Four area wrestlers advanced to the semifinals with a pair of victories on Thursday during the first round of the state tournament in Omaha.Â
Cross County/Osceola, Twin River and Boone Central all have wrestlers in the semis, one match away from going to the championship round.
CCO saw two wrestlers go 2-0 on Thursday. Class C No. 3 Cameron Graham at 138 pounds and No. 8 Bryce Reed at 145 pounds. Reed scored an upset of the No. 1 ranked wrestler in his weight class.
Twin River junior No. 5 Jaxson Jones clinched his spot at 160.
Boone Central sophomore No. 4 Gavin Dozler will represent the Cardinals at 113 pounds.
TWIN RIVER
The Titans had four wrestlers in action on Thursday with mixed results.
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Jones started the day out with a pinfall over Kaden Vincent of Gordon-Rushville in the second period. In the quarterfinals, Jones defeated Carter Springs of Milford 13-2.
“I feel amazing right now," Jones said. "Three times qualifying here, first time ever placing. I’m pretty excited. I was nervous, but I get nervous pretty much before every match.
"I was nervous before the (semifinal) match, especially. I was ready to go. It normally goes away, 10, 15 seconds into the match then I’m in the zone and I’m ready to go. I love to get my shots and underhooks in. I love to run my underhooks, get on tough and be tough on the legs. I think Friday night will be awesome, my first-ever appearance there.”
Ashton Johnson won his first-round match at 106 pinning Thomas Hughson of Mitchell in the first period. In the quarterfinals, Johnson lost to No. 6 Barret Brandt of Syracuse by pinfall in the second period.Â
Rocco Gehring lost his first-round match to Ben Kment of Aquinas at 170 after being pinned in 52 seconds.
No. 6 Tucker Alexander won his first-round match at 195 pinning Quran Cook of Yutan in the first period. He lost his quarterfinal match to No. 4 Hunter Thonen of Conestoga 11-7.
CROSS COUNTY/OSCEOLA
Graham improved to 56-0 with a pinfall over Damien Bell of Bridgeport in the second period of the first round and defeated No. 4 Hunter McNulty of Logan View 12-6 in the quarters.
Reed defeated Jacob Dragon on Conestoga in the first round 9-1. Reed then faced No. 1 Morgan McGinley of Valentine in sudden victory. He led 5-3 entering a third period that saw him score nine points and McGinley 11 including a combined four reversals. The match then came down to overtime when Reed scored a takedown with 15 seconds left to earn the upset victory.
Colton Nuttelman defeated Roberto Valdivia of Logan View at 152 in the first round via third-period pinfall before a loss in the quarterfinals to No. 1 Joe Hinrichs of Sutton.
Kyle Sterup won his first match at 182 pinning Reilly Miller of David City Aquinas in 52 seconds. He lost in the quarterfinals to No. 1 Lathan Duda of Broken Bow 16-3.
BOONE CENTRAL
Ted Hemmingsen lost his first-round match at 106 to No. 2 Ely Olberding of Fort Calhoun via third-period pinfall.
Dozler defeated No. 7 Jacob Hilmer of Loomis/Bertrand 3-0 in the first round and defeated No. 8 Lance Olberding of Fort Calhoun 8-0 in the quarterfinals.
Sam Grape lost his first match at 138 to No. 8 Zack Barlean of David City in a second-period pinfall. Ashton Schafer lost his first-round match to No. 7 Gavin Hinrichs of Fillmore Central 6-0 at 160.
Richard Cleveland won his first match at 170 with a pin before suffering the same fate to No. 2 Burton Brandt of Syracuse.
At 195, Taylor Weber was pinned by Drew Bogard of Amherst in the second period.
Peter Huguenin is a sports reporter for The Columbus Telegram. Reach him via email at sports@columbustelegram.com
