Three Blair High School boys medaled Saturday during the NSAA State Wrestling Championships.
One left the mat for the last time disappointed.
Senior Tyson Brown's objective was to win a gold medal in Omaha at 138 pounds. Instead, he finished fourth, but — after a few minutes to catch his breath — also thankful for his time with the Bears. He thanked his coaches in particular.
“They really make wrestling the sport it should be,” said Brown, a multiple-time state medalist. “(Erich) Warner, (John) Roan — they all made me love wrestling.”
While he went 3-2 in Omaha, Atticus Dick and Blaise Baughman suffered just one loss apiece to take third in their respective weight classes. Dick, a 150-pound senior, was 4-1.
“I was extremely nervous at first,” he said after his first and last state appearance. “Just getting used to it, I was a little tensed up.”
A first-round pin and and an 8-7 quarterfinal victory loosened him up, though.
“But by the time of my semis match, I was ready to go,” Dick said. “Like, golden. I felt on fire, honestly.”
And, with a state finals berth on the line, the Bear nearly defeated Waverly's Garrett Rine on Friday. He scored an escape to start the second period, but surrendered one in the third before the match went to overtime. After another full 2 minutes of wrestling, Rine had earned the tiebreaker.
Still, Dick refocused and won two matches Saturday for a bronze medal. He first stopped Kooper Pohl of Cozad in 1:49 before pinning Seward's Caleb Jackson in 1:48 to finish the season 44-13.
“It was extremely emotional,” Dick said. “I just put my faith in God, let him take over, and that's all there was to it.”
Baughman, meanwhile, wrestled six matches across three days for his 175-pound third-place medal. The sophomore started with a 12-3 decision on Thursday before Waverly's Drew Moser — the eventual state champ — pinned him in the quarterfinals.
The long road back from the loss started Friday and ended Saturday with four-straight victories. Baughman pinned Ralston's Brian Sanchez first before guaranteeing himself a medal with a 4-1 decision against 38-4 Lincoln Christian wrestler Jackson Cooley.
“Huge,” the BHS standout said after securing a top-six finish. “To win state is my goal, but to place at state was up there with my wrestling goals. So, it was just a huge match.”
The win took a bit of weight off of his shoulders going into the last day of competition.
“I'll be able to wrestle relaxed and not have to worry, but I'll still get business done,” Baughman said.
As it turned out, Friday's 4-1 score was the first of three in a row. The 10th-grader beat both Frankie Trevino of Scottsbluff and Lexington's Jason Hernandez by identical scores, closing his season 46-8 overall.
Brown's final season with the Blair wrestling team ends at 49-10. He earned three of the 49 wins — the sixth highest total earned in a single BHS season — in Omaha, besting Lexington's Sebastian Herrera and Logan Wooten of Plattsmouth by 7-3 decisions before his last win Saturday against Jaden Meyer.
Brown held off the Hastings wrestler 1-0, earning a spot in the third-place match against Jorge Carrizales of Ogallala. The 138-pounder scored an escape during the second period, but needed time with a matside trainer to stop the blood flowing from the right corner of his mouth.
Carrizales eventually scored an escape, forcing overtime, and won from there with a sudden-victory takedown.
The loss hurt Brown, but he recovered and highlighted one of the best moments of his senior season. During it, he picked up a win against the wrestler who became state champion in his weight class — 46-2 Brayden Canoyer of Waverly.
“I always wanted to beat him since last year when he beat me four times to none,” Brown said. “When I finally did it, that was nice.”
Bellamy competes at state
Blair's fourth state qualifier, Tannon Bellamy, went 2-2 at state.
The 106-pounder beat Gering's Jude Connelly by major decision, 14-4, before a quarterfinals loss to Omaha Skutt's Ben Ziola. He bounced back, though, topping Kade Giecke of York on Friday before a 9-2 season ending loss to Fort Calhoun's Merritt Olberding in the heartbreak round.
Bellamy finished the season one win shy of a state medal, but 35-15 overall.
NSAA STATE WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
CLASS B
Thursday-Saturday at CHI Health Center, Omaha
Top-10 team standings: Waverly 176, Omaha Skutt 167.5, Bennington 140, Beatrice 100, Cozad 95, York 86.5, Plattsmouth 81.5, Scottsbluff 78.5, Gering 66.5, Blair 53. Also: 28, Fort Calhoun, 16.
Blair Results
(Weight: wrestler, tournament record (overall record))
106 pounds: Tannon Bellamy, 2-2 (35-15)
138: Tyson Brown, 3-2 (49-10), fourth place
150: Atticus Dick, 4-1 (44-13), third
175: Blaise Baughman, 5-1 (46-8), third
