Article Image Alt Text

Casey earns L&C Conference title

LAUREL - Kolby Casey just notched two more big milestones as he nears the end of his high school wrestling career.

Casey pinned in his 100th career win. He also earned the Lewis and Clark Conference title at 220 pounds.

The Quad County Northeast Blaze wrestling team found a way to complete the Lewis and Clark Conference tournament that had been disrupted by snow, finally on Jan. 23.

It was an interesting day for the girls squad with a combined conference tournament/East Husker Conference meet to create, what head coach Mark Lech said, “one large tournament.”

Both Emilee Olson and Darly Garcia wrestled in Creighton to represent the Lady Blaze.

Garcia placed second and Olson third in their respective brackets while the boys also went to work.

The Blaze brought home three individual championships as the team finished second overall.

Ethan Gregory (106), Ajay Gubbels (182) and Kolby Casey (220) all brought home individual titles.

Six other boys also medaled by placing in the top six spots including Gavin Wortman (152), Gage Jensen (160), Justin Backer (170) and Aiden Gubbels (285) all finished second in their brackets and Carter Olson finished third in the 132-pound competition.

Bryson Eledge ended up fourth in the 138-pound class.

“The day went smooth at Creighton and both teams competed well,” Lech said.

The team headed to Winside to make up a weather postponed dual against Winside as the Blaze won 42-20 and the girls won theirs head-to-head, 12-6.

They were supposed to travel to Plainview on Saturday, but another storm blew threw the region and dumped more snow on the area, causing a cancellation.

“This leaves just two regular season events left for the boys,” Lech said, with the team traveling to Dakota Valley, S.D. on Thursday for a quad with Creighton, Ponca and Dakota Valley.”

The boys will end their regular season Saturday at the Wakefield tournament.

“The girls are now preparing for Districts and a chance to qualify for the state tournament,” Lech said.

The girls districts will be Friday and Saturday in Madison with the top four in each weight class qualifying to go to the state finals in Omaha.

The girls only have one class at the state finals and there can be brackets with as many as 32 athletes competing for one district crown.

“We wish the girls well and congratulate them on a great regular season,” Lech said.

Northeast Nebraska News Company

102 W. Main
Hartington NE 68739
402-254-3997