At least one Panhandle team will be heading to next week’s Nebraska boys basketball state tournament. Kimball defeated Gothenburg 51-40 last night in Grant to claim the C1-6 district title and earn the Longhorns their second trip to Lincoln in 3 years.

Kimball led by 8-to-10 points most of the game and off a fourth quarter rally by hitting FTs. The Longhorns ended 16-21 from the line while Gothenburg was just 4 of 6.

6-8 Mike Daum led Kimball with 22 points including 10-11 from the foul line and a pair of 3 pointers. The Longhorns also got 12 points from fellow junior Jake Reader.

FTs also made the difference in the C2-6 final as North Platte St Patrick’s ended Hemingford’s season 51-43. St. Pat’s was 19 of 26 at the free-throw line, while Hemingford was 3 of 5.

Kyle Kumpf led Hemingford in scoring in the game with 14 points and Matthew Wood added 13 points as Hemingford finishes at 19-6. St Pats heads to Lincoln at 22-3.

There are 3 district finals tonight. Potter-Dix meets Paxton at 7:00 in Chappell at Creek Valley HS for the D1-6 crown and state tournament berth, Leyton takes on Sandhills/Thedford in the D2-6 final at 7:00 CT in Sutherland, and
Scottsbluff and McCook battle in the B6 game at 7:00 at WNCC after winning their semifinals last night.

Defending state champ and top seeded Scottsbluff started the evening with a 74-to-55 win against Alliance while McCook cruised past Sidney 75-to-36.

McCook and SB split 2 regular season games and both have a chance to go to state with a little help from Ralston. The wild card standings have Elkhorn South #1, SB #2, Ralston #3, and McCook #4.

Elkhorn South used up one of the 2 wild cards when it was upset last night in the B-2 semis by Gretna, which will play Ralston tonight. A Ralston win would give state berths to both the winner and loser of the SB-McCook game.

BOYS BASKETBALL
A-1 Tournament
Championship
Omaha Central 66, Omaha Burke 51
A-2 Tournament
Championship
Omaha South 59, Millard North 42
A-3 Tournament
Championship
Papillion-LaVista 57, Kearney 49
A-5 Tournament
Championship
Millard West 69, Omaha Creighton Prep 64, OT
B-1 Tournament
Semifinal
Beatrice 58, Norris 56, OT
Waverly 55, Plattsmouth 37
B-2 Tournament
Semifinal
Gretna 55, Elkhorn South 50
B-3 Tournament
Semifinal
Bennington 57, Omaha Roncalli 41
South Sioux City 59, Elkhorn 49
B-4 Tournament
Semifinal
York 56, Columbus 45
B-5 Tournament
Semifinal
Aurora 47, Holdrege 44
Grand Island Northwest 58, Hastings 52
B-6 Tournament
Semifinal
McCook 75, Sidney 36
Scottsbluff 74, Alliance 55
Class C1 District Tournament
Finals
District C1-1
Lincoln Christian 51, Falls City 45
District C1-3
Adams Central 71, Milford 66
District C1-4
Boone Central/Newman Grove 51, Wayne 38
District C1-5
Gibbon 54, O’Neill 43
District C1-6
Kimball 51, Gothenburg 40
Class C2 District Tournament
Finals
District C2-1
Sutton 55, Johnson County Central 47
Distict C2-2
Archbishop Bergan 44, Malcolm 32
District C2-3
Lutheran High Northeast 39, Oakland-Craig 26
District C2-4
Crofton 51, Hartington Cedar Catholic 50
District C2-5
Southern Valley 58, Hastings St. Cecilia 38
District C2-6
North Platte St. Patrick’s 51, Hemingford 43

The brackets and schedules are set for the Nebraska high school girls state basketball tournament, which gets underway Thursday in Lincoln.

The 48 teams in this year’s tournament will play their first-round games at 4 locations: the Bob Devaney Sports Center, Pershing Coliesum, Lincoln East High School, and Lincoln Northeast High School.

The semifinals will be at Devaney Center and Pershing on Friday, with Saturday’s championship games at Devaney and the third place games at Lincoln East and Lincoln Northeast. This expected to be the final year the Pershing is used, with the new Pinnacle Bank arena scheduled to be open by next year’s tournament.

Only one Panhandle team made the tournament this year — Chadron,  who was the top seed in Class C1.  The 22-2 Cardinals will open with Lincoln Christian Thursday night at 7:00 at Pershing.

The other western Nebraska to qualify for state are McCook in Class B, Hershey and North Platte St Pats in C2, Sutherland in D1, and Sandhills-Thedford and Wauneta-Palisade in D2.

Tickets for each session are $7 for adults and $5 for students (age 5 through high school) and can be purchased at the door or on-line at https://nsaahome.ticketleap.com/.

For the brackets, go to https://nsaahome.org/textfile/bask/gbpair.pdf

The Eagles’ men team scored 151 points, their all-time high at the conference’s indoor meet, while earning runner-up honors.  The CSC women tallied 77 points and were fourth in the team standings.

Adams State repeated as the conference champion in both team races.

On Saturday, two CSC men—Phil Rivera in the 400 meters and Skylar Hoopes in the pole vault—joined Charith Kapukotuwa, the winner of the weight throw Friday,  as conference champions.

Rivera ran a career-best 49.52-second 400 while winning his fourth RMAC sprint race and Hoopes cleared a career-best 15-6 ½.

As had been anticipated, the sprints, vault and weights were strong areas for the CSC men.

Four Eagles placed in the 200 meters, led by runner-up Dean Francis in 22.28 seconds. Rivera placed fifth in the race while Brandon Segelke was seventh and Alex Graham eighth.

Earlier, Graham was second and Segelke was sixth in the 60 dash.

Four Eagles placed in the shot put. Kapukotuwa was second at 53-1 ½, followed by sophomores Kyle McCarty and Daniel Sotelo in third and fourth, respectively, and freshman Dylan Brant in seventh.

Like Hoopes, the Eagles’ Kolten Jelden cleared 15-6 ½ while sharing second place in the pole vault.  Hoopes got the gold medal because he had one fewer miss than Jelden. In addition, freshman Joe Hoffman was fifth with a career-best 15-2 ½, some 15 inches better than his best last year when he was a high school senior.

Also earning lots of points for the Eagles was senior Lanar Newman. He had a season- best mark of 48-¾ to place second in the triple jump, and also finished third in the long jump and fourth in the 60-meter hurdles.

Elsewhere in the men’s competition, five of the eight placewinners in the heptathlon were Chadron State entries. Hunter Dittbenner edged Greg Rodriguez by 16 points for second place, Kelly Troester was fifth, Sean Munger sixth and Zerek Jones seventh.

Troester, a senior from Crawford, also received a plaque as the RMAC’s Outstanding Male Scholar-Athlete.

Like the men, the CSC women also scored numerous points in the throws and the pole vault. Alyssa Norton was the runner-up in both the shot put and the weight throw, while Mel Herl and Cyndi Thomas placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in both of the events.

Like her brother in the men’s pole vault, Kaelie Jelden was second in the women’s vault by clearing 11-6 ½. Her teammates Josey Pehringer and Erin Krause were fifth and sixth, respectively.

Also doing well for the CSC women were Chelsea Murray and Shelby Bonzer. They finished third and fifth, respectively, in the pentathlon on Friday. Then on Saturday, Bozner was fourth and Murray seventh in the high hurdles.

Both Chadron State 4×400 relay teams placed second. Western State edged the CSC men for the gold medals in the men’s race by a tenth of a second. Adams State won the women’s race.

While the conference meet ended the indoor season for a majority of the Eagles, Baily said he anticipates that Graham in the 60 dash and Kapukotuwa in the weight throw will qualify for the NCAA Division II National Championships in Birmingham, Ala., on March 8 and 9.

Con Marshall, Information Services

The CSC placings at the conference meet follow:
Women’s Events
60 high hurdles—4, Shelby Bozner, 9.09; 7, Chelsea Murray, 9.39.
4×400 relay—2, Chadron State, 4:04.44.
Distance medley relay—8, Chadron State, 13:25.66.
Shot put—2, Alyssa Norton, 44-10 ½; 4, Mel Herl, 44-8 ¾; 5, Cyndi Thomas, 43- ¼.
Weight throw—2, Alyssa Norton, 53-5; 4, Mel Hurl, 50-8; 5, Cyndi Thomas, 49-11.
Pole vault—2, Kaelie Jelden, 11-6 ½; 5, Josey Pehringer, 10-6 ¾; 6, Erin Krause, 10- ¾;
Pentathlon—3, Chelsea Murray, 3,320; 5, Shelby Bozner, 3,229.
Men’s Events
60—2, Alex Graham, 6.84; 6, Brandon Segelke, 7.08.
200—2, Dean Francis, 22.28; 5, Phil Rivera, 22.46; 7, Brandon Segelke, 22.74; 8, Alex Graham, 23.03.
400—1, Phil Rivera, 49.52; 8, Gavan Archibald, 51.08.
60 high hurdles—4, Lanar Newman, 8.41; 6, Matt Mathiason, 8.58.
4×400 relay—2, Chadron State, 3:22.59.
Shot put—2, Charith Kapukotuwa, 53-1 ½; 3, Kyle McCarthy, 51-6 ½; 4, Daniel Sotelo, 50-11 ½; 7, Dylan Brant, 47-7 ¼.
Weight throw—1, Charith Kapukotuwa, 58-9 ½.
Long jump—3, Lanar Newman, 23- ¼; 4, Barrett Browne, 23-0.
Triple jump—2, Lanar Newman, 48- ¾; 8, Xavier Kvistad, 43-4 ½.
High jump—6, Zerek Jones, 6-2 ¾.
Pole vault—1, Skylar Hoopes, 15-6 ½; 2-3 tie, Kolten Jelden, 15-6 ½; 5, Joe Hoffman, 15-2 ¾.
Heptathlon—2, Hunter Dittbenner, 4,381 points; 3, Greg Rodriguez, 4,365; 5, Kelly Troester, 4,152; 6, Sean Munger, 4,109. 7, Zerek Jones, 4,039.

 

Debus and McAfee both clinched berths in the NCAA Division II National Championships March 8-9 in Birmingham, Ala., after finishing in the top four at the Super Region 4/Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship Saturday in Chadron.

It will be the third consecutive trip for Debus, while McAfee is making his first appearance.

Saturday’s consolation rounds. He cruised in a 14-7 decision over Fort Hays State’s Zack Grimes and followed with a commanding 6-2 victory over Nebraska-Kearney’s Mark Fiala to secure third place.

McAfee, a senior from Casper, Wyo., earned a hard-fought 4-2 decision over San Francisco State’s Isaiah Hurtado, the top seed at 133 pounds, before falling to Adams State’s Martin Ramirez 7-3 in the third place bout. However, since McAfee defeated both wrestlers in the fifth and sixth place match, he didn’t have to wrestle a true fourth place match.

In fact, no true fourth place matches were contested during Saturday’s final round.

Nebraska-Kearney, which had four individual champions and all 10 of its wrestlers place in the top six, cruised to the team title with 147.5 points. However, the Lopers, who belong to the MIAA conference, weren’t eligible to win the RMAC championship, which was awarded to Adams State, the highest placing RMAC team with 95 points.

Chadron State finished in fifth.

Debus, a junior from Mitchell, Neb., finished third at 184 pounds and showed signs of dominance during

Three other wrestlers competed for Chadron State on Saturday, unfortunately all three were unable to get in the top four. Bruce Zurek lost both his matches at 157 to finish in sixth and Chris Leak also finished sixth at 197 pounds.

Mike Hill, the Eagles’ other remaining wrestler on Saturday, suffered a tough 3-0 decision to Nebraska-Kearney’s Nick Bauman and then forfeited his fifth place match because he injured his knee against Bauman.

Alex Helmbrecht, Sports Information Director

Chadron State Results
125 – Luis Gurule, CSM, dec. Jace Johnson, 6-4; Jonathon Stelling, CMU, dec. Johnson, 5-2.
133 – Perry McAfee, CSC, dec. Rory Wilkinson, 3-2; Martin Ramirez, ASU, dec. McAfee, 5-3; McAfee dec. Tyler Nelson, CMU, 4-3; McAfee dec. Isaiah Hurtado, SFSU, 4-2; Martin Ramirez, ASU, dec. McAfee, 7-3 for third place.
141 – Jimmy Chase, CSUP, major dec. 15-6; Michael Hamel, GCU, pinned McCance, 4:27.
149 – Max Ortega, ASU, pinned Reed Burgener, CSC, :56; Conrad Snell, SFSU, dec. Burgener, 8-6.
157 – John Crowley, CSM, dec. Bruce Zurek, CSC, 9-3; Zurek pinned Vincent Aboytes, SFSU, :21; Zurek pinned Nick Stahler, CSUP, :27; John Crowley, CSM, dec. Zurek, 7-3, Derek Koehn, major dec. Zurek, 11-0 for fifth place.
165 – Sam Thoman, FHSU, dec. Dylan Fors, 4-3; Fors dec. Justin Frazer, CSM, 7-4; Brock Lamb, SFU, dec. Fors, 5-2.
174 – Jarrod Purvis, ASU, dec. Bret Klopp, 3-2; Klopp dec. Cody Coombes, SFU, 9-5; Travis Budke, FHSU, dec. Klopp, 7-1.
184 – Jordan Debus, CSC, dec. Adam Carey, 8-5; Debus dec. Ryan Swanson, CSM, 10-6; Nick Peterson, CMU, dec. Debus, 5-2; Debus dec. Zack Grimes, FHSU, 14-7; Debus dec. Mark Fiala, UNK, 6-2 for third place.
197 – Romero Cotton, UNK, major dec. Chris Leak, CSC, 14-0; Leak, dec. Chris Frisbie, CSUP, 3-2 SV; Leak pinned Paul Wilson, CSM, 4:13; Tanner Kriss, FHSU, major dec. Leak, 16-4; Manvir Sahota, SFU, dec. 10-5 for fifth place.
285 – Mike Hill, CSC, dec. Alec Bird, CSM, 7-5; Niko Bogojevic, CSUP, dec. Hill, 3-1 SV; Hill, dec. John Close, FHSU, 6-3; Nick Bauman, UNK, dec. Hill, 3-0; Kyle Graulus, WSCU, won by forfeit over Hill for fifth place.

RMAC Team Results
Adams State University, 102.0
Grand Canyon, 82.5
Western State, 77.0
CSU-Pueblo, 67.0
Chadron State, 59.5
Colorado Mesa, 56.5
San Francisco State, 51.5
New Mexico Highlands, 44.0
Colorado Mines, 24.5

RMAC Freshman of the Year: Martin Ramirez, Adams State
RMAC Wrestler of the Year: Tyrell Fortune, Grand Canyon
RMAC Coach of the Year: Jason Ramstetter, Adams State