Alberto Contreras and Dusty Greer Qualify for State Wrestling!!!!!!!!!!!

Minneapolis came away with two state qualifiers from this years 321a wrestling regional. After a hard fought, tournament which included many exciting wins and a few heart breaking losses the Minneapolis and Bennington wrestlers won 16 matches and finished with 2 state qualifiers.

Jr. 125 Lb Dusty Greer began the tournament seeded 3rd coming in with an 18 – 10 record. In his first match of the tournament Dusty defeated Keo Roth of Phillipsburg by a score of 7-3. After advancing to the semifinal round Dusty dropped his next match by pin. Greer made the consolation semifinals by advancing to the semifinals the night before. Greer defeated Marshall Foster in the consolation semifinals by an 8 – 1 decision to advance to the placing round and earning a birth in the 2008 321a State Championships.

Sr. Alberto Contreras was the next wrestler to qualify. Alberto began the tournament seeded 4th at 152lbs. Alberto won his first round match against state ranked Nathan Palmer of Stockton by a score of 5 -3. The win advanced Alberto to the Championship semifinals where he lost by fall to Trevor Rempe of Smith Center. Alberto then defeated Jr. Jake Meyer (21 – 8) from Stafford by Major Decision 15 – 5 the win advanced Alberto to the state championships this Satruday.

There were 5 other Minneapolis and Bennington wrestlers who advanced to the consolation semifinals.125 Lb So.John Corman dropped a heart breaker losing 4 -2 in the round before state John Wrestled outstanding all year placing 4th at the Ellsworth invitational, 2nd at the Phillipsburg invitational and winning 5 matches at the Concordia dual tournament this season. John finished his Sophmore with a 21 – 10 record against extremely tough competition.

135 Lb Fr. Zac Eaton made it all the way to the consolation semifinals. Zac won two matches in the wrestle backs on Saturday morning setting up an exciting match against Aarron WeatherHead of Republic County. Zac came up short but put together a fine freshman season winning 23 matches placing 1st at the Osborne Invitational, 2nd at the Ellsworth Inviational and winning 5 matches at the Concordia Dual tournament.

140 Lb So.Adam Klein was one match form the state tournament losing a 3-1 decision to Weston Comes from Phillipsburg. In the consolation semifinals. Adam defeated Senior Alex Lomas from Hoisington in the championship quarterfinals by pin, but came up short in the consolation semifinals. Adam was fourth this season at the Ellsworth invitational tournament and won 12 matches as varsity wrestler after Christmas break.

145 Lb Sr. Cody Eaton finished his season 19 – 3 Cody wrestling with torn cartilage near his sternum gave everything he had until the end. Eaton won his quarterfinals match against Sr. Colton Clark of Lyons by a score of 3 -0. Cody advanced to the consolation quarterfinals where he lost a 3-1 decision to Josh Darnell of Plainville. Cody finished his high school wrestling career with 104 wins and 33 loses for Minneapolis/Bennington and placed in the Kansas 321A state Tournament twice, he was 6th as a Sophomore and 5th as a Junior. Eaton has been ranked first in the state since his 2nd place finish at the Beloit invitational where he had to default due to torn cartilage.

160 Lbs So. Nick Torres was extremely close to a state tournament birth wrestling Jr. Jared Mitchell from Hoisington in the consolation semifinals. Nick was 13 – 7 for the season .

Other wrestlers winning matches in the regional wrestling tournament were Fr. Brody Laflin 112 Lbs Season Rec 9 – 13, Sr. Tyler Hamilton 130 Lbs Season

Record 17 – 13 , Sr. Taylor Siemers Season Record 5 – 5 Jr. Jacob Klein 171 Lbs Season Record 18 – 18.

“ The team has had a good season finishing the dual season 13 – 5 overall and 4 – 1 in the league. Most of the team will be back next year and many for a couple years to come. We also have some very good freshman and Sophomores who are on the junior varsity that will challenge for varsity spots next season. With a lot of good off season work we will be looking forward to another exciting season next year, coach Jeff Giles."

State Tournament Schedule

Friday

Session 1 First Round 10:00am

Second Round 1:45pm

Championship Quarterfinals

Session 2 First Round Consolation 4:30pm

Championship Semifinals

Saturday

Session 3 Consolation Cross Bracketing 10:00am

Consolation Quarterfinals12:00pm

Consolation Semifinals 1:30pm

Fifth Place 2:30pm

Consolation Finals 3:10pm

Session 4 Parade of Champions 6:15pm

Championship Finals 6:30pm