Four Horn Wrestlers Battle To Take 3rd As A Team

On Friday, the Longhorn wrestlers competed at the Hemingford Invitational and placed third out of 12 teams with 47 team points. The tournament was won by Chase County with 112 team points.

The Longhorns were without the services of Matthew Johnson at 106 this weekend because of illness. With only four wrestlers competing this weekend, to finish third as a team shows how well the team wrestled.

The day was led by James McGinnis at 132 championship finish. James pinned an opponent from Hay Springs to win first place. Trey Schindler continued his solid season with a runner-up finish at 152. Cody Brinkman was able to put together a solid tournament to finish second at 120. Justin Klosterman continues to improve as a first-year wrestler, but did not place.

Chadron Invitational

On Saturday. the Longhorn wrestlers completed at the always tough Chadron Invitational. The Longhorns placed 15 out of 20 schools from Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado and South Dakota. They scored 21 team points.

Justin Klosterman at 138 and Cody Brinkman at 120 were 0-2 on the day and did not place. James McGinnis at 132 started the day with two quality wins by fall. He however lost his next two matches to not place in the tournament. This is the first time he has not placed in a tournament this year.

The day was led by Trey Schindler’s fourth place finish at 152. He defeated a 24-2 wrestler from Mead, Colorado, with a late takedown and near fall to advance to the semi-finals. He wrestled a returning Nebraska state champion to a 5-3 match before trying a big move at the end to score points and was pinned. He then pinned a tough Garden County wrestler that he lost to the day before in Hemingford. He then had a rematch with the Mead wrestler and lost 2-0 to finish in fourth place.

Coach McManigal’s

Observations

“We had a solid day of wrestling in Hemingford on Friday. To finish in third place to two teams that have full squads with four guys says a lot on how we competed. I believe if we would have had Matthew Johnson at 106 competing, we may have been able to score more team points to possibly move into second place in the team scoring. James McGinnis was able to defeat the wrestler from Hay Springs that he has lost to twice was big for our district seading.

“On Saturday, the level of competition went up in Chadron. I thought we started the day really well but did not finish the day very well. Trey Schindler had a solid day at 152. He wrestled some quality opponents on the day to finish fourth. James McGinnis had a good day of wrestling to start the day but did not finish the day with good wrestling and was not able to place. I know he will fix some things this week to improve next time.

“This week we will take a long road trip to wrestle in the Plainview tournament. Plainview is the defending Class D state champions. We are very excited to compete against some different competition.”