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

Kimball Wrestlers Had A Busy Weekend

The Kimball High Wrestlers had a busy weekend with two tournaments back to back on Friday and Saturday of this past week. On Friday they wrestled at the North Platte St Pats Tournament and on Saturday they were at the Charlie Lake Tournament at Cheyenne East.

Coach Wade Brashear gave a run down on the North Platte Tournament saying “On Friday we travelled to North Platte St Pats for a small pool tournament. This was our first year in this tournament. Overall, our wrestling was down. Matt Johnson suffered two overtime losses to heavier opponents. Matt weighs 80 pounds and competes in the 106 pound weight class. Connor Cluff lost two matches that could have been secured with better wrestling out of Connor. Trey Schindler had another solid outing going 4-1 on the day and taking 2nd place finish”.

Matt Johnson at 106 ended up 1-3 at North Platte and had a :46 second pin for his lone win. Connor Cluff at 132 ended up 1-2 and had a pin over his Lexington opponent. Trey Schindler at 145 was 4-1 as the young freshman continues to shine at a difficult weight class. Enroute to his 2nd place finish he pinned 4 opponents and his only loss was an 11-2 decision to a wrestler from Brady. Iliano Serrano at 152 was 1-4 and his win was a 10-8 decision for 7th place. Stephen Bateman at 285 suffered 2 losses by fall.

CHEYENNE EAST

TOURNAMENT

There were some positives at the Cheyenne East Tournament according to Coach Brashear. “We had two wrestlers compete on the JV side of the brackets at Cheyenne on Saturday. This tournament allowed Matt Johnson to wrestle athletes his weight and Matt went 2-0 and won his weight bracket showing some great wrestling. Matt just needs another year to grow into the high school weights, but his wrestling is there. Look for great things from him in the future.”

“Ilian Serrano is required to wrestle JV all year as he was a late transfer to the district. Ilian needs, and is working towards gaining experience and athleticism, but he has shown great improvemnet in the early season. Steve Bateman had a good win in the heavyweight bracket on the varsity side, but suffered a loss in the consolation that he should have won. Steve has lots of potential this year as a senior, but has been hampered by not having a practice partner. Trey Schindler was only able to get one varsity win on Saturday as this tournament was very tough at the 145 pound weight class and it was a good learning experience for him and as up and coming freshman.”

As mentioned, Matt Johnson won both of his matches Saturday. Serrano was 2-2. Connor Cluff was 0-2, Trey Schindler 1-2, and Steve Bateman 1-2.

Kimball had a home match this past Tuesday evening with Chase County and will wrestle at Bridgeport in the Bridgeport/Sidney Tournament this Saturday in the final matches prior to the Christmas break.