Williams gets 100th win at State Tournament
OMAHA — Ethan Williams didn’t come away with a state medal in his final try, but he did leave with a nice memory.
The senior 220-pounder went 1-2 at the Nebraska State Wres-tling Championships, starting the day with an exciting third- period pin over Luke Howitt of Maxwell that turned out to be his 100th career win.
Not a bad finish for a wrestler who won just five matches his freshman year.
“He did it (100 wins) in basi-cally three years because he was behind Nolan Casey his fresh-man year, who ended up fifth in the state,” coach Don Maxwell said. “But he hung in there and did a good job for us, and it wasa blessing that he was able toget that 100th win there.”
His 100th win was an ex-citing battle with the Maxwell sophomore, who nearly pinned Williams late in the first period and led 5-4 going to the third period when Williams started from the bottom position.
About 30 seconds into the third period, Williams reversed position to take a 6-5 lead, then quickly used a half-nelson to turn Howitt to his back with 1:18 left in the match to record the pin, causing both of his coaches — Don Maxwell and Mike Naeve, to leap from their chairs in celebration.
Unfortunately, that was as far as the Bears’ senior would go. He lost a 8-7 heartbreaker to eventual champion Peyton Cone of Archbishop Bergan in the quarterfinals on Thursday, then lost a 3-1 decision to Cole Rosenkrans of O’Neill St. Mary’s in the consolation to end his season with a 27-14 record.
“It was just too bad wecouldn’t go any farther,” Max-well said. “But he lost to the eventual champ and was knocked out by the sixth place kid. He wrestled really well for us and I was very proud of him.”
Williams finished the season medaling in every meet and be-ing the team’s most consistent wrestler, but always seeming to come up one step short of the top of the medal stand.
“He was in a lot of finals this year and raked in a lot of seconds this year, but he did a good job for us,” Maxwell said. “He worked hard in practice and wrestled well, but just came up a little short.”
State Results
220: Ethan Williams, Laurel-Concord-
Coleridge
First Round — pinned Luke Howitt, Maxwell, 4:42.
Quarterfinals — dec. by Peyton Cone,Archbishop Bergan, 8-7. Second-Round Consolation — dec. by Cole Rosenkrans, St. Mary’s, 3-1.
