a scare in the match. Peterson chose the down position to start the second period and Vlasin said Hedges threw legs on Peterson in an unexpected move. After he escaped Peterson would control the rest of the match, getting a fall at the 3:08 mark.
The win set up a semifinal matchup with eventual state champion Logan Booth (49-3)of Logan View.
Vlasin said Peterson was extremely focused during warm ups, but the huge break between warm ups and the match possibly threw Peterson off.
Booth got Peterson off the ground and threw him down for a quick pin.
Peterson told Vlasin after the match that he hadn’t been picked up like that since he was little.
With a night to prepare, Peterson came out Saturday and took on Isaac Wilcox (45-11) of Norfolk Catholic, last season’s runner up at 285 lbs.
Vlasin said he was nervous about the match, but after it got underway he knew Peterson could hang with the long, tall senior.
The match went the distance with Peterson taking the 8-5 win.
“Jaret came off the mat and said ‘we’re getting third’,” Vlasin said.
That afternoon was the third place match against Kase Thompson (44-12) of Battle Creek.
Knowing Thompson liked to throw his opponents, Vlasin said Peterson wanted to keep his distance.
Thompson was frustrated by the end of the match, Vlasin added, and Peterson took the 3-2 win.
Overall, Vlasin was impressed by Peterson’s level of intensity throughout the meet.
With friends, family and teammates in the stands, Vlasin said everyone was excited about how he finished.
Dan Reeves took many of the other Longhorn wrestlers to Omaha. Vlasin said the group found spots in the front row for Peterson’s matches and made their voices heard.
Vlasin thinks the experience will be a good one for his program and team members are already talking about summer workouts.
220—Jaret Peterson (46-5) won by decision over Ethan Buchli (Milford), dec 12-5; won by fall over Clay Hedges (Archbishop Bergan), fall 3:08; lost by fall to Logan Booth (Logan View), fall 0:54; won by decision over Isaac Wilcox (Norfolk Catholic), dec 8-5; 3rd Place Match - won by decision over Kase Thompson (Battle Creek), dec 3-2.