Two wrestlers fall in heartbreak round at the district meet
PLAINVIEW — The Osmond wrestling team competed in the NSAA Class D District 1 meet on Friday, Feb. 14, and Saturday, Feb. 15. The Tigers battled with 20 teams from across the state of Nebraska to earn a spot in Omaha for the State tournament. The Tigers scored 16 team points and nished in 16th out of the 20 teams competing. Plainview was the district champion with 230.5 points, followed by Neligh-Oakdale and Burwell. The Tigers fell just short of hav- ing two wrestlers qualify, with the Vinson brothers, Alex and Patrick, being the nal two to fall in the heartbreak round. Patrick, who wrestled at 145 lbs., entered the tournament as the sixth seed and ended his tournament after falling to the top seeded wrestler in the heartbreak round in Cody Hanvey from Creighton. Alex also entered the tournament as the sixth seed, where his run ended in the heartbreak round, falling to Zach Randall of Pender. “Both Patrick and Alex had a rough rst day of the tournament,” said Coach Eli Neitzel. “Patrick’s two losses were to the kid who ended up winning the tournament and to the kid who was favored to win. He was able to battle and make it to the nal round before the medal round, which was just shy of his goal, after missing last year districts due to injury.” “Alex was also right there at the end,” Neitzel commented. “He was ahead in his nal match but just got rolled and pinned in the nal seconds of the period. He was very disappointed in his performance, but taking into account he had only six matches this year due to injury compared to the average of 40 in his bracket, he compete very well. I could not have asked any more of him these last two weeks.” Also wrestling for Osmond were Robert Aschoff at 106 lbs., Octavio Palacios at 113 lbs., Hunter Beacom at 120 lbs. and Bodie True at 138 lbs. All four wrestlers were eliminated on the rst day of the tournament. “Our other wrestlers all wrestled a tough tournament,” Neitzel said. “Robert had, in my opinion, the hardest bracket in all of Class D. He really fought hard until the end, where we just got out-sized. Octavio and Hunter both had pretty dif cult draws, and were unable to win a match, but they both wrestled hard until the end and almost pulled the upset on a couple of wrestlers that were higher ranked.” True had the longest day on Friday, wrestling a total of four matches, going 2-2 on the day. “In any other bracket, winning two matches would guarantee you through to the second day, but the way it worked out, we had to win three. We ended up falling just short of a solid kid from Plainview in Tunender.” This will wrap up the Tigers’ season since they did not qualify anyone for the state meet. When asked to re ect on the season, Neit- zel commented, “We had some low moments in our season with some injuries that were outside of our control, but the guys kept ghting and kept improving to reach greater heights. Knowing everything we had to fight through this season, I am very proud of these guys and look forward to what they can bring in future seasons.”
Robert Aschoff (15-16) Lost by fall to Layne Sturek of Pender, won by fall over Angel Rodriguez of Cambridge, and lost by fall to Nolan Osborn of Twin Loup. Octavio Palacios (9-14) lost by pin Bryan Conn of Arapahoe, lost 10-6 to Keegan Strohl of Twin Loup. Hunter Beacom (18-18) lost 8-3 to Jaxon Smutz of Scribner-Snyder, lost by tech fall to Kirby Smith of Fullerton. Bodie True (15-14) Won by fall over Lawrence Werth of St. Mary’s, pinned by Slate Micheel of Twin Loup, fall over Jordan Otto of Thayer Central, pinned by Devon Tunender of Plainview. Patrick Vinson Lost by pin to Dominic Stewart of Thayer Central, pinned Dominik Roberts of Arapa- hoe, pinned by Cody Hanavey of Creighton. Alex Vinson Lost by pin to Aiden Kuester of Neligh-Oakdale, pinned Cameron Schulte of Thayer Central, pinned by Zach Randall of Pender.
Team Scores
Plainview ......................230.5 Neligh-Oakdale ............147.5 Burwell ......................... 124.0 Twin Loup ....................107.5 Thayer Central................96.0 Elkhorn Valley ................95.0 Meridian ......................... 67.5 Arapahoe ........................62.0 Pender .............................61.0 Cambridge ......................52.0 Summerland ...................45.0 Brady ..............................42.0 Creighton........................38.0 Fullerton ......................... 28.0 Elgin Public-Pope John ..22.0 Osmond ..........................16.0 Niobrara/Verdigre ........... 11.0 Scribner-Snyder................6.0 Clarkson-Leigh.................5.0 St. Mary’s .........................4.0
