In Sandy Creek’s first season as its own team, not involved in a cooperative team with Lawrence-Nelson, the Cougars will be sending their first Sandy Creek state wrestling qualifier to the state meet since 1993.
Junior Rowan Jarosik will represent Cougar Nation in Omaha this weekend, Feb. 15-17. It’s not Jarosik’s first trip to the big show, however, he makes his third consecutive trip, after qualifying as a South Central Red Raider as a freshman and sophomore.
It wasn’t an easy adventure for the Cougar junior, however, as he had to battle through the hectic round termed the “heartbreak round,” or the consolation semifinals to punch his ticket to Omaha.
Jarosik opened the D-1 District meet in Weeping Water with an easy 45-second pinfall win over Max Scott of Aquinas Catholic, before holding on for a narrow 3-2 win over Morgan Treffer of Ravenna in the quarterfinals.
The 150-pound weight class, which was loaded with five state ranked opponents in Weeping Water was no easy task, as state ranked Jarrett Dodson, a 48-2 wrestler, who moved up from the 144-pound class for districts, sent Jarosik to the consolation bracket with a hard fought 6-2 decision, setting Jarosik up with a tough battle in the “heartbreak round,” where Jarosik gained an eventual 2:36 pinfall win over Osmond’s Kaleb Gardner.
The Cougar junior, after earning his trip to Omaha with the win over Gardner, didn’t stop there, as he went on to defeat Ravenna’s Treffer again in the third place match, gaining a 5-2 win to run his season record to 25-6 as he enters the state meet. Jarosik scored 16 of the Cougars’ 34 team points
FALLING SHORT
The “heartbreak round,” unfortunately wasn’t kind to juniors Connor Rempe and Jack Watts, as both fell out of the district meet in the round, narrowly missing trips to the state meet.
Rempe’s run in the 132-pound weight class opened with a quarterfinal round 1:45 pinfall win over Jackson Irwin of Ainsworth, but in the semifinal round, Rempe fell in 4:55 to 42-7 wres tler, Dawson Mason of South Loup, sending the Cougar to the consolation semifinals, where Homer wrestler, Josue Munoz gained a 2:23 pin to end Rempe’s season just short of advancing to state with a 27-8 record, while scoring six team points.
Watts, in his first season of wrestling since junior high, much like Rempe, opened his run in the D-1 meet 285-pound weight class, with a pinfall win, coming in 1:17 over Kaleb Andel of Aquinas Catholic, before Josiah Brezina, also of Aquinas, sent Watts to the consolation bracket with a 2:37 pin.
In the consolation bracket, Watts reeled off two straight wins, a 3-1 win over Connor Sullivan of Archbishop Bergan, and a 7-1 win over Landen Redding of Lyons-Decatur Northeast.
After reaching the heartbreak round, Centennial’s Paul Fehlhafer ended Watts’ hopes of a trip to Omaha, pinning Watts in 1:31, to end the Cougar juniors season with a 16-16 record. Watts also added six team points to the final team score of 34.
ADDINGTOTHE SCORE Josh Spray’s run in the 190-pound weight class earned Spray two wins in four matches, opening his weekend with a 1:34 pinfall win over Dalton Herley of O’Neill St. Mary’s, but in the quarterfinals, South Loup wrestler, Dawson Doggett pinned Spray in 31-seconds to send him to the consolation bracket.
Once in the consolation bracket, Spray claimed a 1:47 pinfall win over Palmer’s Erik Samuelson, but then came Sutton’s Billy Marshall, as Marshall ended Spray’s run in the third round of the consolation bracket with a 24-second pin. Spray ended the season with a 12-20 record, while scoring seven team points in the district meet.
Coen Eitzmann (175), Hudson Devlin (215), and Jonas Amos (285) fell short of wins in their respective weight classes.
Team Scores: Aquinas Catholic 202, Neligh-Oakdale 133, Ravenna 127, Centennial 122, South Loup 100, Southern Valley 89, Weeping Water 85, Anselmo-Merna 76.5, Archbishop Bergan 73.5, Palmer 58.5, Freeman 47, Shelton 42.5, Sutton 42, Riverside 41, Homer 38, St. Mary’s 36, Sandy Creek 34, Elm Creek 32.5, Osmond 30, Bertrand 13, Ainsworth 11, Lyons-Decatur Northeast 10, Cedar Bluffs 4, Humboldt-Table Rock-Steinauer 0.
JAROSIK’S FIRST ROUND MATCH AT STATE Jarosik will open his third run in the state tournament this Thursday afternoon, Feb. 15, at the CHI Health Center in Omaha at 3 p.m.
Jarosik’s opening round match will be against Colton Mader of Crawford, who was the D-4 District runner-up in the 150-pound weight class. Mader comes into the state meet with a 15-4 record overall.
