The Blair Bears broke records Saturday during the NSAA State Wrestling Championships in Omaha.
Coach Erich Warner's nine qualifiers scored more team points than any other BHS squad has at state, finishing with 119 for fourth in Class B — a tie for the best result in school history.
More Bears than ever before left the CHI Health Center with medals, too. Luke Frost, Tyson Brown, Jesse Loges, Brock Templar, Yoan Camejo, Kaden Sears and Hudson Loges all stood on the podium by the end of the three-day event.
Just Hudson, though, stood at the top.
“I went out very confident,” the new 106-pound state champion said. “I was pretty certain I was going to go out there and dominate and that's what I did.”
Loges, a sophomore, beat former BHS teammate Cole Welte of Omaha Skutt for the state title. The pair has known each other since third grade, practicing and competing against each other along the way.
“I've grown up wrestling him,” the Bear said, noting their time on the mat at the MWC Wrestling Academy in Omaha.
In their first time matching up in the state finals, though, Loges led from the first period on. He took Welte's back during the opening two minutes for a 2-0 lead before scoring an escape 12 seconds into the second period.
The BHS standout — who has more than 100 career wins in just two seasons — scored a second takedown late in the second and held his 5-0 advantage to the final whistle.
“I figured he was going to be pretty defensive the whole match,” Loges said. “So, I figured if I just stalked him down, stayed on my offense and stayed aggressive it was going to be good.”
The win capped a 54-1 season for the sophomore, who set a school record for single-season wins during the tournament, breaking Charlie Powers' previous mark of 52. The 106-pounder won by pin twice during the state tournament, once by technical fall — a 16-1 win against Gothenburg's Abel Flores in Friday's semifinal bout — and, finally, by the state championship decision.
Altogether, Loges is just the fifth Blair wrestler to win an individual state championship. His title was the school's eighth overall after he took third as a freshman.
“It's nice being at the top of the podium now,” he said, cracking a confident smile.
6 more Bears medal
The Bears' record-breaking Class B state tournament also included two bronze medals, three fourth-place finishes and a fifth-place effort.
After a semifinals loss to unbeaten Landon Weidner of Hastings, Blair's 160-pound senior, Camejo, wanted nothing more than to go out a winner with a third-place medal.
“Just that hunger, that drive,” he said, describing what served as motivation after Friday's 5-0 defeat. “I couldn't get the best thing, but I'm going to get what's next.”
With his second 7-3 decision win of the tournament against Norris' Cooper Bice, Camejo earned a match against Columbus Lakeview's Owen Bargen for the No. 3 spot on the podium.
“I'm excited,” the wrestler said. “This is my senior year — you know, last year to do this — so I'm going to go out there and wrestle my heart out.”
He won 7-3 again, closing out his final season 43-8 overall.
Brown, BHS' junior 132-pounder, took third Saturday, too. The Bear went 4-1 in Omaha and finished 37-16 overall.
His third-place match came against Hastings Cameron Brumbaugh, who bested Brown during the state duals tournament two weeks earlier. Blair's 132-pounder said he was more prepared for the second meeting.
“I knew more,” he said. “I was able to stop his shots.”
Brown beat Brumbaugh 6-5 after besting Gering's Jordan Shirley by overtime tiebreaker during the consolation semifinals.
“Coming from last year, I wanted to get better,” the first-time medalist said. “Started doing stuff in the summer and I definitely improved.”
Frost, a 120-pound senior, improved his standing in Class B, too. After a fifth-place effort in 2022, he capped 2023 with a fourth-place finish.
In the third-place match, the BHS standout faced Eastern Midlands Conference rival Garrison Brehm of Waverly. It was a matchup he'd looked forward to.
“I want it again,” Frost said. “One last match.”
The wrestlers battled to a 1-1 tie in the third period, but the Viking ended up victorious — 6-1.
Frost's final high school win, however, came by sudden victory during the consolation semifinals. He bested Wayne's Garrett Schultz 3-1 with an overtime takedown.
“I felt him relax his shoulders a little bit and I knew it had to be then,” the senior said.
Jesse Loges, Hudson's older brother, won his consolation semifinals match with Waverly's Trev Greve by 16-1 technical fall. The senior advanced into the third-place match, but fell to Minden's Orrin Kuehn 6-3.
Both tourney losses were a disappointment to Loges, who's a three-time medalist and one-time state finalist.
“I guess it just wasn't meant to be,” he said.
The 12th-grader's future aspirations include more wins, though.
“I'll wrestle after high school,” Loges said. “And I'm assuming I'll be atop the podium somewhere else.”
Coach Warner's sophomore 152-pounder, Templar, earned fourth place with a 4-2 state tournament. He lost a second-round match to Caden Eggleston of Beatrice, but battled back for a rematch in the third-place bout.
“I wasn't feeling the greatest after that last night, but I just remembered its not really a 'me' sport,” Templar said less than 24 hours after Thursday's second-round defeat. “We kind of want a team title here and that's not possible unless everyone's giving full effort.”
The 152-pound Bear battled for two scoreless periods before topping Schuyler's Diego Maganda 3-0 to earn his way into the medal rounds Friday night.
“Zero-zero is not a great place to be, but once I rode him out (in the second period), I knew I was in a pretty good situation,” he said.
After a 2-1 decision in the consolation semis, Eggleston won the pair's rematch 6-3.
Sears lost a pair of matches at 182 pounds, too, but ended his senior season with a pin of Minden's Jaxton Janda in the Class B fifth-place match.
A day earlier, the Bear guaranteed himself a medal with a 14-5 major decision against Bennington's Blane Boehmer. It was the third time they'd met this season with the Blair wrestler winning the finale.
“This last match, I figured I'd better leave it all out on the mat because I don't want to end the season off not putting it all out on the mat,” he said Friday night.
Sears started fast and didn't let up against the Badger.
“From the get-go, I just wanted to get up,” he said.
On Saturday afternoon, the senior stepped up onto the podium.
Seniors close careers with state wins
Seniors Jim Rasmussen and Seagan Packett-Trisdale contended into the second consolation round for BHS, too.
Rasmussen finished his year at 195 pounds with a 19-17 overall record. He lost his first and third matches by major decision, but picked up a second-period pin against Omaha Concordia's Troy Eastman on Friday afternoon.
Packett-Trisdale, a heavyweight who recently signed to play football at Peru State, earned a pin in his second match, too. The 34-22 Blair wrestler earned the fall in 2:32 against Bennington's Kale Kaufmann before a loss to Minden's Dalton Kuehn ended his season.
Blair's Abigail James goes 1-2
Senior Abigail James, Blair's first-ever girls state tournament representative, picked up her school's first-ever girls win at the NSAA championship event Friday afternoon.
After a 10-0 major decision loss to Chadron's Kenli Boeselager on Thursday, the Bears' 145-pounder pinned Albion Boone Central's Madison Reilly to start the consolation rounds.
“Feels good,” James said. “The only thing going through my head was, 'I'm not losing.'”
The fall came just 59 seconds into the match. It was the senior's first overall win in four tries at state, including the two matches she wrestled as a Ralston Ram in 2022.
During the next round, however, Elkhorn Valley's Kennedy Penne topped James by second-period pin. The BHS standout's historic season ended with a 20-13 record.
CLASS B/GIRLS STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Thursday-Saturday at CHI Health Center, Omaha
Top 10 Boys teams: Omaha Skutt 164 points, Bennington 135, Waverly 121, Blair 119, Hastings 87, Beatrice 84, South Sioux City 66, Cozad 64.5, Scottsbluff 64, O'Neill 52. Also: 24th, Fort Calhoun, 22.
Top 10 Girls teams: SSC 109, Omaha Westside 89, Yutan 74, Papillion-La Vista 70, Grand Island 68, Crofton-Bloomfield 56, Millard South 54, Conestoga 52, Battle Creek 51, Amherst 48.5. Also: 65th, Blair, 3.
Blair Boys Wrestling Results
(Weight: Wrestler, state record (season record), place)
106 pounds: Hudson Loges, 4-0 (54-1), first
120: Luke Frost, 3-2 (40-20), fourth
132: Tyson Brown, 4-1 (37-16), third
138: Jesse Loges, 3-2 (45-16), fourth
152: Brock Templar, 4-2 (28-3), fourth
160: Yoan Camejo, 4-1 (43-8), third
182: Kaden Sears, 4-2 (40-24), fifth
195: Jim Rasmussen, 1-2 (19-17), NA
285: Seagan Packett-Trisdale, 1-2 (34-22), NA
Blair Girls Wrestling Results
145 pounds: Abigail James, 1-2 (20-13), NA
