Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First

Clay Keller wins at Mitchell tournament

Kimball's Clay Keller claimed the championship in the 132 pound weight class at the 18 team Mitchell Wrestling Tournament this past weekend as the Longhorns finished 11th in the team standings with 40 points. Sidney won the team title with 222.5 points with Gothenburg a distant runnerup with 156.5 points.

Winning the gold medal in a tournament of this size is a worthy accomplishment for the young freshman who pinned three opponents enroute to the championship match. He had a fall in 1:37 over Langlois of Burns/Pine Bluffs, pinned Cushman of Southeast in 2:30, pinned Dorsey of Gothenburg in 1:29 and won 9-3 over Swanson of Mitchell in the championship match.

Justin Mohr at 138 was one match from placing as he won 8-6 over Mackley of Hershey, lost by fall in 4:00 to Weibert of Bridgeport, and lost by fall in 4:06 to Jones of Crawford.

Rowdy Keller at 120 suffered an injury resulting in a bad muscle pull in his neck that caused coach Wade Brashear to pull him out of action and will keep him out of the SPVA conference tournament as well this week, but hopefully he should be ready for district action. Rowdy won by fall in 1:26 over Allbaugh of Gering, pinned Ross of Minatare in 2:33, lost 15-2 to Walters of Mitchell, and lost by injury default to Chasek of Mitchell.

Logan Stahla at 132 pinned Riesen of Mitchell in 1:17, and lost by fall in 4:37 to Langlois of Burns/Pine Bluffs. Cody Kirby at 220 and Eric Escajeda at 285 both suffered 2 losses by fall.

Coach Brashear said, "Overall we wrestled decent, but we will need to improve come districts. Our next event is today (Thursday) at the SPVA Conference Tournament in Maxwell."