McGinnis & Cluff 3rd, Schindler 4th At Garden

Kimball Longhorns wrestlers will be tested in four meets the rest of January following a Garden County Invite in which James McGinnis placed third at 126, Connor Cluff third at 132 and Trey Schindler fourth at 145.

Next up for the Horns is SPVA wrestling today, Jan. 14, at Hershey, the Chase County Tournament on Jan. 16, and trips to Hemingford on Jan. 22 and Mitchell Jan. 30. Their scheduled meet Jan. 23 at Chadron was canceled.

“It has been a challenging season for us with COVID,” Kimball coach Bob Culek told the Observer. “We were able to wrestle one match at Bayard, then the tournament at Mullen.  However, after that we were shut down with Kimball sports until after Christmas. 

“We hadn’t competed or practiced since the Mullen tournament until Dec. 28. So I feel that with the limited time we have had in the room and on the mat, the kids are doing very well and will only continue to improve. Hopefully, we can be peaking performance wise at Districts.”

At Garden County, the Kimball wrestlers fared well enough for KHS to place eighth with 55 points in the 20-team field. Bayard was first at 142, North Platte second at 137 and Mitchell third at 119.

Here’s a look at how the local boys did.

106 Pounds

Aaron Gillming (1-5) scored 4.0 team points.

Champ. Round 1 – Aaron Gillming (Kimball) 1-5 received a bye.

Quarterfinal – Ace Hobbs (Mitchell) 9-7 won by fall (1:57) over Gillming.

Cons. Round 2 – Gillming received a bye.

Cons. Round 3 – Gillming won by fall (1:57) over Laisha Garza (Bayard) 4-5.

Cons. Semi – Nathaniel Barker (Bayard) 14-7 won by fall (2:28) over Gillming.

126 Pounds

James McGinnis (7-3) placed third and scored 20.0 team points.

Champ. Round 1 – McGinnis won by fall (4:17) over Gavin Hunt (Garden County High School) 8-12.

Quarterfinal – McGinnis won by fall (3:01) over Layton Moss (North Platte) 3-4.

Semifinal – Drue Huntsman (North Platte) 11-2 won by fall (0:54) over McGinnis.

Cons. Semi – McGinnis won by fall (1:43) over Jonathan Fitzler (Hemingford) 11-6.

3rd Place Match – McGinnis won by fall (2:33) over Wesley Jacobs (Hay Springs) 9-7.

132 Pounds

Connor Cluff (7-3) placed third and scored 18.0 team points.

Champ. Round 1 – Cluff received a bye.

Quarterfinal – Cluff won by fall (0:40) over Dalton Jones (Hemingford) 2-2.

Semifinal – Jon Peterka (Sutherland) 18-3 won by decision (9-5) over Cluff.

Cons. Semi – Cluff won by fall (3:35) over Tanner McLain (Hitchcock County).

3rd Place Match – Cluff won by forfeit over Jackson Creel (North Platte) 8-9.

145 Pounds

Trey Schindler (5-4) placed fourth and scored 13.0 team points.

Champ. Round 1 – Schindler won by fall (2:55) over Joel Niles (North Platte).

Quarterfinal – Schindler won by decision (4-3) over Beau Lake (Bayard).

Semifinal – Kadin Perez (Mitchell) 9-3 won in sudden victory-1 (SV-1 7-5) over Schindler.

Cons. Semi – Schindler won by fall (2:10) over Joel Niles (North Platte) 6-4.

3rd Place Match – Hunter Cook (Sutherland) 20-4 won by fall (2:18) over Schindler.