Coach Drew Welchert felt his Fort Calhoun Pioneers were prepared going into Saturday's Class B-3 District Wrestling Tournament at Grand Island Northwest.
“I'm pretty happy with where everyone's at right now,” he said, looking out over the mat as his boys wrestling team warmed up. “It's always the goal to peak right now and that can be tough sometimes. But, I think we did a pretty good job this season.”
FCHS suited up 12 grapplers for the tournament.
“They should do very well,” Welchert said.
Gage Nixon, and Merritt and Presley Olberding, did the best, qualifying for the NSAA State Wrestling Championships in Omaha with top-four finishes. Nixon, a senior, secured his first state tournament berth with a fourth-place finish at 132 pounds.
“Gage always does a good job of putting in the work,” Welchert said.
On Saturday, he wrestled five matches, going 3-2. The Pioneer opened with a 5-1 decision victory before holding off Schuyler's Jason Ramon 7-6, earning a “That a boy!” from his coach on the corner of the mat.
“Win or loss, he's always done a tremendous job of leading the guys,” Welchert said.
After a semifinals match defeat to Bennington's Brodee Scobee, Nixon won a 3-2 rematch with his opening-round opponent — Plattsmouth's Austin Lingen — to qualify for state. He then lost his third-place match, 7-1.
Merritt and Presley Olberding, the freshmen twin brothers of multiple-time FCHS state medalists Lance and Ely, earned their state spots at 106 and 113 pounds, respectively. Merritt was the district champion, going 3-0 with three pins. He stopped Bennington's Lane Welchert in the finals, securing the fall in 1:26.
Presley, meanwhile, took third at 113 pounds to advance to Omaha. The ninth-grader opened with a 18-2 technical fall in 4:40 before a semifinals loss to Northwest's Kaleb Keiper.
From there, though, the Pioneer won back-to-back matches by pin. He stuck Ethan Gregory of Wayne in 4:06 to qualify for state before pinning Mylus Robison of Plattsmouth in 2:23 for a bronze medal.
In addition to Calhoun's three state qualifiers, Landon Bernasek, Fred Altstadt, AJ Duros, TJ DeMilt and Alex Schuler reached the win-or-go-home consolation semis. Bernasek started the day 2-0 at 126 pounds, while Altstadt took his last opponent of the season to overtime before falling by tiebreaker.
Duros closed his senior season 24-17 in Grand Island, DeMilt picked up two pins there and Schuler went 2-2 after entering the tournament with just one other match this season due to injury.
While their seasons are done, Nixon and the Olberdings start state competition 9:30 a.m. Thursday at the CHI Health Center. Competition continues through the finals on Saturday.
CLASS B-3 DISTRICT TOURNAMENT
Saturday at Grand Island Northwest
Team standings: Bennington 264, Plattsmouth 173.5, Scottsbluff 170.5, Northwest 145, Norris 82, Fort Calhoun 74.5, Wayne 71, Nebraska City 69.5, Schuyler 63, Omaha Roncalli 27, Elkhorn Mount Michael 25, Boys Town 20.
Fort Calhoun Results
(Weight: wrestler, tourney record (overall record))
106 pounds: Merritt Olberding, 3-0 (32-13), state qualifier (first place)
113: Presley Olberding, 3-1 (35-11), state qualifier (third)
126: Landon Bernasek, 2-2 (24-12)
132: Gage Nixon, 3-2 (29-15), state qualifier (fourth)
138: Seth Waters, 0-2 (19-23)
144: Fred Altstadt, 2-2 (21-13)
150: AJ Duros, 2-2 (24-17)
157: TJ DeMilt, 2-2 (25-19)
165: Ray Caruso, 0-2 (9-15)
175: Trey King, 0-2 (6-15)
190: Alex Schuler, 2-2 (3-2)
215: Connor Holmstedt, 0-2 (8-16)
