Damian Rutledge State Qualifier

Damian Rutledge battled his way to a fourth place finish in the 220 pound weight class at the C-4 District Wrestling Tournament held in Hershey this past weekend and is headed to the State Tournament in Omaha this weekend. His qualification gives Kimball a state qualifier after a few years of absence. His qualifying has even more special meaning since it is the first year out for the sport for the athletic junior who also shined on the football field this past fall.

En route to his fourth place finish, Rutledge had a bye, lost 11-5 to Hunter of Bayard, won by pin in 1:45 over Fulton of Valentine, won by forfeit over Thomas of Hershey, and lost by pin in :14 to Erthum of Ainsworth.

Rowdy Keller at 113 pounds was one match away from qualifying. The competitive junior won by pin in 2:53 over Dominquez of Bridgeport, lost by pin in 3:02 to Edwards of Loomis-Bertrand, won by pin in 2:13 over Fisher of Southern Valley, won by pin in 3:56 over Schroder of Sargent-Burwell, and lost by pin to Lech or Ord in the match he needed to get to Omaha.

Garrett Ryan at 120 lost 8-2 to Swanson of Mitchell, had a bye, lost by pin in 3·43 to-Palmer of Loomis-Bertrand, won by pin over Calderon of Minden.

Logan Stahla at 126 lost by pin ln 2:24 to Weber of Sargent- Burwell, lost by pin in 1:52 to Russell of Ravenna, and had a bye Justin Mohr at 132 won 9-4 over Niezwaag of Bayard, lost 12-0 to Pinney of Ainsworth, and lost by pin in 1:07 to Treffer of Ravenna.

Colt Lewis at 138 won 11-7 over Dahlgren of Loomis-Bertran, lost by pin in :46 to Keating of Kearney Catholic, won by pin in :55 over Child of Gordon-Rushville, and lost by pin in 3:56 to Hinton of Sargent-Burwell.

Ruger Lewis at 152 lost by pin in 4:29 to Blanco of Mitchell, lost by pin in 2:20 to Miller of Southern Valley, and won by pin in :51 over Flessner of Ravenna.

Eric Escajeda at 285 had a bye, had a bye, lost by pin in :18 to Richardson of Hershey, and lost by pin in :36 to Percival of Southern Valley.

Commenting on the tournament, Coach Wade Brashear said “This year’s district tournament had it’s highs and lows and proved to be one of the toughest districts in the state yet again. All of our wrestlers showed improvement and growth. Juniors Rowdy Keller, Justin Mohr, and Colt Lewis wrestled some of their best matches of the year. There was excitement and disappointment. Rowdy Keller was defeated in the heart-break round. Although we did not qualify as many as we had hoped, there is solid outlook for the future of the Longhorn wrestling program. Our team was composed of all freshmen and juniors. We look to build on this year’s growth and improvement, and continue to place a solid team on the mat for years to come. I want to personally thank the school and community for their continued support of the Kimball Longhorn Wrestling program.”