Feb 18

Written by: ngreditor
2/18/2008 1:43 PM 

 

February 13, 2008

Front row: Mark O'Brien, Wyatt Wallin, Sheldon Boschen and Ben Jacobson. Middle row: Tyler Zoucha, Luke Gasper, Jordan Fowlkes and Derek Stone. Third row: Coaches Don Schumacker and Larry Boschen.

Districts done and heading to State

By Jessica Boschen

Friday afternoon we headed to Stanton for the D-2 District Wrestling Tournament. D-2 is the toughest district in Class D. This doesn't scare away the Newman Grove Wrestling Team. They all have done so great throughout the regular season. Everyone continued to improve and made a great showing at the district tournament. It was time to step it up.

Out of the 19 competing teams in District D-2, Newman Grove finished 6th. The 5 teams that placed ahead of us all had full teams. We made a pretty good showing with only eight wrestlers, if I do say so myself. I'm sure several would agree.

Out of our eight man wrestling team, four individuals qualified for state. When you think about it, that's half of the team. The top four out of each bracket qualify for the state competition which is held at the Qwest Center in Omaha.

Jordan Fowlkes, a junior wrestling at 103, placed first and also won his 100th match. Sheldon Boschen, a freshman wrestling at 112, placed third. Luke Gasper, a junior wrestling at 140, placed fourth. Wyatt Wallin, a senior wrestling at 189, placed third.

All four of these guys are excited to make their appearance at the state tournament.

Wyatt went and lifted up Coach Schumaker driven by his joy. This truly shows how much these boys appreciate all the time that their coaches put in for them. They wouldn't succeed if it wasn't for the great guidance they are given. The entire team will be heading to Omaha on Friday to support each other. We also have about 70 other fans that will be at the Qwest to support the Newman Grove Wrestlers.

Tyler Zoucha, a junior wrestling at 119, and Derek Stone, a sophomore wrestling at 215, were both only one match away from qualifying for state. The other members of the team that competed at districts included Ben Jacobson, a freshman wrestling at 152, and Mark O’Brien, a freshman wrestling at 160. They wouldn't have placed 6th as a team if all of them had not contributed.

There is no doubt that everyone wrestled well, but there is just some tough competition. These guys all will have another shot at qualifying for state in future years and won't give up.

Newman Grove starts wrestling at 4:30 P.M. on Thursday, February 14, 2008. Here are the match-ups that our qualifiers have in the first round down at state:

Jordan Fowlkes will be wrestling Jonathan Wright, a freshman from Maxwell.

Sheldon Boschen is up against Taylor Hoeft, a freshman from North Platte St. Patrick�s.

Luke Gasper gets to wrestle Ethan Kahrs, a senior from Franklin.

Finally, Wyatt Wallin is going to be out to get Juan Bazan, a senior from Perkins County.

Good Luck, Guys! We are proud of you!