A look back at the Kimball High wrestling season

You could term the 2017-18 Kimball High Wrestling season as being one of short on numbers, but long on effort. Coach Wade Brashear had only 6 wrestlers for most of the season, before Toby McManigal joined the team late after recovering from health problems. There were highlights, of course, along with the disappointments.

The top highlight of the year has to be junior, Jordan Cluff, qualifying for the State Tournament, and then winning a couple of matches at the Big Show in Omaha. Wrestling at 113 pounds, Cluff ended up with a record of 26 wins and 12 losses and scored the most match points of all team members with 229. He was honorable mention All Conference, as well, and scored 134.5 team points, second only to Garrett Pedersen, who had 150 team points.

Coach Brashear is losing the two seniors who have given such good effort to the program and have served as good leaders. Garrett Pedersen, as mentioned, led in team points with 150 and had 189 match points, while compiling a season record of 30 wins and only 9 losses, while wrestling at 126 pounds. He also had 18 falls and 6 major decisions. After qualifying for state as a sophomore, it was disappointing that he lost in the heart-break round at district this year and failed to return to the state tournament. Pedersen was All Conference in both conferences.

Senior, Jaden Mohr, also had a winning season of 24 wins and 20 losses and led the team with most matches wrestled. Jaden also wrote his name into the record books breaking the school record of 33 previously held by Jeremy Kirby for escapes set in the 1993-94 season and now holds the new record of 35! Wrestling at 132 pounds, Mohr scored 179 match points and 80 team points. He led the team in falls with 19.

Connor Cluff, a freshman, wrestling at 113 pounds, was 14-21 for the year in wins and losses scoring 131 match points and 71 team points and his future is bright. Sophomore, Stephen Bateman, wrestling at the very tough weight class of 195, finished out at 14 wins and 23 losses, scoring 131 match points and 55 team points. Izaac Rohde, a freshman, joined the Kimball team late, but made a good showing after moving to Kimball and joining up with the Longhorns. He had a 7-6 record, scoring 23 match points and 31 team points and wrestled at 220, also a tough weight for a freshman. Toby McManigal was 0-8 and, hopefully, will come back fully healthy next year in his senior season.

While the numbers are way down, and with the loss of Mohr and Pedersen to graduation, Coach Brashear and assistant Bob Culek are hoping for a good turnout from next year’s freshman class. Culek has been working hard with the Kimball Wrestling Club in Federation Wrestling and is helping to get the interest up in the younger group. The program needs more bodies!