Bergen claims district championship and 2nd straight trip to Omaha this weekend
A trio of Sutton wrestlers punched their tickets to the 2025 Nebraska State Wrestling championships this weekend in Omaha by finishing in the top four of their respective weight classes during the D-1 District meet at Shelton High School this past weekend.
Griffin Bergen, Connor Hinrichs, and Billy Marshall will all represent Mustang Nation in Omaha, as they helped lead Sutton to a seventh-place finish in the 23-team meet in Shelton.
Sutton finished with 80.5 team points and Bergen, who tallied 26.5 of those points, came away with the 175-pound weight class district title, while Hinrichs was a district runner-up in the 144-pound class, and Marshall finished fourth in the 190-pound class.
For Bergen, he pushed his season record to 39-4 with four wins during the meet, opening with a 58 second pinfall win over Eli Weidner of Archangels Catholic. In the quarterfinals, Bergen gained a 1:32 tech fall win over Jackson Gerdes of Sandy Creek, while in the semifinals, Bergen gained a 3:29 pinfall win over Matt Hittner of Fullerton.
In the title bout, Bergen earned a masterful 17-9 major decision win over Cauy Meyer of Loomis to gain the district crown in his weight class.
Hinrichs added 21 team points to the Mustangs’ credit and dominated his way to the finals of the 144-pound weight class, opening with a 25 second pin over Caden Hunt of Loomis. In the quarterfinals, Hinrichs gained a 12-1 major decision win over Wyatt Fauss of Twin Loup, before pinning Logan Vandenberg of Aquinas Catholic in 5:44 in the semifinals.
The title bout with Cooper Arehart of Neligh-Oakdale earned Arehart a 13-0 major decision over Hinrichs to place the Sutton sophomore second in the weight class, while moving his season record to 36-8.
Marshall’s weekend in the challenging 190-pound weight class opened with an 18-10 major decision win over Brady Junck of Aquinas Catholic, before Coy Vrbka of Shelby-Rising City pinned Marshall in 3:44 to send Marshall to the consolation bracket.
Once in the consolation bracket, Marshall gained a 2:38 tech fall win over Josh Spray of Sandy Creek to punch his ticket to state and a shot at third place in the district meet.
Chase Thomas of Neligh-Oakdale, however, claimed third place with an 11-0 win over Marshall to place the Sutton senior fourth in the class, while scoring 11.5 team points and moving his season record to 29-15.
Aaron Sanchez’ weekend came up two points shy of a trip to Omaha, as Sanchez fell in the “heartbreak round” 4-2 to Connor Sullivan of Archbishop Bergan in the 285-pound weight class.
Sanchez scored eight team points and gained three wins in five matches, opening with a 46 second pin over Colton Harris. After an 18-13 loss to Caden Zutavern of Sandhills/ Thedford, Sanchez bounced back to pin Logan Pospisil of Shelby-Rising City in 30 seconds, and earned a 7-1 win over Kaleb Andel of Aquinas Catholic before suffering the two point loss to Sullivan in the consolation semifinals. Sanchez ended his season with a 25-16 record.
Lane Shore earned two wins in Shelton, as Shore, wrestling in the 126-pound weight class, opened the weekend with a 1:45 pinfall win over Caleb Walters of Anselmo-Merna, and added a 22-second pinfall win over Woody Chen of Nebraska Christian to scored seven team points, as his season ended with a 17-17 record.
Shawn Westmoreland gained one win to score four team points, beating Caden Shotkoski of Newman Grove/St. Edward by way of a 2:06 pin to close out his season with an 8-19 record.
Brody Schelkopf also gained one win in three matches over the weekend to score two and a half team points. Schelkopf gained a 4:08 tech fall win over Alexander Perera-Kunovsky of Harvard/Giltner for his lone win, ending his season with a 24-17 record.
Falling short of wins for the Mustangs was Carson Shore (157) and Cord Pope (215). Shore ends the season with a 3-24 record, while Pope finished the year with a 7-16 record.
TEAM SCORES- Aquinas Catholic 159.5, Burwell 152.5, Shelby-Rising City 132, Loomis 99, Neligh-Oakdale 99, Thayer Central 86.5, Sutton 80.5, Fullerton 70.5, Sandy Creek 69.5, Archbishop Bergan 65, Anselmo-Merna 61, East Butler 58.5, South Loup 46.5, Shelton 43.5, St. Mary’s (O’Neill) 43, Franklin 41.5, Twin Loup 36.5, Sandhills/Thedford 26, EMF 25, Nebraska Christian 21, Harvard/Giltner 13, Newman Grove/St. Edward 9, Archangels Catholic 0, Dorchester 0.
Connor Hinrichs waits to start up the action against Aquinas Catholic’s Logan Vandenberg during his semifinal round match, a match that Hinrichs won by way of a 5:44 pin to send the Mustang sophomore to the title bout in the 144-pound weight class. Hinrichs placed second in the class, falling in the finals to Cooper Arehart of Neligh-Oakdale. Hinrichs earned his first-ever trip to the state meet in Omaha with the win over Vandenberg. STEVE GLENN • SHELTON CLIPPER | CLAY COUNTY NEWS
Sutton’s Billy Marshall grapples with Brady Junck of Aquinas Catholic, a match that Marshall won 18-10. Marshall went on to place fourth in the 190-pound weight class to earn his ticket to state. MELISSA WHITEFOOT | CLAY COUNTY NEWS
