Cedar trio earns medals at Oakland
OAKLAND — An extraordinarily difficult tournament was maybe what the doctor ordered as the wrestling postseason encroaches for Cedar Catholic.
The squad headed to the Oakland-Craig Invitational Saturday. Head coach Justin Bartling said his team showed “some good things throughout the day, but we did not wrestle our best.”
The top performers were Kerby Hochstein (132 pounds) and Cole Steffenson (126) with both placing in fourth in their respective weight classes.
Keegan Carl took fifth in the 113-pound class after a bump up from the lower weights.
Additionally, Keegan Carl went 3-2, Kerby Hochstein wrestled to a 3-2 record and Cole Steffenson ended the weekend 2-2, Conner Hochstein and Kale Korth both ended up 1-2 and Nash Albers and Aaiden Rogers wrestled twice without a victory.
It was a good week to get under their belts as the next one offers plenty of challenges as the post-season creeps closer.
On Thursday, Pierce is the place to be as the team heads to the Mid States Conference Tournament before wrapping up the regular season at the Plainview Invitational Saturday.
“Overall, we have a great shot here to improve our records and Kerby will have a chance to become the school’s all-time wins leader held by Eric Hoesing,” Bartling said of the program’s 123-win total apex. “It will make for an exciting week heading into the postseason.”
Speaking of the postseason, things have changed this year. It all gets rolling on Feb. 6 with the C2-A SubDistrict tournament in Oakland.
The top four finishers in each SubDistrict weight class head to the District finals in Battle Creek the following week and then those top four in each weight class advance to Omaha and the Feb. 19-20 state tournament.
Kerby Hochstein currently is 24-8 overall to lead the Trocat charge, Conner Hochstein is 29-13 and Cole Steffenson stands at 24-15.
“Those three guys have been together now for three years and add in that Kerby and Conner have both already been state qualifiers they really know what it takes every day to push themselves to the next level to get back to state,” Harding said.
Oakland-Craig Invitational Team Scores
1. O’Neill, 222; 2. Winside, 145.5; 3. Norfolk Catholic, 143; 4. Cross County/ Osceola, 115; 5. Malcolm, 108.5; 6. Guardian Angels Central Catholic, 107; 7. West Point-Beemer, 106; 8. Pender, 101; 9. North Bend, 97.5; 10. Howells-Dodge, 93; 11. Oakland-Craig, 79.5; 12. Ponca, 67; 13. Quad County NE, 65; 14. Cedar Catholic, 44.5; 15. Winnebago, 23; 16. Tri County NE, 13; 17. Cedar Bluffs, 6.
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