Jarosik wins SNC gold

Cougars host Southern Nebraska Conference meet Saturday

Senior Rowan Jarosik led a squad of four medalists during action in the Southern Nebraska Conference wrestling championships on his home mats Saturday, Feb. 1, as Jarosik earned the 165-pound weight class championship title in a shocking way.

After opening with a pair of tech fall wins over Nick Grantski of Centennial and Cory Langenberg of Milford, Jarosik had a big battle waiting for him in the title bout with Konrad Kuzelka of Fairbury.

Kuzelka owned a 7-0 lead over Jarosik late in the second period before a Jarosik reversal of Kuzelka put the Fairbury grappler on his back and pinned the Jeff in 3:27 to claim gold and run his season record to 34-1 with the SNC championship.

Jarosik claimed the tech fall win over Grantski in 48 seconds, and claimed his tech fall win over Langenberg in 2:58. Jarosik totaled 23 of Sandy Creek’s 57 team points, as the Cougars finished in a tie for seventh place with Superior.

David City outscored second-place Wilber-Clatonia 160.5-133 for the SNC team title.

Connor Rempe placed third overall in the 132-pound weight class, winning three of four matches on the day.

Rempe opened with a 46-second pinfall win over Evan Crawford of Centennial before suffering a 4:43 pinfall loss to Wilber-Clatonia’s Grant Eschiti.

After the loss to Eschiti, Rempe cruised to the bronze medal with a pair of tech fall wins over Gage Brown of Thayer Central, coming in 2:45. In the bout for third place, Rempe made quick work of Crawford again, winning the match in 1:46 to improve his season record to 34-9 while adding 15 team points to the Cougars’ tally.

Josh Spray and Jonas Amos both placed fourth, respectively, Spray in the 190-pound weight class, and Amos in the 285-pound weight class.

For Spray, he scored 10 team points with two wins in four matches. He was handed a 2:28 pinfall loss by Jesse Divis of David City to start the day, before bouncing back to pin Milford’s Nick Wanetka in 2:05, and Tri County’s Nick Sullivan in 2:22, before Sutton’s Billy Marshall gained a 29-second pinfall win over Spray in the consolation finals to set Spray up with a 31-12 season record.

Amos, in a field of four wrestlers in the 285-pound class, was held without a win, but added four team points to the Cougars final total. Amos fell to Garrett Schoen of Milford in 25 seconds, while Luis Alarcon of Tri County pinned Amos in 58 seconds.

Embry Fraizer (126), Jackson Gerdes (175), and Luke Soucie (215) fell short of medal contention. Gerdes, did however claim two wins on the day, pinning Justin Schwisow of Tri County in 1:07, and Superior’s Christian Osweiler in 1:40.

TEAM SCORES: David City 160.5, Wilber- Clatonia 133, Tri County 113, Milford 111, Fairbury 109, Thayer Central 72, Sandy Creek 57, Superior 57, Fillmore Central 54, Centennial 31, Sutton 21.