The Alliance High School wrestling team will host its final dual meet of the season on Tuesday, January 29 against the Torrington Trailblazers.

The JV matches begin at 6 p.m., with the Varsity scheduled for 7 p.m.

“We are going to try and make it a fun one,” said head coach Travis Peak. “I want to get as many crazy fans there as possible! We are encouraging crazy dress up and loud spectators! The band will help get things started before the dual.  We are going to get out all our old singlets, warm-ups and anything else that is stored away that nobody is using and sell them for at an extremely affordable price  …  such as two or three dollars.”

Peak says that after the first seven varsity matches, four or five lucky members of the audience will be chosen at random to get blindfolded and have to search around the wrestling mat for a $20 bill. There also will be a $10 cash price to the person with the craziest outfit.

The AHS pep band will also offer music prior to and at “halftime” of the varsity dual.

He says the event may also include a public thumb-wrestling tournament.

Special Bulldog t-shirts will also be tossed into the stands every time an AHS varsity wrestler gets a pin.

“We want wrestling duals to be a fun event and something people want to come out and watch,” he added. “We have many exciting kids to watch and its anything from a dull event.   Special music will be played before each wrestler hits the mat.  The Bulldog wrestler has selected their theme music, which is pretty cool.”

The Bulldogs are coming off of a 5th place finish at the Chadron Invite this past weekend, the highest they have finished in the four years that Peak has been the Bulldogs head coach. Alliance also was the highest placing Nebraska team at the tournament, as Gillette, Cheyenne East, Natrona County (Casper), and Fossil Ridge (Fort Collins) finished ahead of Alliance.

Four Alliance wrestlers are ranked in the top five in Nebraska.

120 lbs – Devin Ushio is ranked 2nd
126 lbs – Walker Johnson is ranked 4th
152 lbs – Tyson Dowler is ranked 2nd
160 lbs – Dawson Johnson is ranked 5th

The Bulldog wrestling team is currently ranked 8th in Class B.

CHADRON – The University of Colorado-Colorado Springs men’s basketball team closed the first half on an 8-0 run and then outscored the Eagles 20-9 during the opening six minutes of the second half en route to its 92-73 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory Saturday at Armstrong Gymnasium.

The Mountain Lions, now 3-14 overall and 3-10 in the RMAC, led for much of the game and increased their advantage to as many as 24 points in the second half.

Seven UCCS players scored at least eight points, led by Jordan Carter’s 18. Darius Pardner chipped in 16 points and added three assists and and Alex Koehler had 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Zac Bargen, who sank 13 of 14 foul shots, led the Eagles (1-16, 1-12 RMAC) with 20 points. Kendrick Holliman and David Downey joined Bargen in double figures, finishing with 16 and 13 points, respectively.

Holliman also had a team-high seven rebounds.

One of the bright spots for the Eagles was the play of Brandon Pippenger. The freshman forward scored four points, but grabbed five rebounds and added three blocks in 18 minutes of action.

The Mountain Lions shot lights out during Saturday’s game, connecting on 34 of 62 shots (55 percent). The Eagles struggled, hitting 21 of 66 (32 percent) from the field and 25 of 36 from the foul line.
  Alex Helmbrecht, Sports Information Director

Box Score

CHADRON – Abby Kirchoff scored 23 points and three others joined her in double figures as the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs women’s basketball team upended Chadron State 78-61 Saturday night.

The Eagles hung tough with the Mountain Lions (13-4, 10-3 RMAC) for much of the game as the lead changed hands 10 times in the opening half. However, UCCS shot over 41 percent from the field in the second half and made 13 of 15 from the charity stripe to pull away.

Chadron State (3-14, 3-10 RMAC) finished the game shooting just over 41 percent but the Mountain Lions hit 46 percent of their shots and sank 11 more free throws.

Kattie Ranta led the Eagles with 18 points and 10 rebounds and Dallas Shaw finished with 11 more.

Including Ranta and Shaw, six others scored. Kate Simonton added nine points, Hattie Guzman finished with eight and Lisa Durden added five points, five rebounds and a team-high four assists.

The Eagles will host Regis and Metro State in a pair of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games Friday and Saturday in Chadron. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.

Alex Helmbrecht, Sports Information Director

Box Score

Gritt Ryder scored 25 points and the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team used another stellar defensive effort in posting a 56-50 win over Casper College Saturday afternoon in Casper, Wyo.

Ryder said that this was a huge win for the team as they battled tooth and nail in getting the win.

“This win was huge for us,” the sophomore from Denmark said. “We knew Casper wanted to do everything that they could do to beat us.”

Defense definitely played a huge part in the Cougars win over the Thunderbirds. Casper led just once in the game at 38-35 after a string of technical foul shots gave them the lead. The lead was short lived as Laurin Rivera nailed a 3-pointer and Jessica Aratani had an old-fashioned 3-point play and the Cougars were back in front to stay.

“Our defense was really good,” Ryder said. “It was important for us to get a good start and we did pretty good. Then, when they made the run with the technicals, we were like this cannot run out from underneath of us. So, we stayed together as a team and did our normal business and pulled out the win.”

A big key for the Cougars was making runs and stopping the Thunderbirds in putting together six or more point runs. WNCC led 11-2 to start the contest on eight points by Ryder. Casper came back to tie the game at 15-15 but the Cougars came back as Kelsey Doddridge and Ryder each buried 3-pointers. WNCC led 30-22 at halftime.

The second half saw Casper come back to take a 38-36 lead on four technical foul shots. WNCC then led by 49-42 on an Ashley Stevens bucket. Casper fought back, slicing the lead to 52-50 before Ryder hit a jumper from the free throw line with 35 seconds to play and then sealed the win with two free throws with 22 seconds to play.

Ryder said this team continues rolling along and wouldn’t trade this team for anything.

“We find ways to win and I just love this team,” she said. “We have such good chemistry on the team and on the court. We know what it takes to work hard because Coach [Dave] Harnish preaches about that every day in practice.”

The Cougars had just two players in double figures. Ryder led all scorers with 25 points, seven rebounds and eight steals. Aratani pitched in 13 points, followed by Stevens and Rivera each with five points.

The Cougars will return to action on Tuesday when they face Northeastern Junior College at Sterling, Colo., in a South Sub-Region contest. After that, WNCC will be off until Feb. 8 when they host Lamar Community College.

WNCC                  30 26 – 56

Casper                  22 28 – 50

WNCC
Mikayla Brower 2, Kelsey Doddridge 4, Gritt Ryder 25, Ashley Stevens 5, Jessica Aratani 13, Laurin Rivera 5, Katie Kerkhoff 2.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Chadron State track and field opened its first competition of 2013 on a high note at the Air Force Invitational Friday and Saturday.

Competing against Division I schools from around the country, Chadron State managed to have 14 individuals place in the top 10 and put a pair of relay teams in the top 3.

The men’s 4×400 relay had a time of 3:21.84 in finishing 2nd behind Division-1 Northern Colorado, while the women’s 4×400 was 3rd behind Northern Colorado and Western State in 4:06.40 – 3-100ths of a second behind Western State.

The Eagles had 7 provisional qualifying marks for the NCAA Division II Indoor National Championships in March, led by Phil Rivera’s 4th place finish in the 400 in a time of 50.04, and a 5th from  Dean Francis in the 200 meters in 22.36.

Kolten Jelden set a  school record en route to finishing 10th in the men’s pole vault. Jelden’s 15-7 topped the previous CSC indoor record of 15-5 set just last month by redshirt freshman Skyler Hoopes at the Yellow Jacket Holiday Classic hosted by Black Hills State University.

CSC’s other provisional qualifiers were  Alyssa Norton, Charith Kapukotuwa and Mel Herl. Kapukotuwa did it in 2 events, the men’s shot put, where he was 7th at 53-4, and the weight throw, finishing 11th at 56-0.

On the women’s side Norton and Herl both qualified in the shot…Norton finishing 5th at 45-2-1/2 and Herl finished 6th at 43.1. Herl was also 9th in the weight throw with a non-qualifying mark.

Aria Hughes finished 8th in the women’s triple jump at 34-6 ¾, freshman Zerek Jones was 9th in the men’s high jump at 6-6 ¾,  Alex  Johnson was 7th in the 800 in 2:02.12, and Donnie Butler was 7th in the long jump at 22-7-1/2 and 9th in the triple jump…one spot behind  Lamar Newman. Newman went 44-2-1/2, Newman 43-6-1/2.

Chadron State senior Cody Hunt competed unattached and placed 3rd in the men’s shot put with a throw of 56-11-1/4.

The Eagles will be home for the first time this season when they host their Alumni Invitational meet next Saturday at the Nelson Physical Activity Center.

KEARNEY, Neb. – The 13th ranked Nebraska-Kearney wrestlers won eight of 10 matches to turn back Chadron State 34-9 during their non-conference dual Saturday evening at the Health and Sports Complex in Kearney.

The Lopers won the first seven matches and received bonus points in four of their victories to improve to 9-3 on the season. Chadron State falls to 5-5 overall.

The Eagles’ two wins came late in the dual. Chris Leak picked up a forfeit victory at 197 afterJordan Debus earned an 8-4 decision over Mark Fiala at 184 pounds. Fiala is 20-8, while Debus improves to 14-8.

Chadron State will be back in action Friday and Saturday at New Mexico Highlands and Adams State.

Alex Helmbrecht, Sports Information Director
No. 13 UNK 34, Chadron State 9
125 – Connor Bolling, UNK, dec. Jace Johnson, 13-10
133 – No. 6 Daniel DeShazer, UNK, pinned Perry McAfee, :26
141 – Andrew Riedy, UNK, won by forfeit
149 – No. 1 Raufeon Stots, UNK, technical fall Reed Burgener, 19-2
157 – Chase White, UNK, technical fall Bruce Zurek, 22-6
165 – Chase Nelson, UNK, dec. Dylan Fors, 7-3
174 – Patrick Martinez, UNK, dec. Bret Klopp, 8-3
184 – Jordan Debus, CSC, dec. Mark Fiala, 8-4
197 – Chris Leak, CSC, won by forfeit
285 – Nick Bauman, UNK, dec. Mike Hill, 4-1

The Lady Cardinals continued their winning ways by taking care of Sidney on Friday night by a score of 49-35…..By pure coincidence, the boys lost to the same 49-35 score, The Lady

Cardinals got off to a slow start leading 9-4 at the end of the first quarter. By halftime, the Lady Cards would have a 6 point lead 22-16. The Red Raiders made a comeback tying the game at 34 all, at the end of the third quarter. Sidney’s comeback would fall short as the Red Raiders only scored one more point, as they fell to Chadron 49-35.

Ashlea Kerr led Chadron in scoring with a game high of 16 points, while Briley Hannaford scored 14. Chadron’s winning streak extends to seven wins for an overall record of 15-1.

The Chadron Boys got 4 three points from Von Sayaloune and 14 points overall all to lead Chadron in scoring. Spencer Eliason helped his team with 11 points.  For Sidney, Lane Harvey led the Red Raiders with 17 points.

The Cardinals never led in this game, but kept the score somewhat close.  At the end of the first quarter Chadron trailed 11-6.  At the break, the score was 26-17.  The third quarter came to an end by a score of 37-25.  The final numbers on the scoreboard was 49-35, in favor of the Red Raiders.

Both the Chadron Boys and Girls Basketball teams will travel to Rapid City on Saturday to play Douglas Air Force Base.  The next home game for the Cardinals will be Tuesday the 29^th against Alliance.

The Chadron Cardinal Wrestling team was in Rapid City on Thursday night to battle the Patriots of Douglas Air Force Base.  As a team, the Cardinals came up just short in 38-35 loss to the Patriots.  The following is the final results from Thursday’s dual:

Wt.

106.     Daniel Goings (Chadron) won by decision over Tyler Wilson (Douglas AFB) 8-7.

113.     Devin Blasius (Douglas AFB) won by major decision over Kane Wellnitz (Chadron) 11-0

120.     Nate Tilley (Douglas AFB) won by pin over Paul Watak (Chadron)

126.     Trace Strotheide (Chadron) won by pin over Kyle Shaver (Douglas AFB)

132.     Thomas McClure (Chadron) won by decision over Cody Jackson (Douglas AFB) 19-16

138.     Tyler Ashley (Douglas AFB) won by major decision over Tyler Reitz (Chadron) 14-2

145.     Tyler Abbott (Douglas AFB) won by pin over Tate Cullers (Chadron)

152.     Willy Cogdill (Chadron) won by pin over Colton Hitshew (Douglas AFB)

160.     Colby Riesen (Chadron) won by pin over Justin Newstead (Douglas AFB)

170.     Chance Bila (Chadron) won by tech fall over Jordan Hunt (Douglas AFB)

182.     Robbie Nelson (Douglas AFB) won by pin over Alex Doescher (Chadron)

195.     Cooper Cogdill (Chadron) won by pin over Ean Malone (Douglas AFB)

220.     Douglas Patriot (Douglas AFB) won by forfeit.

285.     Josh Hunt (Douglas AFB) won by pin over Devin Mitchell (Chadron)

The Cardinal Wrestling team will host Mitchell on Thursday January 31^st.