Grubbs finishes third to lead Banner County wrestling

Garrett Grubbs took third place to lead the Banner County wrestling team in the Crawford Invitational last Friday. Brandon Blickensderfer also wrestled but lost in the fifth place match.

“We looked good in some areas, and showed a real need for improvement in others. I guess that is to be expected for the first tournament,” coach Bill Gifford said. “I am still looking for some consistency from our wrestlers, and we need to advance a little more on our conditioning.  We were in good positions, but we didn’t always take advantage like we should have.”

Grubbs opened with a loss to Jake Johnson of Hay Springs in the preliminaries. He won by decision against Zane Hamilton Harrison of Gordon-Rushville in the opening round match and topped Avery Bailey of Gering in the second round. He lost to Josh Cinocco of Minatare in the third round, before rebounding to take third place with a win over Spencer Jones of Crawford.

Blickensderfer dropped his first round match to Quin Child of Gordon-Rushville. After a second round bye, he lost to Trever Nelson of Crawford and ended the day with a defeat to Michael Tiensvold of Gordon-Rushville.

“Garrett Grubbs did a nice job going 3-2 and placing third. I felt he had the ability to compete for the championship, but things didn’t happen for us,” Gifford said. “Brandon Blickensderfer got his first taste of high school competition, and now knows how much harder he will have to work to get where he wants to be.”

Banner County is back in action this weekend at home. The Wildcats host their home tournament Saturday, which starts at 9:30 a.m.

“I am looking forward to the Banner County Invite on Saturday. We have 14 teams coming, and there should be some good match-ups,” Gifford said.

Banner County results

Brandon Blickensderfer (Banner County) - DNP.

Brandon Blickensderfer (Banner County) received a bye.

Round 1 - Quin Child (Gordon-Rushville) over Brandon Blickensderfer (Banner County) (Fall 1:07).

Round 2 - Brandon Blickensderfer (Banner County) received a bye.

Round 3 - Trevor Nelson (Crawford) over Brandon Blickensderfer (Banner County) (Fall 1:43).

Fifth place match - Michael Tiensvold (Gordon-Rushville) over Brandon Blickensderfer (Banner County) (Dec 7-4).

Garrett Grubbs (Banner County) - DNP.

Jake  Johnson (Hay Springs) over Garrett Grubbs (Banner County) (Fall 5:08).

Round 1 - Garrett Grubbs (Banner County) over Zane Hamilton Harris (Gordon-Rushville) (Dec 8-3).

Round 2 - Garrett Grubbs (Banner County) over Avery Bailey (Gering) (Fall 2:26).

Round 3 - Josh Cinocco (Minatare) over Garrett Grubbs (Banner County) (Fall 1:42).

Third place match - Garrett Grubbs (Banner County) over Spencer Jones (Crawford) (Inj. [time]).