No hardware for Keller this year at state

Kimball's Clay Keller failed to bring home any medals from the State Wrestling Tournament, but the young freshman had a good showing none the less and will use the experience of wrestling at State in the years ahead as he has the opportunity to become a four year state qualifier.

Wrestling at 132 pounds in the Class C division, Keller went up against James Hernandez of Logan View in his first match in Omaha and was leading by a point when he made a mistake and was pinned with less than a minute remaining in the match with a fall time of 5:17. In the consolation round on Friday, he went up against Zach McNally of Doniphan-Trumbull and again had a strong showing before losing a 3-1 decision that eliminated him from additional competition.

Assistant coach Bob Culek said, "Clay, and all of our wrestlers, will stay busy this off season with some camps and with workouts." The future is certainly bright for Keller who achieved a lot of his goals this season such as winning conference tournament titles along with other tournament wins. We will bring you readers a complete re-cap of Kimball's season in a future edition of Observer sports.

Kimball coach Wade Brashear summed up the state tournament and Clay's performance. He said, "The 2015 NSAA State Wrestling Tournament was an inherently tough event. We didn't wrestle as well as we had hoped. Clay was controlling the first match versus Hernandez from Logan View and made an error in the last part of the third period. At the state tournament, errors are costly. Up 3-2 with 45 seconds left, Clay tied up high and tripped to his back, where he ended up being pinned. In the second match, we struggled to get off bottom, eliminating our chances to score, eventually losing 3-1. Clay is at the completion level of the wrestlers at state but needs to keep working to gain experience to what type of level it takes to compete with the best in the state.

"Overall, I am happy with the progress of our Kimball wrestlers, but inexperience was definitely a factor throughout the season. The wrestling season is a grind and goes to show what type of effort and determination it takes to be a successful wrestler. The lessons learned on the wrestling mat help to prepare athletes for life. This is why I highly value the teachings of the sport. Like the great Dan Gable once said, "Once you've wrestled, everything else in life is easy."'