Busy opening week for Longhorn wrestlers

    It will be a full first week of competition for the Chase County wrestlers with three, back-to-back meets.
    The action starts today (Thursday) when the Longhorns travel to the Garden County/Bridgeport triangular in Oshkosh. On Friday they’ll be at the Elwood Invite and Saturday at the Broken Bow tourney.
    With 11 on the roster, Coach Matt Vlasin said they expect to fill five to six classes at varsity meets, led by the team’s only senior, Kenyan Biesecker.
    Biesecker is a four-year wrestler, and is expected to compete at 145 lbs. After being close to state qualification the last two seasons, Vlasin believes he has a good shot again this season to be in Omaha.
    In addition, the team has three freshmen, three sophomores and four juniors on the squad.
    All but three are returners, but all of them have wrestling experience. The freshmen had good experience in junior high and kids programs.
    “So it’s been easy to jump into things, so practice has been smooth,” Vlasin said.
    It was a bit crowded with the junior high practicing at the same time as high school, but their season’s over so there is now more room, he added.
    Josh Geary returns as the team’s assistant coach.
A few changes
    The NSAA has sanctioned a separate division for girls in the 2020-21 wrestling season. Vlasin expects most meets on the CCS schedule will have a girls’ division this year.
    Chase County has two girls on its team, sophomores Keirsten Colton and Aurora Griebel. Both of them also wrestled as freshmen.
    Vlasin said at most meets last year, there were between 5-10 girls wrestling, so with their own division now, he foresees more girls at the meets. A lot of details remain up in the air, he said.
    COVID-19 has also forced some changes, most noticeably, affecting fans.
    Vlasin is doubtful any of the meets they attend, included Chase County’s home meet, will allow in fans. That’s due to the restriction that limits large groups to 25% of occupancy.
    In order to keep numbers down, there will also be subdistricts this year in wrestling. Chase County’s is set for Feb. 6.
    The top four place winners from subdistricts qualify for the district meet Feb. 12-13.
    The state meet will also feature a new format to cut down numbers. Two classes will wrestle Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 17-18, and the other two on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 19-20. In the past, all four classes competed together over three days.
    Chase County has two new meets on its schedule.
    After Chadron cancelled its two-day tournament, Chase County got into the Hemingford tourney Jan. 22.
    Chase County also opted to attend the Garden Co. Invitational Jan. 9 instead of Ogallala’s dual tournament.