Hayley Rusher repeats as #145 Class B Champion

By Alan Carman
The Imperial Republican
CCS took four Longhorns to the State Wrestling Tournament in Omaha, Feb. 17-21. The three girls wrestled on Tuesday and Wednesday and Dylan Miscles Gamboa wrestled Thursday-Saturday.
    On Wednesday night, Hayley Rusher repeated as the Girls Class B 145 pound Champion for the second straight year, pinning Lucia Campbell of Auburn in 5:27.
    Rusher ends her high school career, going 95-1 over the last two years and claiming two State Titles.
    In her second trip to the State Tournament in as many years, Paige Owens held the #11 seed and faced #6 Hailey Hartl of Elkhorn Valley in her first match.
    After a scoreless first period, Owens took the lead in the second period, 8-5. She added six more points in the third and only gave up one, winning the decision 14-6.
    In her second match, Owens faced Bristol Prado of Chadron. Prado was the opponent a couple weeks earlier that Owens suffered a dislocated shoulder from. Just 39 seconds into the match, Prado used the same move and dislocated Owen’s shoulder again, ending her tournament early.
    Avery Cyboron qualified at #130 as the #14 seed and faced #3 seeded Madalyn Pistulka of West Holt. Cyboron trailed after the first period by three, after Pistulka got a takedown.
    Cyboron chose the top position to start the second period, but got reversed and pinned by Pistulka in 2:35, dropping Cyboron into the consolation bracket to face #6, Emalee Poore of Adams Central.
    In a back and forth match, Cyboron led 3-0 after the first period. In the second, Poore got a take-down to tie the match. Cyboron scored two for a reversal, but Poore got her own reversal and turned it into a pin in 2:32, to end Cyboron’s tournament.
    Hayley Rusher had the #3 seed and faced #14 Jenahcie Zautke of Madison in the first round. Rusher scored 11 points before finishing the match in 1:24 with a pin.
    In her second match, Rusher faced #11 Bethany Arens of Crofton/Bloomfield. Rusher led 3-1 after the first period and the second period was scoreless. In the third, Arens took the bottom position. Rusher held her down and executed a pin at 5:07, advancing her to the semi-finals Tuesday night.
    The #2 seed Taylor Ahlman of Battle Creek stood between Rusher and her chance to repeat as State Champ. After a scoreless first period, Rusher took the top position to start the second period and in 1:04, Rusher secured a pin and a title shot.
    In the finals, Rusher would face #12 Lucia Campbell of Auburn. Campbell had already upset the #5, #4 and the #1 seed to reach the finals.
    Campbell fought hard, but Rusher controlled the match from start to finish, scoring seven in the first, four in the second and three more in the third, before securing her fourth pin of the tournament at 5:27 and securing her second straight title at 145 pounds.
    In the boys tournament, sophomore Dylan Miscles Gamboa was the only qualifier for Chase County, wrestling at #106 and getting the ninth seed.
    In his first match, Miscles Gamboa faced #8 seed, Heustyn Roesler of St. Paul. In a one sided match, Miscles Gamboa won by major decision, 12-0, advancing to the quarter-finals to face #1 seed and undefeated Ace Schweitzer of Central City.
    Schweitzer showed why he was the top seed, pinning Miscles Gamboa in 0:43 seconds. That dropped Miscles Gamboa into the consolation bracket on Friday where he would face #10, Bentley Cosatis of Doniphan-Trumbull.
    Midway through the third period, Miscles Gamboa got caught and put on his back for the pin at 3:55, to end his State Tournament.