The Sutton Mustangs Wrestling team, powered by seven individual medalists, opened the 2024-25 wrestling season with a strong finish, wrapping up action at the Harvard/Giltner Nate Schumm Invitational in fourth place as a team. The Warcats of Red Cloud/Blue Hill led the final team standings with a 10-point win over Republic County, KS, 149.5139.5. Finishing just ahead of the Mustangs was Johnson County Central, outscoring Sutton 138.5-121.5 to round out the top four teams in the meet.
4 RUNNER-UP FINISHES Sutton was paced in the team standings by four wrestlers who claimed runner-up finishes on the day.
In the 144-pound class, sophomore Connor Hinrichs totalled 17.5 team points by winning four of five matches on the day. Hinrichs opened with a 1:01 technical fall win over Landon Toohey of Johnson County Central, before pinning Republic County’s Matthew Collette in just 39 seconds.
Hinrichs moved to the championship round brackets with a third-round 3:11 pinfall win over Superior’s Joe Kerrigan, and opened the championship round brackets with a 7-1 win over Carter Auten of Red Cloud/Blue Hill. In his title bout, however, Hinrichs dropped a 12-2 major decision to Riverside’s Trevor Carraher to finish the day in second place with a 4-1 record.
Fellow sophomore teammates Brody Schelkopf and Griffin Bergen added 20 points each to the Mustangs’ final team total.
Schelkopf, in the 165-pound class was 4-1, while Bergen, in the 175-pound class was 3-1.
Schelkopf opened the day with a 1:47 pinfall win over Tyrese Alexander of Republic County, gained a 30-second pinfall win over Samuel Thomas of Meridian, and gained another 30-second pinfall win over Grayhm Beck of Lawrence- Nelson.
In the championship bracket, Schelkopf advanced to the title bout with a 1:09 pinfall win over Caleb Hesman of Red Cloud/Blue Hill, before Republic County’s Carson Beavers gained a 9-4 win over Schelkopf in the final.
For Bergen, he opened with a 2:09 pinfall win over Jordan Dobbs of Riverside, and gained a quarterfinal round 1:10 pinfall win over Alexander Perera-Kunovsky of Harvard/ Giltner, before pinning Red Cloud/Blue Hill’s Wyatt Seeman in 2:27 in the semifinals. JD Adams of Meridian claimed a high scoring 19-16 win over Bergen in the final.
Aaron Sanchez, another sophomore for the Mustangs, earned Sutton their fourth runner-up title, while winning three of four matches and scoring 16 team points in the process in the 285-pound weight class.
Sanchez opened with a 46-second pinfall win over Preston Rawson of Riverside, then claimed a 4-0 win over Prestin Thomas of Johnson County Central.
Once in the championship bracket, Sanchez gained a 3:55 pinfall win over Kaleb Roe of Kenesaw before Meridian’s Kyan Sones pinned Sanchez in 26 seconds in the title match.
ADDITIONAL MEDALISTS
Senior Billy Marshall earned third-place honors in the 215-pound class, while winning four of five matches.
In the opening round, Marshall made quick work of Bodhi Klien of Johnson County Central with an eight-second pin before gaining a 1:54 technical fall win over Josh Spray of Sandy Creek. The Mustang senior then pinned Kenesaw’s Miles Kohmetscher in 25 seconds, before suffering his lone loss of the tournament when Collin Ofoegbu of Johnson County Central pinned Marshall in 2:51.
Marshall bounced back in a big way after the loss to pin Kenesaw’s Alex Rutt in 45 seconds to place third, while adding 16.5 team points to the Mustangs final tally.
Sophomore Landon Scheidemann, and freshman Griffin Bergen placed fourth in their respective weight classes with both scoring 10 team points.
Scheidemann’s three wins in five matches came over Justin Wiehn of Shelton, Thomas Bykerk of St. Cecilia, and Cooper Benjamin of Superior.
For Bergen, the sophomore earned pinfall wins over Braiden Nihols of Johnson County Central, over Grayhm Beck of Lawrence-Nelson, and over Zach Piroutek of Republic County.
SHORE, HERNANDEZ ARE 4TH Junior Lane Shore and senior Airan Hernandez added the Mustangs’ final total with fourth place medals, as Shore was 3-2 in the 126-pound class, while Hernandez was 3-2 in the 138-pound class.
Shore scored nine team points with wins over Maxwell Goracke of Johnson County Central with a 3:24 pinfall win, a 1:43 pinfall win over Pacey Weston of Red Cloud/Blue Hill, and a 12-0 major decision over Tayvion Sharp of Alma to open the day. In Shore’s final two matches, Holden McDonald of Superior gained a 5:15 pinfall win, while Thomas Ord of Red Cloud/Blue Hill pinned Shore in 1:05.
Hernandez’ day was much like that of Shore’s, winning his first three matches over Brextyn Kobza of Harvard/ Giltner in 1:28, then pinning Titus Birnie of Nebraska Christian in 3:16, before claiming a 2:32 technical fall win over Jace Hajny of Red Cloud/Blue Hill.
In the final two matches, Hernandez fell in 46 seconds to Graham Jensen of Republic County, before Logan Topp of Johnson County Central gained a 12-7 win over Hernandez.
ADDITIONAL SCORING Sophomore Javin Jordan added six team points to the Mustangs cause with a trio of pinfall wins in the 157-pound weight class, pinning Tyler Hoard of Alma in 3:18, Blayden Porter of Harvard/Giltner in 1:17, and Lincoln Sander of Superior in 4:07. Jordan fell short of medal contention with his efforts, however.
Shawn Westmoreland in the 138-pound class and Canon Peterson in the 190-pound class both added two and a half points each, as Westmoreland pinned Levi Rutten of Riverside in 1:25 for his lone win, while Peterson pinned Sandy Creek’s Stepan Stecaur in 48 seconds.
Freshman Travis Moore also charted a win in the tournament to add two points to Sutton’s final total with a 2:25 pinfall over Dean Baden of Superior.
TEAM SCORES- Red Cloud/Blue Hill 149.5, Republic County, KS 139.5, Johnson County Central 138.5, Sutton 121.5, Alma 90, Riverside 86.5, Superior 82.5, Meridian 81.5, Shelton 62.5, Nebraska Christian 61.5, Sandy Creek 44.5, Kenesaw 26.5, Hastings St. Cecilia 23.5, Harvard/Giltner 22, Lawrence-Nelson 8.
